女性傲视政坛的六大国家

当记者问到“为什么支持政府高层席位实现男女性别平衡”时，加拿大新任首相贾斯汀·特鲁多给出了一个简单的答案：“因为已经是2015年了。”尽管这个完美的回答可能震撼到很多人，但在现实中，大多数国家领导层的男女比例距离五五对开还差很远。

20年前，189个国家签署了《北京宣言与行动纲领》，旨在敦促各国政府为领导层的性别平等而奋斗。然而，时至2015年1月1日，只有5个国家达成了这一目标。女性部长比例最高的是芬兰，该国有62.5%的部长级官员是女性，大西洋岛国佛得角名列第二，随后是瑞典。在法国和列支敦士登的内阁成员中，男女各占一半。

而国际议会联盟日前发布的一份年度报告显示，加拿大成为女性占据至少一半部长级职位的少数几个国家之一，在男女比例上与法国和列支敦士登并驾齐驱。

对此，美国妇女政策研究所创始人兼总裁海蒂·哈特曼评价说：“（特鲁多）显然走在了时代之前，不过他说得完全正确，都到了2015年，这才是内阁成员应该达到的男女比例。”

相比之下，奥巴马的内阁中仅有35%的女性，男女人数并不相当。不过，与美国政府的其他部门相比，这一比例已然算是突出的了——美国参议院只有20%是女性，州议会有24%是女性，众议院有19.3%是女性，州长中只有10%是女性。据美国妇女政策研究所的《美国女性地位年度报告》估计，按照目前的趋势，美国国会只有到2117年才能实现男女席位相等。

在其他发达国家中，女性的政治存在感甚至更加薄弱。例如，根据国际议会联盟的数据，英国首相大卫·卡梅隆的内阁只有29%的女性，英国国会议员仅有31.8%是女性。北欧国家的部长级职位中，女性的比例最高，平均达到了41.5%，美洲地区是26.5%，除北欧外的欧洲其他地区是23.6%。而其他大洲的部长级官员中，女性的比例都低于22.5%。

有鉴于此，我们必须向加拿大起立致敬。不过，还是要指出，在加拿大的最近一次选举中，只有31%的候选人是女性，最终有50人成功获选，而特鲁多的自由党在结束选举时，只有27%的党团会议成员是女性。当然，相较于即将下台的保守党政府，这已经是个巨大的进步，后者的党团会议只有20%的女性成员。据政治学者预测，加拿大国会还需要100年的时间才能达到男女议员数量平等。

但无论如何，特鲁多组建的内阁能实现男女数量相当，这都是一个巨大的进步。

“这超越了人们对女性政治角色的传统认知，是一项大胆的举动。”联合国妇女署政治参与政策顾问朱莉·巴灵顿评价，“在加拿大这样一个实行英联邦选举制度的国家中，这真是太具有革命性了。历史早已证明，那些出现更大变革的国家，都是那些采用了不同选举模式的国家。”（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

审校：任文科

Canada does it again. Whether it’s immigration, healthcare or gay marriage, the country has long been a testing ground for progressive policies. Last week, the North American nation added to that legacy, becoming the sixth country in the world to achieve a gender balance in its ministerial positions.

When reporters asked the country’s newly elected Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, why he supported gender parity amongst his government’s top ranks, the Liberal Party leader had a very simple answer: “Because it’s 2015.”

And while that may strike many as the perfect response, in reality, the leadership of most nations remains a long way from 50/50.

Twenty years after 189 countries signed the Beijing Platform for Action, which urged governments to strive for gender balance in its leadership positions, Canada now joins a small collection of countries where women occupy at least 50% of ministerial positions, according to an annual report by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

As of Jan. 1, 2015, just five countries made the cut. Leading the pack is Finland, which boasts 62.5% female ministers, followed by the Atlantic archipelago of Cape Verde, Sweden, and a tie between France and Lichtenstein. Now, Canada joins the list, coming in neck-and-neck with France and Lichtenstein.

“[Trudeau] is definitely ahead of his time, even though he’s absolutely right, that in 2015, this is what every cabinet should look like.” said Heidi Hartmann, founder and president of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

Obama’s cabinet is 35% women, which isn’t exactly parity, but looks pretty good compared to other areas in U.S. government. Just 20% of the U.S. Senate, 24% of state legislatures, 19.3% of the U.S. House and 10% of U.S. governors are female. At the current pace, Congress won’t reach gender parity until the year 2117, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research’s annual Status of Women in the States report.

The representation of women in politics is even bleaker in other industrialized countries. David Cameron’s cabinet, for example, is only 29% female, as is 31.8% of the U.K. parliament. The Nordic countries have the highest share of women in ministerial positions, with an average of 41.5%, followed by the Americas with 26.5% and non-Nordic Europe with 23.6%. Every other continent averages below 22.5%, according to the to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Before giving Canada a standing ovation, it’s important to note that women accounted for just 31% of local candidates in the country’s recent election. Fifty of those women were elected and Trudeau’s Liberal party finished the election with a caucus that was 27% female. It’s an improvement on the outgoing Conservative government’s 20%, but political scientists similarly predict that it will take another 100 years before the Canadian Parliament verges on gender parity.

Still, see Trudeau’s balanced cabinet as an important step forward.

“This is so revolutionary in a country like Canada that has this Commonwealth electoral system, this old school system,” said Julie Ballington, a policy advisor on political participation at U.N. Women. “The countries that have made more progressive changes are based on a different electoral model.”

Trudeau’s decision to treat women as equal partners in the government “bypasses the traditional perceptions around the role of women in politics,” says Ballington. “It’s a bold move.”