Category: Politics

By: Gerard Marretta & Ben Pirko

We have learned that gender is not a uniform lens that politics can be viewed through, and certain factors can impact each gender differently. After researching the history and causes of the gender gap in politics, we have found that there are disparities between men and women in many different areas related to politics. Areas of most interest are political action, political party identification, political representation in office, motivations for voting, and political knowledge. Relating to the gap in political action, since women engage in more private political activism than men, but politicians pay attention to the public actions, are policy decisions more reflective of male preferences? A future study should seek to find out how policy makers acquire their populations’ opinions and understand that political engagement is not about more or less when comparing between men and women but moreso, the difference in how men and women engage. In regards to political representation in office, self-perceived qualifications is the strongest predictor of women considering running for office so, future studies should examine if women perceive themselves to be more qualified as more women enter the field of politics. Similarly, are the current women in office now more qualified than their male counterparts since they perceive themselves to be more qualified when beginning the selection process? When analyzing the gap in political knowledge of men and women, we found that many surveys narrowly measure political knowledge and as a result, women are disadvantaged. Many U.S. surveys include a “don’t know” option which puts women at a disadvantage because women are more susceptible to choosing “don’t know” while men will simply guess. Additionally, women are at a disadvantage when having to identify (mostly male) elected officials on the surveys because women are significantly underrepresented in national politics. To make for a more accurate representation of political knowledge of men and women, we believe that a policy implication should be to remove the “don’t know” option from all political surveys. Without this policy implication, women will be perceived as less politically knowledgeable than men which is not accurate rather, a consequence of our system in place. We found that it is very interesting to see when the “don’t know” option is eliminated, women are equally knowledgeable on national-level electoral politics and rules of the game, as well as gender-relevant and state political information. Also that women are significantly more knowledgeable than men in terms of government programs and services, regardless of whether a “don’t know” option is available.

We have learned that women are underrepresented and misunderstood in American politics and this is largely due to the systematic structures and unconscious biases in our society.

Sources:

Coffé, H., & Bolzendahl, C. (2010). Same game, different rules? Gender differences in political participation. Sex roles, 62(5), 318-333.

Welch, S. (1985). Are women more liberal than men in the US Congress?. Legislative Studies Quarterly, 125-134.

Fox, R. L., & Lawless, J. L. (2004). Entering the arena? Gender and the decision to run for office. American Journal of Political Science, 48(2), 264-280.

Bennett, L. L., & Bennett, S. E. (1989). Enduring gender differences in political interest: The impact of socialization and political dispositions. American Politics Quarterly, 17(1), 105-122.

Miller, M. K. (2019). Who knows more about politics? A dual explanation for the gender gap. American Politics Research, 47(1), 174-188.

By: Cole Berglund, Owen Mcdermott, Roshan Syed

Summary:

Gender equality causes difficulties for women in the political world. Not only are women vastly outnumbered in politics, but they receive harassment from voters as well as their peers.[1] Being a minority in politics, women are put under a microscope for their political actions. In some cases, women are extensively recognized for their success but also blamed severely for failures.[2] Men are more encouraged by the public to run for office than women. Women exemplify that they can succeed in political positions, as they are equally represented in positions such as city council and congress.[3] Despite frequent success in local political positions, women are rarely considered for state and federal roles[4]. The gender gap in political support is most notable for elected offices. Margaret Conway discusses the drawbacks women face in the political world, particularly entry into elected offices. Theories that suppress women from elected offices include the confining social norms of domestic life for women, the acquired skills gathered from non-political activities that are geared towards men, and gatekeeping who can acquire sufficient endorsements, finances, and staff to successfully run for office.[5]

Policy

While there are many challenges in specifically combating the generational discrimination against women in politics, implementing required courses that inform children at a young age about politics and the steps necessary to make a career in government could help level out the numbers. More importantly, societal acceptance of women in government is the most crucial point, after all, these are elected positions, and without change, the current discrimination trends will continue. To combat gatekeeping, a policy should be enacted that requires a political party to put forth a man and a woman during the selection phase. This will solve the internal issues of gender inequality and give women equal opportunity to be voted into federal positions.

How this impacts you

These issues impact us personally because men and women are different; half of society is female, so women should account for half of these positions. It does not make sense for leadership positions to be predominantly male if society is not predominantly male.  

