Women in Politics

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Jade Hamelin
Professor Werbel
Political Science 101
February 10, 15
Word Count: 918 It has been proven over and over many times that women have the abilities to do the same jobs as men, but as a society we tend to discourage women when they are trying to get in the fields of politics and government. No longer is the excuse that family is what is pulling women back when it comes to job opportunities, it is what society has chosen as what roles women should and shouldn’t take part in. The more we encourage women in running for offices, the more there will be women in office, and therefore we would have a broader view of issues that need to be solved. If the United States marches proudly on how its state’s people are equal and the government diversified why is that women only hold less than 20% of congressional seats, when the women population is approximately 161 million while the male population is 156.1 million? Surprisingly enough, the percentage of voters that were women in the U.S was 63.7% comparing that to men, which were 59.7%. Why are not more women being supportive of their fellow women? The benefits of having more women in office not only show how far we have come as a country but it has been proven that women who run for office have more bills passed that deal with issues like the environment, families, civil rights, and violence prevention. “Other studies have found that women legislators—both Republican and Hamelin 2 Democrat—introduce a lot more bills than men in the areas of civil rights and liberties, education, health, labor and more. Globally, research has shown that ethnically diverse and divided nations that elect women rather than men to key national leadership offices end up with better economic performance” (Hill).
Women can bring issues of importance that men feel are not as important. This does not mean that men are inferior or ignorant of the issues; it is just the matter of different perspectives. With more women in office, more issues can be brought to light. This introduces the people with more options to vote for and bills to pass that will help families and the economy. If all the science calculates the benefits of women in government, the only thing that hasn’t been put into consideration is society’s view on a women role. Since the dawn of ages, we have lived in a patriarchal family where men are in charge of the business and bringing food to the table, while women care and nurture for the children and her husband. “In patriarchally organized societies, masculine values become the ideological structure of the society as a whole. Masculinity thus becomes “innately” valuable and femininity serves a contrapuntal function to delineate and magnify the hierarchical dominance of masculinity” (Devor 393). When the people see a man and women running for the same position, they look to the man as having more “power” and “authority” which can then lead them to believe they can handle and control situations
Hamelin 3 better. As a society we believe that the women should be submissive, and men to be dominate. When women in the workplace are more demanding they are perceived as “bossy” and having a rude manner, but when men act the same way, we let them be because we are so used to the idea of them being more assertive. These are the biases and stereotypes we as a society need to change in order to see that anyone can do the same job. A politicians gender shouldn’t effect their work habits. In media women are perceived as “emotional” and that their intentions are only focused in family issues, when in reality that is not the case. In order for society to give women opportunities in our government, we the people need to reevaluate our own thinking and perceptions. We as a society need to encourage our women to run for offices in government. According to the WCF foundation, number one reason why there are so few women in power is because on average women candidates tend to raise less money for fundraising comparing to their male counterparts. Also, on the off-chance that media isn’t reporting about the private life of a women running in office, women tend to get less media coverage, especially on the issues they are concerned with. “…media reports on women 's issues—like abortion and birth control—men are quoted some five times more than women are. And that affects the coverage of women in politics” (Dawn). If we can just get more media coverage on how women can contribute to politics on issues not just family issues, we can illuminate a way for people to see broader issues that need to be tended. Hamelin 4 In order for our country and people to work together we must take inconsideration of diversity in the government. The way we think and our patriarchal system needs to be reformed. As Jennifer Lawless said, “It 's important that we separate out political conditions from the sex of the candidate because otherwise we 're just perpetuating this myth that women can 't get elected." If we are continuously focusing on gender and the person who is in charge and not their ideals or what issues they are trying to combat, then we lose focus of a ‘government’. Strong- female politicians can also set an example to younger generations in the future, and create a more efficient government.

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Works Cited
Dawn, Aurora. "Percentage of Women in Government Worldwide." The Gender Gap. Daily Kos, 27 Sept. 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2015. Devor, Aaron H. “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender.” Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Ninth ed. Boston: Bedford/St.Martins, 1992. 387-396. Print. Giang, Vivian. "What Men And Women Really Think About Gender Equality In The Workplace." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 21 Aug. 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. Hill, Steven. "Why Does the US Still Have So Few Women in Office?" Why Does the US Still Have So Few Women in Office? The Nation, 7 Mar. 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. Kimmel, Michael. “Bros before Hos: The Guy Code.” Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Ninth ed. Boston: Bedford/St.Martins, 1992. 461-470. Print. Waber, Ben. "What Data Analytics Says About Gender Inequality in the Workplace." Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. "Women by the Numbers." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

Cited: Dawn, Aurora. "Percentage of Women in Government Worldwide." The Gender Gap. Daily Kos, 27 Sept. 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2015. Ninth ed. Boston: Bedford/St.Martins, 1992. 387-396. Print. Hill, Steven. "Why Does the US Still Have So Few Women in Office?" Why Does the US Still Have So Few Women in Office? The Nation, 7 Mar. 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. Bedford/St.Martins, 1992. 461-470. Print. "Women by the Numbers." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.