Women In The Federal Bureaucracy: An Analysis

This was certainly true in the 1860’s when women were not even allowed to vote for who they believe should represent the country. Around the world there are 32 countries that don’t guarantee gender equality. Included in the list of these 32 is the United States. The equal rights amendment would allow women equality in all areas of the constitution but this has not been ratified. Back in the 1860’s as well as today, we can see the affects of this inequality with the law and how it promotes discrimination. America is behind now Iceland and Rwanda with the 28th spot on the “Global Gender Gap Report”. In the late 1860s women were not participating in government, had minimal opportunities and participation in the work force. Though the Civil War had employed many women in factories, women were still heavily reliant on their husbands. In addition to working outside of the house, women during these times were also expected to be a housewife. Today, these aspects of society are still true. Currently in the United States, only 66 percent of women are employed, and only 19 perecent of our government is represented by women. Looking at these statistics, a direct connection can be seen between the gender inequalities today and in 1866.

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.

a.) The Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote, and it made a big impact on the electorate because the size of the eligible voting population increased. Nevertheless, until 1980, women voted at a lower rate than men. After 1980, the reverse is true and women have voted at higher rates than men. After the 19th amendment was passed in 1920, there was not much change in the results of elections or government policy because women tended to vote in a similar manner as their spouses. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press shows that there is a currently a gender gap whereby women vote differently on certain issues than men. Women tend to vote for issues such as universal health care and gay marriage. In addition, women tend to vote with the democratic party as seen in the 2008 election when 56% of women voters voted democrat and 33% voted republican in contrast to the men who voted 46% democrat and

On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enforcing that all American women had the right to vote, and were granted the same rights and responsibilities as men in terms of citizenship. Until this time, the only people who were allowed to vote in elections in the United States were male citizens. For over 100 years, women who were apart of the women’s suffrage movement fought for their right to vote, and faced many hardships and discrimination because of it. The American women’s suffrage movement was one of the most important political movements in history, and could not have been successful without the perseverance of many women over many years.

All women above 18 in U.S received the right to vote on August 18, 1920. Today there is almost complete equality for the rights given to men and women. In addition, women are a huge part of previously male dominated careers such as medicine, law, engineering and business whereas in the 1850’s they could only be a nurse, governess or teacher. All education facilities are open to women and for the past 35 years, women have been the majority of American colleges compared to men. According to the U.S Department of Education, 56% of college students are female. In the 19th century and early 20th century, women salaries were less than 50% of men’s salaries especially since employers assumed that working women were single and only had to support themselves whereas men supported the whole family. Today, salaries for women have risen considerably even though the average working woman still receives less than the average

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

Women were not granted equal rights when the nation was formed it took them well over 50 years to earn it as it started in 1848 and ended in 1920. Along with many other rights women did not have the ability to vote because people believed women should not have more to worry about other than being a house wife. The process was anything but simple they had a large number of advocates and activists working to show they deserved equal rights just as much as men did. In 1920 the nineteenth amendment was ratified and deemed so important because it ended women's suffrage by finally giving them the right which was a victory considering all the effort they put forth over the course of 72 long years.

Many things have shaped the world as we know it today. The 1920’s was a huge factor in social change. One huge change that shaped America is women. Women in the 1920’s became involved in politics, economics, and more. Little did they know that they would have a huge influence on the women of today.

One must reach far back in history in order to appreciate what two women are currently undertaking in the political arena in the United States. Presently, two women are vying for their respective political party’s nomination to become President of the United States, however in the late nineteenth century this would have never been thought possible. Women during this era had no self-representation other than their husbands and fathers. Several generations of women who supported the suffrage movement, fought to change the Constitution of the United States. These revolutionary women of the United States played a monumental role in making this a reality. As a result of these women’s efforts, and many more that followed, the 19th amendment to the Constitution was ratified on August 18, 1920, allowing women the right to vote. This amendment marks one of the most pivotal points in American politics.

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

Women have failed to capitalize on the right to vote ever since the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. For the most part, women do not desire to involve themselves in political affairs. Moreover, women who wanted to run for a political office often lacked the efficient management to run their campaign, and the adequate resources to use the media to advertise their campaign agenda. Since we live in a democratic country, women should never complain about their failure to gain adequate representation in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Society cannot do much more for women to win political elections and compete against men; women should learn how to support each other. In a free country, various groups of people, including women, will always demand certain rights that will serve their own agenda. It is healthy to compete and demand certain rights, but some women’s rights are baseless and cannot be granted because women should not be treated more sympathetically just because they are women. America is the land of opportunity for those who are willing to work and strive to achieve their

In the mid-1900s, women had to fight to be treated equally. Many women marched, publically spoke, petitioned and performed other non-violent actions in protest. One serious issue was not being able to vote. “When the U.S. was founded, its female citizens did not share all of the same rights as men, including the right to vote.” (History.com Staff 2010). In 1920, the 19th amendment had been ratified and women now had the right to vote.

The research utilized an exploratory case study method through the application of various academic articles and significant statistical data in the development of the study. This study explicitly explores women working within all federal agencies of the government at different grade levels. In this research one classification system was reviewed, the Senior Executive Services classification.

According to Dr. Michael C. Herron, an associate professor of Government at Dartmouth College stated “The population of minority groups have changed every year. In the early 1800’s, the number one ranking minority group was African Americans followed closely by women. Yet by 2050, African Americans and women have the potential of being the top ranking majority group” (Berlatsky, 2015, pp. 62-91). Once again, women were the second largest minority group in the United States during the seventeenth century. Women did not receive the right to vote until fifty years after African Americans and poor whites were given the right. As far back as 1848, groups of women gathered together discussing on ways to further their rights. One of the most iconic minority group leaders, especially for women, was Susan B. Anthony. Anthony collected antislavery petitions at a young age and was supported by Harriet Tubman and Elizabeth Stanton. These three women all were major influences on ending women’s suffrage. After seventy-two years of trying to achieve women’s rights, on August 18, 1920, Congress ratified the nineteenth amendment, ending women’s suffrage, stating all humans were created equal and shall not be decided strictly upon gender (Fuller, 2015, pp. 102-130).

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