The history of the United States shows that women have had to overcome many struggles to achieve equal treatment in the arena of politics. It wasn’t until the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, that women were given the right to vote (Boundless, 2016). Years later, in 1981, President Ronald Reagan named Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Supreme Court Justice (Boundless, 2016). Since then, many women have worked in different levels of government politics in the United States. Currently, we are witnessing one of the biggest moments in history, in which the presidential candidate for a major party is a female. Although, women have come a long way in the political world, gender biases, gender expectations, and gender stereotypes …show more content…
Much of this prominence is placed by the media and the entertainment industries. According to the article, “2016 Outlook: Gender Bias, Media, and the Cause for Concern in Presidential Politics” research studies show, female political candidates often receive less media coverage than male candidates; however, when female candidates do appear on the media, they are often presented in a negative, stereotypical, and sexist way. For example, in the 2008 presidential election, Clinton was criticized for her lack of femininity (Dittmar, 2015). Furthermore, on several different occasions during Clinton’s campaign in 2008, the media referred to her as, “the wicked witch of the west” on CNN; a “blood-sucking vampire” on FOX; and a “she-devil” on MSNBC (Dittmar, 2015). However, this time around, supporters of Clinton have a campaign that is particularly aimed at journalists to prevent the use of sexist language when covering her in the …show more content…
Since a female’s appearance plays a major role in success for women entering a male-dominated political arena, Clinton chooses to wear pantsuits rather than dresses. Since the 1960’s, pantsuits have been a symbol of a woman’s empowerment and professionalism in the corporate and political world; however, it wasn’t until 1993 that women could wear pantsuits on the floor of the senate (Boyd & McGinley, 2009). By choosing to wear a pantsuit, Clinton in a way is emphasizing toughness, competence, and experience to further demonstrate that she is just as qualified to fulfill the presidential position as her male opponent, Trump. Therefore, Clinton distinguishes herself as feminine as possible by wearing pantsuits of many different colors, particularly blue, white, and red since displaying too much masculinity as a woman is perceived negatively by
Within the United States election season of 2012, we heard many of our current, and wanna-be elected leaders discussing a ‘so-called’ war on women. Coming into this years election cycle we will undoubtedly hear more of this discussion, which begs the question: Is there really a war on women in America? In America, women make up only 19% of the US Congress, 5% of the Fortune 500 C-level executives, and just 16% of the Heads of State [Nilges]. Whether it be in politics, the workplace, or through inherent speech patterns, gender bias influences opportunities afforded to both men and women. While tremendous improvement has been made within the United States over the last 3 generations, it is clearly a challenge that requires a persistent, collective effort.
In 2008 the first woman was awarded the position of Speaker of the House, and Hillary Clinton ran for president. While Hillary had widespread support leading people to believe that the two different genders had reached equality, there were several that doubted whether or not a woman has what it takes to be a president. The women that came into power that was generally held by men, needed to perform a balancing act. This balancing act was between the characteristics of women and projecting the masculine strength and leadership needed to hold their position (Jenen 14). This problem in society has been continuing on for a long time. In the 1970’s women had no standing in academia. That women were no use to the department they were studying and
On November 1912, women won the right to vote in Arizona. This period of time marked a lot of changes for women and politics in Arizona. Women had to struggle against a male dominated society that influenced their vote despite their new freedom to vote as they saw fit. The right to vote eventually led to a proliferation of women running for local, state, and national offices. Those running for office faced skepticism about their capabilities as a politician, concern over whether they had the drive, intelligence, and strength to face down opponents within the political arena. Despite these obstacles, women have proven to be successful politicians and have infiltrated the ranks of male dominated government systems, both within states and nationwide. Today, women are virtually equal to men as far as their capabilities are concerned, yet are still under-represented in the national political scene. By reviewing a brief history of a few women in politics in Arizona and examining current political themes, a platform is formed that allows an understanding and recognition of the struggles and progression of women in politics today.
