"Quotas aren't just Political Correctness"

From The Daily Beast: "Quotas aren't just Political Correctness"

"In its annual survey on global gender equity, the World Economic Forum itself said closing the employment gender gap could increase U.S. GDP by as much as 9 percent."

Women's representation in New Hampshire state legislature

This article from 2009 was a real eye-opener for me.  "The Matriarchy up North," by Renee Loth shows what happens when women are fairly represented in state legislatures.

"I do think gender has affected the way we discuss issues," says Exeter Democrat Margaret Hassan, the Senate's president pro tem. "Women tend to see problems in a much less segmented fashion, and that has allowed us to connect the dots in different ways."

This is the more interesting question about women in power. Sure, women should be heard more in government - and the law, and science, and journalism - as a matter of sheer equity. But it's not the quantity of women so much as the different quality that can bring real change."

This changed in 2010. "Men's Club Redux? Fewer Women in State Legislative Seats," shows the seats we lost in the 2010 midterms.

"While New England legislatures have included more women historically, the region suffered a much larger loss than the nation at large.  In 2010, 32% of state legislators in New England were women; in 2011, just over 27% will be.  This drop was driven by New Hampshire, where 53 women lost seats in the legislature. Among other New England results, Connecticut lost five women legislators, Maine lost tow and Massachusetts lost six."

We are 23.4% of all state legislatures in the US!

The state legislatures is the pool from which the bulk of candidates running for senate and congress will come from.  Women must run for office. Here is the link for the article in the National Conference of State Legislatures. There is a great map to see the numbers on each step in a cool pop-up.

Women's response to the Male Gaze

If you are seen as a sexual object you just might feel less confident.  A study published in The Psychology of Women Quarterly tells us that if we see ourselves through the male lens we tend to do less well in math.

Women's voices need to be heard

Here is an example of the disparity in magazine publishing between women and men.  This article in Vidaweb, Women in Literary Arts, has more examples. After seeing this graph, why would I ever bother buying a copy of The Atlantic or The New Yorker?