1. The Politics of Parity: An Emerging Movement
This chapter sets the stage with statistics on the evolution of women’s political representation over the last 30 years. It traces the emergence of parity as a concept and as a global movement, showing how it is distinct from earlier theories and campaigns.
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2. The Parity Formula: More than Numbers
This chapter defines parity in terms of three components: (1) women and men have equal access to political office, (2) women and men have equal power in political life, and (3) women and men are represented in their full diversity.
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3. The Benefits of Parity: Under-Promise and Over-Deliver
This chapter outlines the benefits of parity, arguing it can advance equality and human rights, promote qualified and diligent politicians, foster more responsive public policy, increase democratic legitimacy, and encourage gender equality in other spheres.
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4. The Barriers to Parity: Tackling Resistance and Backlash
This chapter identifies three barriers to parity: socialization, which leads women to be less likely than men to pursue a political career; discrimination, which leads elites to be less likely to recruit and nominate women; and backlash, which punishes and seeks to exclude women from political life through various forms of violence, harassment, and gendered disinformation.
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5. The Parity Toolkit: Advancing a New World Order
This chapter outlines strategies used globally to counteract these three barriers, including consciousness-raising, political training, and care policies (socialization); gender quotas, political financing, and gender-sensitive institutions (discrimination); and anti-violence laws, codes of conduct, and information politics (backlash).
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6. The Parity Coalition: A Global Call to Action
This chapter provides a concise summary of each part of this roadmap. It shows how the various parts fit together and guides us on what we can do – as individuals and collectively – to make parity a new global reality.
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