America was created by our Founding
Fathers in 1776. We have come a long way in the past 200+ years, but given the
statistics, if America was to be re-created today, it would still be founded by
fathers. Women have started
infiltrating the male-dominated field of politics, but we are still very much
held back in this career field.
Now, I’m not even going to discuss the
fact that while looking for articles surrounding Women in Politics, “13 Steps
to Great Election Sex” came up as a suggestion. (If you would like to read this
article or just want to make sure I didn’t make this up, it can be found here.)
This is a different issue that perhaps I can delve into at a later date.
Women don’t do well in politics. I
don’t mean they can’t hack it in the field; I mean they have a hard time
getting elected. Like the rest of the job force, women have a hard time getting
these jobs, which isn’t fair in any sense of the word. For a country that
values equality, having only 97 females out of 435 total members in Congress doesn’t
sound very equal to me.
The 2012 election was groundbreaking
for women because, WOW, we now have 20 female senators and 77 female house representatives
- the most women in Congress ever! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to discount
the progress made or the progress that this election indicates is coming –
Tammy Baldwin is not only a female senator, but also the first openly gay senator
to ever be elected. However, more women should be elected, get these jobs,
represent their people.
We have a few women who really stand
out as groundbreakers in the political field – Sandra Day O’Connor: the first
female Supreme Court justice (elected in 1981), Condoleezza Rice: the first
African-American Secretary of State (appointed by G.W. Bush in 2005), and
Hillary Clinton: former first lady, senator, and Secretary of State and a
leading Democratic candidate in the 2008 Presidential election. I applaud these
women and women like them for their groundbreaking success in the political
field.
My wish is that the
list of affluent female politicians grows past a few standout names. My wish is
that soon, the ground will officially be broken and women being elected will
not front-page news, but a common and expected outcome of our American
political system.
Being an American
politician is an ambitious and prestigious job to have. We should not forget
that while we are trying to break the glass ceiling in the workforce, this
includes government positions. Like CEOs, high-ranking female politicians are
rare but powerful. We need more of both.
- Erin Davoran
Sources:
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