On 3 January, the new US Congress convened in Washington, DC. This 118th Congress is being touted in the press as the most diverse American Congress ever – a point that is true on the surface, but one that ignores context, as Americans so often do when assessing our own institutions and achievements.
Uplifting political ‘firsts’ after an election is a well-worn ritual of American civil religion, and an innocuous enough one. But taking a step back to widen our analytical frame is still important. For example, while there are more women in the 118th Congress than in any previous US Congress, when it comes to gender parity in various countries’ representative institutions, the roughly 28% proportion of women across both congressional houses ties the US with Lithuania at number 73, according to the most recent data available on global parliaments.
Even if women now have higher representation than in any previous Congress, the relative lack of female representation by global standards is a salient fact to acknowledge, along with the fact that, according to Laurel Elder, professor of political science at Hartwick College, NY, achieving gender parity in Congress will take 118 more years if women’s gains continue at the current rate.
Elder explains the significance of women’s representation as follows: “This issue is important because how many women there are in the room when legislative decisions are made has significant consequences for the policies that governments enact. Female legislators are more likely than men to introduce, speak about and work to pass policies that disproportionately affect women and girls, such as paid family leave, pay equity and gender-based violence.”
