Essay about The Underrepresentation of Women in United States Politics

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

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.

Sexism in media against female candidates has a huge impact on their political success. For one, sexist remarks against female candidates influence their voters. Sexist remarks made by the media influences almost every potential voter less likely to cast a ballot in favor for the female candidate. A hypothetical congressional race between women candidate "Jane Smith" and male candidate "Dan Jones" was introduced to a group of survey participants. Half of the

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

Society is okay with the mistreatment of women in the media because it has been seen as an accepted form of communication within the past. Whether it is through sexualizing a female in a Karl’s Junior commercial, or calling Taylor Swift a “slut” for dating men, there is a lack of understanding of why the media is problematic. As society becomes more progressive, it should be expected that the perceptions of females should also change as well. It is completely unfair to criticize someone is such a powerful position because she may have messed up in the past, human beings are not perfect, and they are flawed. Except in this culture, we accept the flaws that males make but make a huge scene whenever a female does something that might not be inherently right. Donald Trump, another contender in the 2016 Election, is seen on multiple instances mocking women for their appearance and completely stripping all females’ attributions when he sexualizes them. If Clinton were too make such crude comments about males to the media, she would be torn apart but because Trump is a white rich male, he holds himself as if nothing can affect him. These double standards are not only problematic because they continue to objectify women, but they are problematic because the feed into the systematic oppression that the United States holds so closely. Of course, I acknowledge

Arguing her views in “The Glass Ceiling in Politics needs to be Shattered”, was Marie Cocco stating how women’s roles in politics still need a major improvement. Bernard mainly concentrates on Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin’s role in the 2008 election, while Cocco focuses primarily on the role women play in politics in general. Bernard suggests that women are moving up in the political world when she states “There are no positions that women cannot fill” (Has Been Shattered”, par 3.). On the other hand, Cocco is suggesting that women are in the same spot as they have for years when she states “…they both banged their heads—hard—against the ceiling. Both were bruised. So was the goal of advancing women in political leadership” (Needs to be Shattered”, par. 2). Both Bernard and Cocco feel strongly about their views on the glass ceiling. However, despite their opposing views, common ground is able to be found. Both women strongly agree that it is time for women to step up and be treated

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

Personal frames written by journalists in the 1992 campaign were analyzed by John Devit and supported the claim that the coverage of female candidates was biased. The sources in his analysis were more likely to use personal frames in describing female candidates than in describing male candidates (Appendix 1).

Current scholarly literature after the 2008 Presidential Election presented a clear existence of negative stereotypes and double binds facing Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin (Carlin & Winfrey, 2009). The Double Bind is a term for the balancing act female candidates face when they have to remain feminine enough to not be seen as overtly masculine (Jamieson, 1995). However, in doing so, female candidates have to also be masculine enough to be taken seriously on certain policy issues like the economy, foreign policy, or the military (Carlin &Winfrey, 2009; Jamieson, 1995; Schneider, 2014). This balancing act is almost impossible for women to maintain; and while female candidates face criticism for not maintaining the balance, their male counterparts

“Women belong in the private sphere. Men belong in the public sphere. Attempting to mix these two worlds is difficult.” (Zamfirache 2010:177). It is a woman’s duty to focus on her family. It is a man’s job to focus on his career. “Boys are told that they can become president one day; the best girls can hope for is to grow up to marry a man who one day may be president” (Renzetti, Curran, Maier 2012: 313). Adolescents are lead to believe that politics is a male-dominated institution, that there is no room for women in this arena.

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.

America is typically at the forefront when it comes to modern thinking; however, when it comes to gender roles, America is falling behind. Since we do not see many if any females in higher government positions, the younger generations of females begin to believe that it is not the norm for a women to be in those positions. Because of this the younger generation of females do not strive for those positions. Lili Gil who is a Entrepreneur, Multicultural Strategist, and Cofounder of XL Alliance, cover this issue in her article entitled, “The Gender Crisis in Politics: U.S. Congress Fails at Equality.” This article, published May 26, 2012, covers many different aspects of this situation. Her article talks about how other countries have progressed

Political participation is when one partakes in an activity that has the intent or effect of influencing government action. The most political participation women partake in is voting. National documents do not refer to women and refer to them in context as wives, mothers or property. Most of the freedoms and virtues given in those documents were to white men. McBride and Parry discuss of the Supreme Court views women's rights. They state “At the same time, the Supreme Court guidelines leave room for legislation that treats men and women differently, with potential for unequal treatment. The equality dilemma remains unsolved” (47). Since the nineteenth amendment was ratified not much has been done about women’s equality and while the court promises equality for all it does not live up to its promise. A lot has changed since the twentieth century and the courts should work with the government to reach decisions on various issues discussed in this paper. In terms of political participation and the political parties the numbers are again disportionate. In agreement with this, Barbara Burelli states in her book Women and Political Participation; A Reference Handbook “Women make up a small portion of Democrat and Republican delegates. Women have consistently reported lower levels of involvement, and the gap has not

Gender stereotypes–oversimplified ideas of female or male qualities and mannerisms–exist in all areas of life. In the political sphere, stereotypes, such as women not being outspoken or authoritative, negatively influence women and pose barriers to those who are running for political leadership positions. Because women are stereotypically viewed as “warm, gentle, kind, and passive,” in comparison to the typical man that is viewed as “tough, aggressive and assertive,” women feel that their qualities are not suited for political candidacy (Huddy, Nayda). Women are indirectly told through stereotyping that the political arena is unsuitable for their gender; therefore, they pursue careers they feel are suitable for their “feminine” character traits. The higher level of male participation, in comparison to female participation, in political elections is not because the electoral environment “favours” stereotypical male qualities, but rather, the campaigning, and public speaking aspects of the election process are perceived as unsuitable for women. Furthermore, a study conducted in 2014 discovered that voters tend to assign “positive leadership traits to male politicians,” whereas female politicians are repeatedly depicted as having “other characteristics that are not equated with political leadership” such as their physical image (Thomas, Kei). Much like in everyday life, stereotypes drive women to believe they are not capable of running for office or unlikely to win elections despite their exceeding qualifications. Even though stereotypes will always exist, it is important for young women to reflect on their leadership qualities and not allow deeply-rooted stereotypes in the political arena to impede their pursuit of a career in

She accomplishes this through the use of facts, and emotional connotations of various credible interviewers to relay the message that women can do something to achieve leadership in America, as well as change today’s statistics when it comes to positions of power. Since the year 1979, women have not made gains in Congress (Newsom). In today’s world, the media is the message as well as the messenger and it’s not too late for women to do something about it. Even though boys are growing up with the phenomenon that it is a necessity to be misogynist stereotypes, Newsom, effectively convinces her audience that these kids are conforming to hyper-masculinity, and leading women to be controlled and looked down upon by men. She presents such a powerful message by successfully demonstrating how media perceive women without supremacy through the use of pathos, ethos, and