Harvard Political Review: What can we do to encourage more women to run for elected office?
Amb. Swanee Hunt: The great diversity year of 2008 saw the number of women in Congress only increase from 16 percent to 17 percent. This past year, we went down for the first time in twenty years. If one looks at why we were at 16- 17 percent, it’s because of one woman, Ellen Malcolm, who started EMILY’s List. If the Republicans had had an EMILY’s List, we would probably be well above 20 percent in Congress. It’s not because of a commitment to increase the number of women. It takes individuals to make it happen.
HPR: Do we just need more individuals like Malcolm, or are there cultural dynamics that discourage women from running in the U.S.?
SH: There are structural challenges and there are structural solutions. First of all, this difficulty is not about the U.S. However, we are now about 89th in the world for percentage of parliamentary seats held by women. It was 42nd when I started talking about this ten years ago. We haven’t gone down, other countries know how to deal with it structurally. There are about 100 [countries] that have a quota or set aside a number of seats. They understand that if you can get women into the 40-percent range, more funding in the budget goes toward education, health care, and the environment and less toward weapons.
HPR: Are you content with the progress the Obama administration has made in putting women in leadership positions and seeking out women to run for office?
SH: First of all, the appointment of Hillary Clinton was brilliant. Wherever the Secretary goes, she meets with groups of women, many of whom are operating in grassroots or civil society. That sends a huge message throughout the country. Whether the White House can take a lot of credit for that is another question. In general, it is baffling to me that in a country that is 51 percent female, a president who has 100 percent of the power over his appointments doesn’t appoint women to 50 percent of his cabinet. Why don’t we start with a 50 percent gender balance, and then inside those males and females [slots] look for racial and geographic diversity? What is the logic there that doesn’t prevail? Now, is that a women’s issue? No. It’s about whether we want a country that is representative of its people.
HPR: You have been heavily involved in the efforts to end human trafficking. Could programs that target demand, not supply, for which you have advocated on the state level, be federalized to cut down human trafficking?
SH: That’s what they did in Sweden, largely because 47 percent of the parliament was women and they took it on as a cause. That’s the difference it makes. They passed a law saying it was illegal to buy a body, but they made it legal to sell so that a woman could receive help without going to jail…but they were determined to stamp out the prostitution business altogether. Such a method is absolutely possible in the United States. We need to pilot such a program in several places. I’m currently working right now in Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Colorado.
HPR: You were considered a contender for the Colorado Senate seat vacated by Ken Salazar in 2009. Are you at all considering running for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts in 2012?
SH: I think I’ve aged out. I’m spunky, but when you look at how the Senate works, I’ll be 61 in May. In the Senate, you’ve got a seniority issue. Although, when I read that Senator Bennet was ten years younger than me, I thought “Oh my gosh! He’s 50!” I just had never realized I was too old for anything.
Simon Thompson ‘14 is the Interviews Editor