Argumentative Essay On Women In Congress

Swers, M. L. (2002). The Difference Women Make: The Policy Impact of Women in Congress. Chicago: London: University of Chicago Press.

Within the past 50 years, there has been an increasing amount of women in the government. Whether these women hold powerful positions such as Secretary of State, or hold minor positions such as PTA President, a political revolution is brewing. The United States of America is lacking substantially with regards to females in office, in fact if one were to look statistically at the amount of women in the government, the United States is failing tremendously. Although the United States likes to claim that they are the land of opportunities, it seems as if the only ones reaping those benefits are cis white males. But, there are women who choose to break the glass ceiling and attempt to explore the opportunities that are in front of them, and one

As well, a woman’s place in the government was significantly different to a man’s. Geraldine Ferraro says, “For all that my female colleagues and I had achieved, we still had to more, work harder, and produce more to be judged the same as men” (Ferraro 57). She also says, “So much had changed…I arrived in Congress…I had joined the Congress Women's Caucus. But there were far to women in the House and Senate-only eleven Democrats and six Republicans to sway 435 votes” (Ferraro 41). Her evidence supporting the gender positions is evidenced by the ratio of men to women serving jobs in the government. She even goes on to acknowledge that if a woman works harder and is more efficient compared to the quality of a man’s work, at the end of the day

It is only recently, all things considered, that women are playing larger roles in the United States political system. However, there is still a large gap in gender representation between men and women. Some women, like politician Wendy Davis, are working diligently to close this gap and represent issues important to women. Despite the progress that is slowly being made, there are still large issues that face women in politics today, and under the scrutiny of the public eye it can be difficult for women to prove their readiness for leadership roles (though this should not be the case). In this paper I will be analyzing Wendy Davis' campaign for

In a graph that analyzes the women that make up Congress, it shows how far they have come since 1917 up to 2017 where we now see them making up around a quarter of its membership (Doc 4). As we know, seats in the House of Representatives are re-allocated every 10 years. This only grows more concerning because as we know 50% of our population is made up of women and Congress has the ability to screen proposals for bills. These bills can pertain to women, such as abortion laws, so we can see an unfair balance that the majority of men can continue to hold the power to control laws like this. Americans aren’t seeing themselves represented when they see that the majority of Congress may not believe in their concerns or needs.

Overall, the representation of elected women now stands at about 25 % at each level of government, including on municipal councils, in provincial/territorial legislatures and at federal level. (Parliament of Canada, 2016) With this significant gender parity in politics, the paper examines the causes of the under-representation of Canadian women in politics. Findings are based on scholarly articles and their analyzed data on why do fewer Canadian women run for political office. When taken together, the results presented in this paper argues that (1) unwelcoming environment (women and family unfriendly working environment) with lack of support in political engagement, (2) women’s experience of exclusion, paternalism and systemic discrimination in political realm, and (3) media’s portrayal of women as to be marginalized by the society are what cause Canadian women to be under-represented in politics. Finally, the paper raises an interesting question from the topic of gender disparity into further discussion of the discrimination within discriminated group women other than those privileged ones who are likely to be selected in public

In reality, however, women are equally and in some ways more qualified to hold leadership positions than men. Although there is no single explanation for why women are underrepresented in politics, the gender gap in the political arena stems from the lack of female participation in elections as women are often discouraged or feel threatened by society to run for political office. Young women who aspire a career in politics encounter both structural and emotional barriers, which prevent them from running for political office. Women battle issues of self-confidence, face stereotypes, and derive false perceptions of political campaigns, all of which broaden the gender gap in the political

Women have been historically underrepresented in government ever since the first institution of government. The United States of America has existed for 242 years and for only 102 of those years have women been in government. From the first woman, Jeanette Rankin, elected when women were not even allowed to vote, all the way to the most recent election where a strong, powerful woman had the potential to become the President of the United States. Female representation in government has grown over the years, however there are still many obstacles they must overcome in order to reach equal representation. Underrepresentation of women in government can be attributed to system-wide discrimination against women, a toxic culture that encourages women not to seek office, and a general prevailing attitude that believes women are unfit to govern.

The traditional view of a woman was to stay at home, clean the house, raise the children, and to help with the family farm. However, this view started to change around the late 19th century. Many people were opposed to the idea of women's rights, men, of course, being the majority of this population, thought they could represent women better than women themselves. As more and more women started standing up for themselves and started to fight for themselves, they got more leeway politically. However, to this day the modern woman is more represented by a man than by a woman herself. In 2008 the House of Representatives had electing record numbers of women (75 including non-voting delegates), but yet just 17 per cent of those US

There have been many significant strides since 1970 when women occupied almost no major elective positions in U.S. political institutions. Today’s society has reflected remarkable changes in women’s equality and acceptance. In 2008, Hillary Clinton received 18 million votes when she fought for presidency of the Democratic Party . In 2011, Sarah Palin was listed at the top of her candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. However, women are consistently being underrepresented in the political world reaching beyond just the federal level. Clyde and Thomas attest the underrepresentation to two basic reasons: lack of political ambition as well as historic exclusion of women from professions that tend to lead toward the political arena . Three central barriers contribute to the difficult road ahead for the

Numerous systemic barriers are preventing women from entering the political workforce including (but no limited to): family, the brutality of politics, male domination, stereotypes and traditionalism. Family plays probably the most important role in women’s decision-making on whether to enter politics.

Wilson points out that women are steadily gaining traction in legislature, but at a severely slow pace when compared to other Western democracies. Over 30% of all Democratic state legislator are women. Conversely, fewer than one in six Republican state legislators are women. The chances of a woman winning or losing a political election is no greater than a man’s chances.

The most adequate of women are being scared away from the political race because of the sexist attacks against women in government. The most suitable women look at past candidates and witness the attacks on them and choose to avoid the political

The political arena is a tough place to be part of, especially during a campaign. Your opponent and their supporters are constantly watching your every move with the hopes that you will make a mistake, or that somebody will find some detrimental dirt on you. Now imagine also being a woman, not only will you have to face the hardships that male candidates cope with but you will also have to handle the adversity based on your gender and the stereotypes that go along with being a female. Women have to be prepared to confront the fact that they may not even be wanted in that setting. For example Margaret Carlson stated,

Women are underrepresented in political offices at the national and local levels. Currently, only 17 women serve in the United States Senate out of 100 seats and only 16 percent of the United States House of Representatives are female. Why is this a problem? Legislatures, the House of