This month, we’re watching “Girls State” and “Boys State,” two documentaries that follow teens learning about democracy and politics by participating in a mock government. Both films are available to stream on Apple TV+ with a subscription.
Beyond the intrinsic value of gender parity in politics, there’s evidence that getting more women elected and politically active makes good economic sense too. Let’s do the numbers.
1917
Montana Republican Jeanette Rankin became the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in 1917, four years before women had the right to vote. Georgia suffragist Rebecca Latimer Felton was the first woman to serve in the Senate. Appointed to the position at the age of 87, her term lasted one day in 1922.
There are currently 150 women serving in Congress, or 28.8% of all seats.
26.7%
That was the percentage of parliamentary seats held by women worldwide in 2023. Women held 50% or more legislative seats in Rwanda, Cuba, Nicaragua, the United Arab Emirates and Mexico.
Stateside, the state legislatures of Nevada, Colorado and Arizona achieved gender parity in recent years.
18%
The gap in political ambition between men and women surveyed by researchers at the University of Virginia and Loyola Marymount. The gender gap among people who say they’ve considered running for elected office actually widened over two decades.
Yet when women and men ran against each other for open state legislature seats, they won in equal numbers, according to the nonpartisan nonprofit group Vote Run Lead. Use this interactive map to see your state legislature’s gender makeup. 14
The number of countries with a perfect score for legal equity in the workforce, per the World Bank, which reported that higher scores correlate to more women in elected positions. The U.S. score: 91.3.
20,000
Governments tend to invest more in child welfare and health care when women get involved in politics. Women gained the right to vote in America between 1869 and 1920, first at the state level and then nationwide.
Women’s suffrage and subsequent increases in health care spending were linked to lower infant mortality, preventing 20,000 child deaths per year.
0.74%
Using data from countries in Europe and Asia, researchers found every 10% increase in women’s parliamentary representation expanded gross domestic product by about three-quarters of a percentage point.
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