A century has passed since the first woman was elected to the United States Congress, but that timespan has yielded little progress in the chronic underrepresentation of women in American federal government.
In 1916, the election of Jeanette Rankin of Montana marked the beginning of women in Congress. Upon being elected, Rankin famously said, “I may be the first woman member of Congress, but I won’t be the last.” Since then, 313 other women have served in Congress, and yet progress for gender equity in politics has moved shockingly slowly compared to many other fields, such as business and medicine. Women still only hold 17 percent of seats in Congress, despite making up a slim majority of the U.S. population. The United States currently ranks 83rd worldwide in terms of percentage of women serving at the congressional or parliamentary level of government, falling far behind the likes of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uganda. Our uniquely lopsided leadership — and the stagnant progress to equalize it — is the result of systemic and social impediments that both discourage women from running for office and dissuade voters from supporting them.
The advantage of incumbency, which is responsible for a low turnover rate for elected representatives as a whole, severely limits the number of women who are able to get elected. Incumbency provides increased name recognition among voters, more successful fundraising campaigns due to better staffing and public support, and a platform of past experience upon which the candidate may stand. This does not make incumbents undefeatable, but it does make it much more difficult for political newcomers to put up a good fight. Since female candidates tend to struggle more than male candidates with garnering fundraising and public support, the incumbency advantage works doubly against them.
Additionally, women often run later in life than men do, typically waiting until after they’ve had children. Working in Congress — and even just campaigning to be elected — is an all-consuming job, leaving little time for raising a family. Even with shifting social dynamics and an increase in the prevalence of stay-at-home fathers and shared parental responsibilities, women are less likely to run for public office until their children are grown. In effect, women often have a shorter number of years during which they can gain political experience, leaving men more likely to be able to take advantage of incumbency. These factors not only discourage women from running for office in the first place, but also make the path to success even more difficult.
Another discouraging consideration for women is the type of media coverage that past female candidates have received. A survey of women who were considering running for office showed that the media’s depiction of and reaction to Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin scared them away from pursuing political office. While no politician escapes a political campaign without receiving harsh media coverage, coverage of female candidates tends to be far more focused on their personal lives and appearance than the more policy-centered coverage their male opponents enjoy. In a study of the newspaper coverage of 2002 mixed-gender gubernatorial and senatorial races, it was found that the marital status of a female candidate was mentioned eight times more often in coverage than that of a male candidate. Similarly, a female candidate’s appearance was mentioned six times as often as that of a male candidate. There are also disparities found in the frequency with which reporters call attention to the gender of female candidates as opposed to male candidates. Carol Mosely-Braun, the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate, was once described by The Chicago Tribune as a “den mother with a cheerleader’s smile.” When Elizabeth Dole ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, the media coverage she received failed to accurately reflect her standing in the polls or her stances on issues, and was disproportionately focused on her lack of funding. Dole’s male opponents received much more issue coverage, while Dole received far more attention about her personality and appearance. As political strategist Barbara Palmer puts it, “It’s still husbands and hemlines.”
Only slightly less stark than the disparity between men and women in Congress is that between Democratic and Republican women in Congress. Women make up only 8 percent of the Republican caucus in the House, while Democratic women constitute a still disproportionate 29 percent of their own party’s House caucus. The largest factor in this disparity is that women are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans, meaning that there is simply a larger pool of women on the left from which the Democrats can draw. Another cause is the increasing polarization of the Republican party: Female Republicans tend to be more moderate than their male counterparts, making their political views more out of line with the party’s shifting ideology and therefore less likely to recieve support from Republican voters. Despite the fact that female Republicans on ballots with more moderate views might help the Republican party repair its fraying relationship with women voters, female Republicans are the least likely to run for office, and when they do, they often fail to gain much traction.
American politics is one of the last standing and most prominent boys’ clubs in the country. The systematic hindrances to women’s success in politics, as well as social pressures and sexism, discourage women from running for public office and deter voters from voting for the rare ones who end up with their name on the ballot. Women’s voices are critically underrepresented on committees and in votes concerning women’s access to healthcare, paid parental leave, and social welfare programs. But women’s voices are necessary in Congress as a whole, not just on “women’s issues.” The economy, national security, trade, agriculture, and the national debt are matters of national interest, but are being debated by one of the most exclusive, homogeneous groups in the country. A more representative government — with a more accurate proportion of female representatives — will lead to the creation of policies that are reflective of more Americans. A government of, by, and for the people cannot exist until women’s voices share an equal stage with their male counterparts.