Voter Turnout
 Statistics by Country 

 Why Proportional Representation Elects Women 

Among the first questions many people ask are, “Why does Proportional Representation elect more women?” or, “How much do they affect policies?”

Proportional Representation elects several reps in a district. So each party offers several nominees to the voters. An all-male slate or party list would look totally sexist; so parties nominate some women. But with one-winner districts, many voters don't notice if a party nominates only men.

In a multi-winner race, a woman often is not seen as running against a man or an incumbent. She is more likely to be seen as running for her issues and policies. Most “women prefer to compete in teams” of two or more candidates.

A party's list also may reveal its class, ethnic or religious bias; and Fair-share Spending can reveal its budget choices.

Australia is another good example to look at. Its lower house has 26% women, 37 of 150 seats in the 41st parliament, 40 of 150 seats in the 42nd. That is a higher share for women than any other house elected from single-winner districts. They are elected by a voting rule called Alternative Vote, Preference Vote, Instant Runoff, and STV1 or Hare, by Australians, Europeans, Americans, and academics. As those names imply it 1) lets a voter rank many candidates and 2) combines the primary and general elections so there are often more than 2 important candidates. This encourages voter participation; turnout runs about 90%. Australia is often the top-20 country with the highest voter turnout. (Voting, like taxes and jury duty, is mandatory.)

Other factors may affect voter turnout and election of women:

Culture: The electoral success of women is influenced by the quality of education for women and by gender prejudices, often based in religion.

Latitude: Cultures that favor accurate democracy seem to correlate with distance from the Equator — even within a cultural region such as Europe or within a large country such as the USA. As with any statistical tendency there are exceptions, for example Costa Rica is notably more democratic and less authoritarian than its neighbors.

 Election Rules and Policy Results 

The statistics above make it clear: advocates for education, health care, a clean environment or a clean government should all work for better voting rules.

When we work to ease urgent needs, we often overlook the essential needs, the roots of those problems. At the root, we often get poor policies, due to poor representation, due to poor election laws.

The link between voting rules and quality of life is clear in statistics from nations. It's likely true for cities too, and for other democratic groups.

Do female reps tend to raise education and health results?
Do these raise low incomes and so lessen violent crime?

Consequences: It appears that legislatures with fewer women tend to give less attention, priority and funding to health care, child care, education, and other social needs. Run-down schools and hospitals are one blight; a class of citizens with inferior education and health are another.

Fair-share Spending gives the opposition some power.
So votes to elect them no longer feel like wasted votes.
This can boost the voter turnout in elections.

Older statistics: Voter turnout and seats for woman vary from year to year in each country. But PR countries always hold the top spots and winner-take-all countries do poorly. Another page has more countries but older statistics on voter turnout statistics in other countries.