The woman wave: US poll lessons for liberal parties everywhere

One fact was crystal clear in the foggy US midterm election results. Wherever Democrats won, the victories were decisively seized by women and people of colour. Around 100 women have made it to the House of Representatives, and around 90% of them are Democrats. If the Trump presidency is the voice of white supremacy and patriarchy, rolling back hard-won civil rights and freedoms, women have been at the forefront of the resistance.

They have marched, campaigned, organised, donated. They have run for office, and they have won big. It is their participation, their fury and their strategy that have now reshaped the House. This includes Muslim women, Native American women, young women, those who do not conform to the old structures of what women seeking power should seem like or talk about and care about.  Women’s leadership is no longer limited to a few pantsuited figureheads, they are everywhere, and their presence cannot but alter the nature of politics now.

This offers important takeaways for liberal parties elsewhere. It is not enough for male party bosses to speak of women’s empowerment, women must seize power. They make up half the world, and they must be equally in charge of the world. This is not just about demographic justice; women’s leadership makes a proven difference in government. As they used to say in Uttar Pradesh in a different context, vote hamara raj tumhara, nahi chalega nahi chalega.