Gender Inequality In American Women Politics

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

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

Over 49.6% of the population is female, and yet in 2015 “Women currently hold 104, or 19.4%, of the 535 seats in the 114th U.S. Congress” (Center for American Women and Politics). Despite this odd split between population and politics, a little

Many people doubted women’s abilities to take care of the same issues that men handled. Nonetheless, over time, women have been able to spread awareness about their deserved rights; they have “established strong lobbying groups, won legislative and judicial victories, survived the defeat of the ERA, changed public attitudes about the equality of women, and helped overcome some of the gender imbalance in elective and appointive public office” (Women, 1961-present). Although equal rights have not been fully granted, women accomplished many feats in the past ninety years. Females have gained access to holding public office, with many of them reaching high positions. Women still must work to gain equal rights, but they have come a long way in terms of 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.

With wage discrimination between men and women, occupational segregation, higher poverty rates among females, and the lack of women in the decision-making body, Canadian women continue to fall behind men economically, socially, and politically. According to Linda Trimble and Pamela Marie Paxton, the lack of female political representation has been the principal reason for ongoing gender inequality. The underrepresentation of women in decision-making positions results in the neglect of women’s issues in public policies and programs; thus, the lack of critical numbers of women representatives not only impedes women from important negotiations in areas of finance or labour, but it also allows for the unequal status quo to continue/exist between genders.

According to the most recent US census in 2015, 50.8% of the population of the United States are in fact, women. Despite the sex ratio essentially being equal, female representation in government is not equal. A correlation is women in the federal bureaucracy and (generally) in federal politics did not occur until the early 1900s. For example, through the determination of Alice Paul, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and others strong women, women were brought the right to vote in the United States by the nineteenth amendment (1920). By this initial crack in the gender barrier, women were given the understanding of the importance of women in politics as well as the chance for their voice in politics. The crack has only furthered over time as more women are involved with the bureaucracy.

While America has improved over the past few decades, females are still very underrepresented in the government today. As Lili Gil quotes in her article entitled The Gender Crisis in Politics: U.S. Congress Fails at Equality, “The Nordic countries (Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, and Norway) lead the world regionally with 42.1 percent female representation in national legislatures” (Congress Research Service para 3.) It is very sad to see that America is beginning to fall behind in modern day thinking. While those countries may lack a modern landscape, they do not fail in modern thinking regarding gender equality. Iceland was the first country to elect a female into office 35 years ago, they also required that females have a 40% representation on the board of publicly traded companies, or for the companies to go out of business. Another shocking fact is that America, while being a progressive, democratic and developed country, has “greater gender disparities than Rwanda, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Bolivia and many other “developing” nations” (Gil para 3.) As proven in these successful countries, females being in higher positions do not hurt the country's prosperity, but help the countries in the long

According to the majority of Americans, women are every bit as capable of being worthy political leaders as men (Deane, Claudia; Morin, Rich; Parker, Kim; Horowitz Menasce Juliana; Wang, Wendy 7). They will improve on several different aspects, some of which have brought a new perspective to politics. Countless people believe that there should be a woman president, including men and woman. Studies have shown that countless people believe that more women in power would benefit every person in the nation (Kent, Lauren 6). There are currently 18 female world leaders, including 12 female heads of government and 11 elected female heads of state. Sixty- three of 142 nations have women as leaders (Kent, Lauren 6). Women who are in power will look to mitigate conflicts or stop conflicts before they even arise. A study has shown that female mayor attracts twice as much in discretionary transfers from the federal government as their male counterparts. Women are also less likely to engage in conceptual activities (Jarroud, Marianela 3). United Nations discovered that if women had the same access to employment as men do, poverty would shrink between the numbers of one and 14 percentage points in the countries of Latin America (Jarroud, Marianela 3). Gender roles have taught women that being paid at the same rate as men are acceptable and normal. Women come home from their everyday job to care for children, clean around the

Women have an impact on the political realm because of their different leadership styles, their different approaches to how to be a legislator, and the different way they prioritize issues based on their unique perspectives. These impacts are left out if women are not in office and do not have a seat at the table. This lack of descriptive representation leads to a lack of substantive representation on various policy issues such as public policy in education, the wage gap, and family law, as well as in reproductive rights, and gendered violence. Without women in office, these problems will continue to rise as men tend to not prioritize these issues which leaves them unheard or unresolved. I argue that institutional barriers such as term limits, committee placements, party platforms, and professional legislatures only add to this problem. This is because once women are in office they still have very little say because of their lack of leadership roles or high committee placements, their obligation to vote the way their party does, and commitment to their family which keeps them

For 91 years, the United States of America has become the sole superpower of the world by maintaining its global leadership and competitive position in both military and economic strength. As jobs and companies are being created around the world to improve their infrastructure and economy, the United States of America must also be willing to get back on its feet and continue to become the superpower it is. As the years continue, the future will be different with in advancements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. For the United States of America according to a 2008 survey by USA Today states that only 26% of the people who were surveyed had a clear understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and the United States citizens ability in math, science, and problem solving has dropped below to

According to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) (2017), in 2017 there are 104 women serving in the U.S. Congress, or about 19.4% of the 535 seats. In the senate, women make up 21% of the population. Additionally, in the House of Representatives, women hold 83 of the 435 seats, or 19.1% (CAWP, 2017). In 2017, 24.8% of state legislatures are women (CAWP, 2017). Historically, this has increased exponentially as the number of women serving in U.S. legislatures has quadrupled since 1971. Still, women are underrepresented in elected offices.

In the United States government, women have never been equally represented despite composing half of the population. For example, women only make up twenty percent of our national legislature. In consequence of this injustice, the United States ranks ninety-fifth in the world for the number of women in federal government.

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

Throughout history government and politics has been a patriarchal system; controlled by men. In recent years this system has been challenged as women have recently been gaining traction in the political world, after a past of zero tolerance of women in politics there is still a major issue with the number of women in the political realm. Women are underrepresented in politics and government because although men in politics like to fight for equal rights for women, in reality they are hesitant to follow through at the cost of losing their own foothold in the political world.