Women in politics
 

In an email I got from Howard Dean today, there was the following passage:

Damn.

But the women on his list are pretty much safe (Barbara Boxer) or don't have a chance to win (Nancy Farmer). I don't know why he didn't select people with actual competitive races.

How many women run?

In other countries are they prevented from running??

-Rudey

Says the man who ran for elected office.

How sad!

They just count the number of women in elected offices, no? Is this just national ones?
And why are the replies to this post negative? What are you all defending? It's kind of sad that we have a culture where women aren't as involved in politics as they could be, or perhaps should be. Whatever the reasons may be (women don't feel comfortable running, women don't feel they would be elected if they ran, or women run and don't get elected), it's not a good sign.

Answer the questions.

-Rudey

I doubt anyone here will claim women to be less capable or qualified for public office, but Rudey raises an interesting point - if I'm not mistaken, there are strikingly low numbers of women running for office, and that as a proportion, women who do run are elected at a proportionate rate.

Now, this raises other issues, most glaringly the nomination process for offices that require them, but the sad fact is that, in a society where 51% of the population is female, far less than 10% of candidates are female.

I realize I'm not proposing a solution, but I feel it's important that we sift through the issue and find the actual roots of the problem first.

I'm not defending anything, by the way - I think it's just as sad as you do, but I'm not sure how to solve the problem. I do think, however, that in recent years we've seen slow progress, with highly-touted female governors, senators, and cabinet officials coming into the public eye, and generally performing well. I just don't think that the gender bias (on either side) will be eliminated without this kind of slow progress - it's a time-consuming task, changing peoples' minds.

I think Dean should tell his wife should run instead of himself for office. Why didn't he?? He is a vile sexist that is holding women back!

-Rudey

I am not suggesting that anyone IS saying they are less capable. (I listed 3 possible reasons women would not be elected, and actually losing to a male opponent was only one of the 3).

I also don't feel the answer to this statistic is "women don't run, so how can we elect them?". There must be a reason why women don't run! The same way there are hypotheses why women (and other minorities) are still not well-represented in the higher corporate positions. The answer is certainly complex, but taking it to the next level and considering what subtle cultural forces and trends might be driving this fact is necessary.

I think the statistic itself is disheartening. Although it is completely possible for women to run for offices, somehow in our culture women don't want to, or feel they are not suitable. It begs 2 questions: Why do women feel they are not suitable? and Why do women chose other, sometimes very typically female, careers? I don't have an answer to that, although I know I am a product of it. I work in an 80 person department with 7 men (early childhood education anyone?). I want to be more involved in public health, and health policy—areas teaming with female RN’s. I have considered a political career and decided not to do it. My reasons are personal, but are they also a reflection of what women in my position everywhere think?

I think Howard Dean should leave politics and let him wife run for office.

-Rudey
--He's just another rich white boy taking a spot away from minorities, women, and the less-advantaged

Interestingly enough, you are begging the question here (in the sense of the logical fallacy) by assuming that women simply don't want to run.

I'd actually imagine, especially with regard to the corporate scenarios that you mentioned, that there is a much stronger bias than 'cultural' at work.

To address the cultural side, though -

1.) It is most likely a 'cultural imaging' thing, to drop some jargon. Since every president has been male, when you close your eyes and imagine a president, he's male. There may be group-psychological holdover from the fact that for the majority of our nation's history, women couldn't run or even vote. There's another interesting corollary that I'll end with, that I think applies, but I feel like this sort of cultural imagery is something that education and science are ending quickly (via equal opportunities, and proving sex differences are minimal at best in relation to most activities).

2.) As far as there being traditionally "female" careers, I think we'll all agree that this occurs - shit, if you and I sat down over a boulevard pale ale and made a list, we'd probably come up with almost identical groupings, even with our different upbringings and geographic (and presumably cultural) backgrounds. It's similar to why 'girls are always pink, boys are always blue' - and again, it's cultural imaging, on a different level. At some point, it goes from expressly spelled out gender roles a la the 18th century, to just being social convention. It's hard to break these conventions, even actively trying - most people don't even realize when they do it.



Here's the final thought, though, and the hopeful side of this sort of thing: while it's disheartening to look at the figures now, the hope for advancement comes in the fact that the majority of CEOs, political figures, etc are all old, primarily 50+ yrs old. I don't know how old you are, XOMichelle, but that's a full generation older than my little ass - so hopefully the signs we see today are harbingers of advancement.

-RC
--i write posts about poop right before ones that use 'harbinger' - weird

There are some factors that would prevent most women from running for an office that would require them to be away from home for half of the year.. children. It is easier for the dad to be away from kids than it is for the mom.

My city's elected officials are 75% female, something I was impressed by!


Dee

But RC,

That still doesn't explain why some countries that traditionally favour males over females have had more female politicians.

The US doesn't have a parliamentary form of government.

What does that have to do with having fewer women in the government? I'm not just talking about a Head of Government here, I'm talking about holding office in general.