The year of the woman? Not yet!
Kathryn Barrett-Gaines
Contrary to recent headlines, the year of the woman has not yet begun.
While we have elected record numbers of women, the proportions do not match the population. Twenty women will sit in the U.S. Senate, but that is only 20 percent. Of the 434 members of the House of Representatives, only 77 are women, a mere 18 percent.
The need for, and lack of, women in elected office is so incredibly overlooked that we actually think that these numbers are something to celebrate. These numbers do not excite me; they alarm me. Our representatives are far from representative. We need at least 52 women in the U.S. Senate, just to be aligned with our population.
This disproportion is at a lesser extreme at the state level. The Maryland House of Delegates seats 45 women out of 141 members; that is 31 percent. Eleven women sit in the Maryland Senate, 23 percent. These proportions are better than those in the U.S. Congress, but they are not just.
More women than men now attend college. More women than men now earn graduate degrees. More women than men run marathons. More women than men vote. But a female electorate has once again elected a government not reflective of the people.
Are women not senatorial? Are women not presidential? Do women not look like members of Congress? They do! And they will appear so to more people every year from here on out.
Even when the U.S. Senate seats 52 women, that will not be the year of the woman. Simple parity will not usher in the year of the woman. The year of the woman commences when the U.S. Congress looks like the New Hampshire government. New Hampshire has elected women to the governor’s office and the entire congressional delegation to Washington. Now, that’s a year of women!
Is there a difference between men and women leaders? Heck yeah! New Hampshire is on to something. I cannot find the reference I need for a comment I heard attributed to President Gerald Ford. If he did not say it in the 1970s, I say it now: “Once we elect a woman president, we will never go back to men.”
Other countries surpass the U.S. with women in elected leadership. Eighteen nations currently follow female presidents and prime ministers. Germany, Britain, Australia, even Argentina, Haiti and Liberia have all passed the buck to women. Uganda, where I spend a lot of time, has had a female vice president. The trend will spread, at long last, to the U.S.
Who looks presidential to you now? Wait a minute; that will change.
The accuracy of references in this essay, (including all opinions, quotes, references, proper names, dates, references to documents, literature, film etc.) are the responsibility of Dr. Barrett-Gaines and have not been fact checked by the Real Life @ UMES Blog Team.
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