Clear Need and Pathways to Increase Women in Elected Leadership

On November 31-December 2, The German Marshall Fund of the United States' (GMF) Transatlantic Leadership Initiatives team joined in convening 40 of the leading activists on women in politics from Europe and the U.S. for the dialogue ExCHANGE - a groundbreaking event aiming to foster transatlantic innovation to increase the participation of women in political decision-making.

Reta Jo Lewis, director of congressional affairs, Corinna Horst, Brussels office deputy director, and senior fellow Lora Berg of GMF joined in designing the discussions. The group shared the challenges and opportunities necessary to increase the number of women in positions of political leadership through interactive workshops, working groups, and panel discussions, including a high powered GMF alumni panel on the topic of intersectionality.  Participants discussed barriers and solutions in six areas: Political Parties; Money; Electoral Systems; Media and Culture; Candidate Supply and Development and Intersectionality. Foremost, U.S. participants gained insights into structural changes European partners have initiated, while European partners learned in depth about how U.S. organizations build the power of potential women candidates from recruitment, to running and winning office. 

This program grew as a cooperative effort of GMF, the European Women’s Lobby, and the Reflective Democracy Campaign, with the support of the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union, the Barbara Lee Foundation, the U.S. Mission to the EU and the Municipality of St Josse.