What have you learned/Questions

Research has shown us that women are unfairly and unjustly treated in politics- female representation needs to increase if we want to strive for a more balanced and equal society.

1. As women fight for equal representation, what can students like us do to help aid this process?
2. What are the steps we can take to break down the negative stigma around women not just in politics but in all places of work?

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Sources

[1] Mona Lisa Krook (2020). Violence Against Women in Politics (In: Sawer, M., Jenkins, F., Downing, K. (eds) How Gender Can Transform the Social Sciences. Palgrave Pivot) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43236-2_6

[2] Lovenduski, Joni. Feminizing Politics. Polity, 2005

[3] Conway, Margaret. Women and Political Participation. PSOnline, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1350210

[4] Mona Lisa Krook (2020). Violence Against Women in Politics

[5] Conway, Margaret. Women and Political Participation. PSOnline, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1350210

By Angela Clark & Alyssa Gazivoda

Throughout our nation’s political history, evidence of women’s political participation has increased and yielded striking results. Even with rising participation, women still remain far from equal and continue to struggle, which is why this needs to change. As of 2022, there were 148 women sworn in at the beginning of the 117th Congress, which surpassed the 130 women that were serving in the 116th Congress (Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview, 2022). In 2021, a record-high for women serving in the U.S. Senate was 26 of 100 seats (Women in Elective Office 2022, 2022). In the same year, 30.6% of 310 seats of statewide elective executive officials were women (Women in Elective Office 2022, 2022). As illustrated in our infographic, the data has shown slight improvements over an astounding 200-year period (Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview, 2022). Due to less female participation in politics, how can political institutions aid in promoting women’s voices being heard when they insert their concerns into political discussions? 

A policy intervention that would encourage more participation of female candidates would include creating public campaign funding and support programs that boost female candidates’ fundraising potential (Rothschild, 2020). Changing our electoral rules so that each voice has equal weight will bring us closer to a perfect union (Rothschild, 2020). It would be interesting to see more programs and organizations put in place to inspire political ambition in young women. This could include webinars for them to engage in and workshops about the political system. 

The lack of women in politics has troubling consequences and limits our country’s potential. This country is built on the foundation of democracy and everyone’s voices being heard. When women face significant barriers to becoming the face of their communities, the very basis of representative democracy is weakened (Rothschild, 2020). Despite gender-based obstacles, female politicians have been shown to govern in more democratic ways, to be more effective at improving the health of their constituents, and to be more successful and adaptive in pursuit of issue specialization and consensus building (Rothschild, 2020). 

On a personal level, this issue has impacted us significantly in regard to experiences from our adolescent years. In grade school, when we learned about politicians, there were only ever lectures or depictions of male representatives. We cannot remember a time when a discussion around a female politician was ever a focal point of the lecture, which served as a norm that we have been accustomed to since. 

Additionally, a factor that played a role in deterring us from a career in politics as women is due to the negative media portrayal of female politicians. We have seen women politicians be discriminated against and negatively valued under stereotypes in media coverage, even with less coverage of female politicians overall. After discussing our research and past experiences, we believe that exposing young women to female politicians and how they ended up pursuing a career in politics can bring about change and inspire adolescent females to want to consider pursuing a profession in politics. With that being said, how can institutions do their part to implement change into their curriculum or class structure in efforts to increase exposure to women in politics to help empower and improve confidence for their female students?

Throughout our research, we have learned that although there have been strides to improve female participation in politics, there is still a long way to go. Aside from what the data entails, even in sectors across all careers, women have key contributions to make to leadership and should have a seat at the table. Diverse leadership in politics benefits all, and an upward trajectory of women’s political participation can enhance this notion. Understanding this has shifted our worldview to having optimism in that policy intervention and sustainable implementation can aid in the continued efforts to close the gap. 

Sources:

Rothschild, L. E. (2020). “The Gender Gap in American Politics: How Money in Politics Affects Female Representation.” Inquiries Journal, 12(10).

(2022). Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview. Congressional Research Service. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R43244.pdf.

(2022). Women in Elective Office 2022. Center for American Women and Politics. https://cawp.rutgers.edu/facts/current-numbers/women-elective-office-2022