Party Leadership Roles

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

Jeannette Rankin was an influential person even before she ran for Representative, but now that she is in a position of more power, she can surely bring about more changes than she already has. She is a committed pacifist and she knows how to get her ideas across to others. She has led the way for women into positions of federal power, and more will surely follow. Rankin will work to get nationwide women’s voting rights, and she believes in gender equality. As she has said, “Men and women are like left and right hands, it doesn’t make sense not to use them both.”

there are some issues that critics of amending the charter of the City of Detroit do point out. The literature on the representation of women finds precisely the opposite effect for single-member districts. While there are some exceptions, the vast majority of the research has concluded that districts are either meaningless (Alozie and Manganero 1993; Bullock and MacManus 1991) or disadvantageous for women candidates.” Trounstine and Valdini are quoted as saying “. Because women are nearly always between 48% and 52% of a community’s population, we cannot expect that they will be aided by districts. Furthermore, there is little evidence of gender-polarized voting. A number of studies have found that voters evaluate female candidates drawing on gendered stereotypes and that these stereotypes can affect perceptions about candidates and vote choice.” While it can be expected that changing the city charter to elect councilors by district or ward instead of at large may benefit African-American and Latino males, there is no clear evidence to support that these changes will benefit white women and women of color any in advancing their ability to hold elected office in Detroit or hold their councilor any more accountable than

What was the most underrepresented social group in the elected assemblies of the world? whether is the minority ethnic, religious groups or the poor? According to Putman’s statistic, the answer was “women”. (Putnam 1976 cited in Megyery 1991) Statistics have shown that although women around the globe occupy more than one half of the population, very small proportion become political elite. Different from what women have encountered, man tends to dominate many spheres in life which includes electoral politics. Such gender disparity happens everywhere not just in Canada. Ever since Canadian women suffrage and the right to candidacy was achieved, they have made a couple strides in political arena, yet not as many as they wish with the existence of electoral glass ceiling standing

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

If more women were in higher governmental power, additional action would be taken to improve the government and the world in general. Women have always been considered a follower of men since the beginning of time. However, women are being politically elected to be head of state and government, they are leaders of countries and role models for the younger generations. More than 20 countries currently have a woman holding office as the head of a national government, and the global participation rate of women in national-level parliaments is nearly 20%. In addition, women are highly devoted to promoting national and local policies that address the socioeconomic and political challenges facing women, children, and disadvantaged

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.

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

Women first gained the right to vote on August 26, 1920 with the 19th amendment was approved, giving women full voting rights. Fortified by the constitutional victory in 1920, the handful of new women in Congress embarked on what would become a century-long journey to broaden women’s role in government. In the intervening years, the drive for more women’s rights encompassed the lives of the next generations of women. Even today, women are still fighting for their rights and stand up against prejudice. On the forefront of this movement are our women congresswomen who speak on behalf of all women. When Hillary Clinton announced her presidential candidacy, controversial questions immediately surfaced about the role of gender in politics. Through Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008 and 2016, media is the principal propagator in showing bias and sexism.

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

However, as a – admittedly growing – minority, cooperation is sometimes necessary in order to get women’s voices across. In Iceland, the women of the left-wing People’s Alliance Party formed a coalition at the 1981 party congress, succeeding in getting nearly 50% women elected to the party’s Central Committee, and later in introducing party quotas (Dahlerup, 1988). Icelandic women went even further by creating a dedicated Women’s Party for the 1982 and 1983 local and parliamentary elections, breaking off from traditional parties due to their slow progress in women’s representation and their absorbing of female politicians on male premises. The Icelandic Women’s Party grew so successful it became a threat to those parties, pressuring them to hire more women in exchange for stepping down in later elections (Dahlerup,

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