Creating gender-balanced governance in the US
Research shows that proportional ranked choice voting is the best method for removing barriers to women's representation
Women’s underrepresentation at all levels of government is a persistent problem in the United States. RepresentWomen’s research shows that although we have made progress towards parity, this progress is slow and inconsistent, meaning we are unlikely to reach gender balance within our lifetimes. Increasing and sustaining women’s leadership in elected office requires us to remove the barriers women candidates and legislators face. This drives our research at RepresentWomen to identify the barriers and system-level solutions we can implement to create a more representative, gender-balanced democracy.
RepresentWomen’s latest brief, “Proportional Ranked Choice Voting: Promoting Fair Elections and Removing Barriers for Women in U.S. Politics,” shows that a fair voting system, such as proportional ranked choice voting (PRCV), is one of the best ways to accelerate the pace of change toward gender parity in politics. PRCV elevates historically overlooked and underfunded candidates by increasing competition, allowing for new candidate entry, decreasing polarization, and encouraging issue-focused campaigns. Importantly, PRCV can replace our antiquated, winner-take-all system with one that yields more proportional outcomes. It is the only form of proportional representation that is compatible with all U.S. elections, both partisan and nonpartisan.
But what is PRCV, and how does it help women?
In PRCV elections, voters rank candidates in order of preference, and multiple candidates are elected to represent the same district. The below graphic demonstrates how this process could look for a district with three seats. In the first round, if not enough candidates reach the required vote threshold, the candidate with the least amount of votes is eliminated and votes are redistributed to those voters’ second choices. This process continues automatically until enough candidates have reached the required number of votes to win and the number of available seats is filled.
PRCV eliminates barriers for women, in particular, for several reasons.
PRCV incentivizes candidates to build coalitions and campaign collaboratively, as exemplified by the “Rose Slate” in Portland, Maine’s 2021 Charter Commission Elections. Women cite negative campaigning and dirty politics as one of the most common reasons for not wanting to run for office. And understandably so. Running and serving in office can pose a significant safety concern for women, regardless of location or political party.
More available seats mean women are more likely to win; research shows that women are more likely to win in multi-winner elections. The multi-seat districts aspect of PRCV helps to level the playing field in politics.
PRCV removes the need for party support; women are more often overlooked by parties who do not have a strong track record of supporting women and tend to fund “establishment” candidates. Parties sometimes actively discourage women from running for office for fear that they will pull votes away from someone more “electable,” (usually the aforementioned “establishment” candidates).
In 2023, women still make up under 30% of Congressional seats. However, as shown above, the Republican party especially lags in its progress, with women holding under 20% of its share of seats in the U.S. House.
Moreover, PRCV and its positive impact on women’s representation is not new to the U.S. As shown in our historical timeline, “The History of PRCV in the U.S.: PRCV’s Impact on Women’s Political Representation,” not only has PRCV been around since the early 1900s, but women’s representation has consistently benefited from its adoption. Between 1915 and 1962, 22 cities across the U.S. adopted and implemented PRCV. A number of these early adopters elected their first women to their city councils, including Cleveland, OH; New York, NY; Hamilton, OH; and Cambridge, MA.
Of these localities, only two still use the system: Arden, DE, and Cambridge, MA. As of October 2023, five women sit on Arden’s Board of Assessors (71%), one of whom serves as the chair, and four women sit on Cambridge’s nine-member city council (44%), and two are women of color. On the Cambridge school board, three women hold seats (50%), and two are women of color.
Continuing the push for PRCV today
The push for PRCV has once again gained momentum. Today, in addition to Arden and Cambridge, PRCV is used in Albany, CA, and Minneapolis, MN. On Albany’s five-member council, one woman holds a seat (25%), and on Minneapolis’ 13-member council, seven women serve (54%). PRCV was also used for the first time in Arlington, VA, this year for the Democratic primary for two County Board seats, both of which were won by women.
Portland, ME passed PRCV as part of charter reform in 2022, but this year, there are no seats where there would be multiple winners, so PRCV likely won’t come into play this election cycle. Two additional cities (Amherst, MA and Portland, OR) have pending adoptions of PRCV. Amherst is waiting for state approval of their new charter that will include PRCV, with the opportunity for implementation in 2025. Portland, OR’s first use of the system is expected in November 2024, after Portlanders strongly approved it at the ballot box.
Furthermore, this push is not only at the local level. In 2017, House Representative Don Beyer introduced the Fair Representation Act (FRA), H.R. 3057, for the first time. The FRA would implement PRCV for U.S. House elections (using multi-winner districts) and create an independent redistricting commission for congressional districts. Although the bill has not passed, a study done by RepresentWomen and FairVote in 2021 projected that if passed, an additional 50 women would be elected to the U.S. House.
Nevertheless, we must note that PRCV is not a fix-all solution. To achieve gender balance in government, we must implement a twin-track approach, a multitude of solutions in tandem– both systems-level and candidate-level. PRCV is undoubtedly a vital component to uplifting women in politics, but it is only a piece of the puzzle to building a sustainable and representative democracy.
We need women in leadership now more than ever. Despite being 51% of the population, we comprise less than 30% of congressional representatives. Women are far overdue for equal representation and have proven themselves to be effective legislators time and time again, able to create policies that are in all of their constituents’ interests.
Take the women-majority New York City Council, for example. A women of color majority has allowed for the passage of numerous equitable bills and legislative packages on topics ranging from maternal health and menstrual equity to salary transparency and cost-of-living adjustments that benefit all New Yorkers. Breaking the barriers that prevent women from running, winning, serving, and leading is vital for all Americans. Innovative and scalable solutions such as proportional ranked choice voting will help us to build women’s political power and create a healthier, more representative democracy.
Steph Scaglia and Alissa Bombardier Shaw @ScagliaSteph @alissashaw_