First female US president would have had global impact

Women’s issues took center stage in the run-up to the presidential election. The coarse comments made by then-candidate Donald Trump, coupled with the first female presidential candidate running on a major party platform, amplified the discourse.

Many people expected Hillary Clinton to win the election, joining the United Kingdom’s Theresa May and Germany’s Angela Merkel as a female leader a of global power.

A Clinton victory would have had real impact on women in government around the world. Why? In the words of my colleague Dr. Ofer Kenig: “Representation, equality and pluralism.”

For those of us under the age of 40 who have lived most of our lives in the U.S., we see nothing odd about women serving as leaders in the political, business and academic arenas. It seems women have always held these roles. However, it was only in the early ‘90’s that women began to shatter the political glass ceiling.

The first time there were three sitting female U.S. senators was in 1992. Today, there are 20. Twenty members seems like a lot, but it puts the U.S. below many other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries with respect to female representation in government.

Then again, only about 20 countries — mostly parliamentary democracies — can brag that 40 percent or more of their executive cabinets were comprised of women in 2015. A few democracies hold 30 percent and the majority are 20 percent or lower.

Arab countries have much lower percentages of women in parliament and cabinet positions. There are some exceptions in the Muslim world, such as Azerbaijan, a parliamentary democracy that is not counted in the Middle East or in the Arab world.

Azerbaijan, a former Soviet Republic, is situated on the Caspian Sea between Russia, Iran and Armenia. Since its independence, Azerbaijan has placed itself on a trajectory in line with the West, including on women’s issues.

[[{“fid”:”123205″,”view_mode”:”original_image”,”fields”:{“format”:”original_image”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:false,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false,”field_url[und][0][value]”:”Pew Research Center”,”field_folder[und]”:”1″,”field_free_html[und][0][value]”:””,”field_free_html[und][0][format]”:”full_html”,”style”:””},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“1”:{“format”:”original_image”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:false,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false,”field_url[und][0][value]”:”Pew Research Center”,”field_folder[und]”:”1″,”field_free_html[und][0][value]”:””,”field_free_html[und][0][format]”:”full_html”,”style”:””}},”link_text”:null,”attributes”:{“class”:”media-element file-original-image”,”data-delta”:”1″}}]]

While the Muslim-majority country has only one female cabinet member, 16% of its 122-member parliament is comprised of women. In neighboring Russia, just two of 31 ministers are women. 

Some countries have adopted gender quotas, which, according to Kenig, have resulted in a steady and significant increase in the number of women elected to political positions. Other countries have coupled quotas with additional legislative measures to improve women’s representation in society in general.

Here too, Azerbaijan has been at the forefront.

A February 2015 report on Azerbaijan by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women found positive legislative progress made on women’s issues, including a nearly 50 percent decrease in violent incidents against women.

Additionally, the poverty rate among women decreased from 49 percent to 5.9 percent in 2014. Further, 18 percent of Azerbaijan entrepreneurs were women. The number of women holding leading positions in the education sector increased to 41.2 percent.

In 2015, 46 percent of the leading New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) were women. A special order issued by President Ilham Aliyev led to the appointment of women as deputy heads of regional executive bodies in 76 of 86 regional councils.

Moreover, First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva has her own political career; she serves as deputy chair of YAP. Unlike most presidential wives in the former Soviet Union, she is also philanthropically and culturally influential the world over.

The election circus has ended and President-elect Trump is preparing for his new role. The Trump transition team has signaled a desire to appoint a number of women throughout his administration.

Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman is director of international communications at a leading Israeli think tank, Israeli correspondent for eJewish Philanthropy and a regular freelance writer. 

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.