Sheila Ellison - If Women Ruled the World. How to Create the World We Want to Live In

Inner Ocean Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 1239
Makawao, Maui, HI 96768-1239

2004 by Sheila Ellison
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Printed on recycled paper

Cover and book design by Maxine Ressler
Illustration by Jane Evershed

PUBLISHER CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
If women ruled the world : how to create a world we want to live in : stories, ideas, and inspiration for change / edited by Sheila Ellison.
Makawao, HI : Inner Ocean, 2004.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN: 1-930722-36-2
1. Womens studies. 2. Social sciences. 3. Social change. 4. WomenQuotations. 5. WomenAnecdotes.
HQ1180 .I49 2004
305.4dc22 0410

DISTRIBUTED BY PUBLISHERS GROUP WEST

Feminism Would Have No Illusions by Barbara Ehrenreich has been adapted with permission from a commencement address at Barnard College, 2004. 2004 Barbara Ehrenreich.

We Would Teach Our Children the Importance of Volunteering by Arianna Huffington has been adapted with permission from her nationally syndicated column and was previously titled, The Family That Volunteers Together. 1999 Arianna Huffington.

Often in my work, I hear people say that the lack of women in leadership is an issue that pales next to world crisesglobal terrorism, fragile economics, inadequate health care, access to quality education, corporate greed. They see no connection between the frightening situations were in and the fact that few women sit at the table to determine the solutions. No wonder were where we are today.

This fundamental imbalance, with men running the world and women mostly spectators (or victims), is not a trivial detail. It is the problem. It is also the one solution we have not tried and the one most likely to work.

First of all, to counter those who think women actually do run the world, I offer a few statistics from my own backyard: The United States is 57th in the world in womens political representation (behind Slovakia and tied with Andorra); the pipeline to political leadership in America, the state legislatures, has been hovering at about 20 percent for a decade; men occupy 86 percent of Congressional seats, 84 percent of governorships, and 88 percent of the seats on top corporate boards. Yet women are more than half of the U.S. population. And the numbers get worse when we examine the diversity of women at the top, especially when you consider the enormous population growth in communities of color.

It is shocking and inspiring to hear how developing countries continue to rocket ahead of our pillar of democracylimited in financial resources, they certainly know how to use their human resources. Last year, The White House Project organized two major conferences where women from around the world tutored one another on how we might bring each other closer to democracy. It was energizing to consider the potential, and saddening to remember how many yearsand how many great leadershave passed without change.

One woman, a majestic member of the South African Parliament, upon hearing of our nations failure to trust women with real power and authority, stood before the crowd and promised to stand by her sisters in America as we fight for our rightful place in control of our destiny. I could have cried. I think of her offer to help as I travel across the nation, promoting women in political and business leadership. I also remember the words of the women of France and India and Sweden and Switzerlanddemocracy without women in power is not democracy at all.

But forget fairness for a moment. Its not that putting women in power is simply the right thing to doits the only thing to do. The values that women uniquely bring to the tableempathy, inclusion across lines of authority, relational skills, community focusare vital if we are to solve any of the monumental issues facing our world today. This is not just me talking. Three decades of research in state legislatures, universities, and international public policy centers have proven beyond doubt that women, children, and men all benefit when women are in leadership. Broader societal legislation, benefiting everyone, is more likely to pass if women are in office. We know the power of women as peacemakers in the world from scores of stories about their effectiveness at negotiation, from South Africa to India to Pakistan to Ireland and beyond.

We can ill afford to use only half our talent, when we know for a fact that complicated challenges demand more than one vision. Its time for real and permanent power sharing, for real and permanent changewomen ruling side by side with men, allowing their voices to rise with different solutions and allowing men to think outside of the masculine box. In this way, we get fresh eyes and fresh solutions from both genders, applied to both old and abiding problems and to new and frightening ones.

This is not a call to pry power from the fingers of men and turn it all over to women. Together we can create a different world, shifting the burden from male shoulders and allowing the diversity of thought and life experience to transform our solutionsperhaps bringing a greater peace, perhaps allowing men to be better fathers, perhaps providing a new paradigm for our security.

Its not easy to get there. Those in power rarely let go without a fight, even if they would benefit by doing so. For women to truly gain the leadership roles we deserve, we must be insistent and persistent. We must enlist our many male allies. We must step up to the plate, letting it be known that we are ready to lead, that in fact we demand it as a birthright. If we think creatively, if we use our community resources (a particular strength of women), if we support women who say they want to lead, if we use our voices and our votes to get there, we will sustain the transformation of power. And everyone will be better for it. Our daughters and sons and grandchildren will thank us, because their world will offer more options. We owe it to them. And to ourselves.

MARIE C. WILSON is founder and president of The White House Project (www.thewhitehouseproject.org), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing womens leadership across sectors and fostering the entry of women into all positions of leadership, including the U.S. presidency. She is also the author of the new book Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World.

As the editor of this moving collection of essays, I had the honor of meeting many women, of hearing their stories, and of being moved to tears over their struggles: women still suffer from violence in their homes, still feel powerless over the influence of cultural traditions, and continue to be passed over for promotion because of parental choices. Not to mention some less vexing troubles that made me laugh: difficulties overcoming an obsession with ice cream, accepting our thighs, and setting boundaries with our mothers-in-law.