Women’s Rights and Democracy Are Inextricably Linked

3/24/2022 by JENNIFER WEISS-WOLF

We cannot expect to meas­ure the ebb and flow of a truly inclus­ive demo­cracy without first look­ing to gender equity. Women’s rights have been the canary in the coal mine all along.

This article was originally published by the Brennan Center.

Last fall, the United States was included for the first time on the annual list of back­slid­ing demo­cra­cies published by the Inter­na­tional Insti­tute for Demo­cracy and Elect­oral Assist­ance. Broadly defined as those exhib­it­ing “gradual but signi­fic­ant weak­en­ing of checks on govern­ment and civil liber­ties,” back­slid­ing demo­cra­cies are meas­ured by categor­ies includ­ing repres­ent­at­ive govern­ment, impar­tial admin­is­tra­tion and parti­cip­at­ory engage­ment. The European think tank repor­ted that the United States shows signi­fic­ant lapses in effect­ive legislat­ive bodies and freedoms of expres­sion and assembly.

To read more visit: Ms. Magazine

---

Ms. Magazine is a partner of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality. For more stories like these visit: Ms. Magazine