Role models didn’t fix women’s representation in politics. Recruiting will | Anna Ortwein | TEDxDuke

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Speaking from her own experience running for the German Parliament at 19, Anna Ortwein argues that despite Germany normalizing women’s leadership during Angela Merkel’s 2005-2021 chancellorship, women’s representation in the German Bundestag has stagnated at about 32% since 1998, showing that "role-model” leadership alone doesn’t change how candidates are recruited and promoted. Similarly, in the United States, women hold roughly 28% of voting seats in United States Congress. She argues that this underrepresentation points less to an electability problem than to barriers at the point of entry. Using gun violence as an example, she shows how gendered public concerns shape what officials prioritize in office and concludes that increasing women’s political representation — not simply proposing new policies — is what will move stalled issues forward. Anna Ortwein is a sophomore from Germany at Duke University, studying Political Science and Economics. She is passionate about understanding

Tags: English, Policy, Politics, Social Change, Social Sciences, TEDxTalks, Voice, Women, Youth, [TEDxEID:67400]