On May 2, 2016 Jill Filipovic wrote an article in the New York Times that addresses the topic of women in power and how women can be at a disadvantage due to the fact that they just simply are not a man. Filipovic started her article by addressing the topic of race and how Representative Donna Edwards was accused of playing the race card during her election. In todays society many women have a hard time getting hired, trusted to execute a role, or even getting paid less by companies. Due to these issues many women such as Hillary Clinton is now being accused of “playing the women card” in her debates for presidency. The purpose of this piece of rhetoric is to argue that women are not just “playing the woman card” but that discrimination
When questioned about her political career, Clinton quipped, “‘I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas…but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession’” by running for office (237). Clinton continues to further the legacy of Chisholm and other trailblazing women by demonstrating her bravery in running for office. Still, as one Republican official described her, Clinton is often viewed as “‘grating, abrasive and boastful’” (236). Generally, female candidates are expected to be “more caring, compassionate, and emotional than their male counterparts, who tend to be seen as tough, assertive, and decisive” (Bauer). This issue is common among female candidates, and this expectation has certainly impacted Clinton’s campaign. Despite her background as Secretary of State, Clinton is continually questioned by her opponent about her strength. This constant doubt over fortitude is almost exclusively an issue for female candidates – and is one that has plagued Clinton’s political career, especially in this election
The American Government was designed to represent the people who are voting members of society. When analyzing the makeup of government, one could find that women have become an integral part to American politics. With the rise of female politicians, minority female political leaders still tend to come in low numbers. One could argue that the inclusion of minority females in politics is solely up to women. The responsibility of representing the American population as a whole should not be solely placed on one designated person or group but rather a collective effort of all. Minority females are typically seen at the negative end of statistics rather it is in education, health care, employment and the economy.
During her early life, Hillary Clinton learned that a huge problem across the globe was gender inequality. Women and men were not equal. Men were making more money than women for the same jobs. She believed she could change this. On September 5, 1995 Hillary Clinton gave a speech at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. Clinton uses powerful rhetoric in order to create an air of sympathy for women among her audience. She is hoping to make the world become more aware of the inequalities women face daily while also making them feel ashamed for their previous actions of discriminating women, which would cause them to change their ways. She uses her speech “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights” to create awareness of the discrimination
Before the 1920s men and women were thought to have two separate roles in life. People believed women should be concerned with their children, home, and religion, while men took care of business and politics. In 1920 there were significant changes for women in politics, the home, and the workplace. When the 19th amendment passed it gave women the right to vote. “Though slowly to use their newly won voting rights, by the end of the decade women were represented local, state, and national political committees and were influencing the political agenda of the federal government.” Now a days it’s normal for women to be involved in politics and it’s normal for women to vote. Another drastic change
However, with regard to women and electoral politics, there was not a huge change accomplishments of women until the 1960s and onward (Anderson 1, 1996). Today there is a record number of women in congress, with 20 serving in the Senate and 82 serving in the House of Representatives, which is still below 25% of members of the government (CAWP 2014). Women are underrepresented and less likely to be involved with or run for local or national levels of government. A popular belief, while unproven, is that women are less likely to run because they are concerned about their family responsibility (Fang 2014). Women are less likely to seek government positions because women are less likely to be encouraged to seek government positions, and are therefore less likely to be seen as a candidate for an open government position. Despite this, a Gallup poll in 2014 showed that 63 percent of Americans say that the U.S. would be more well governed if there were more political leaders who are women. So while women need to be more involved in political affairs to reduce the wage gap, the barrier isn 't that women are not wanted in office, nor that they are too focused on their families, but instead that there is very little encouragment for women to enter the political arena at
The underrepresentation of female’s interests and values is a global phenomenon as there is no country where women are equally represented on all levels of government. Since most women in the Western World gained the right to vote, there is no area of human life or development sector which is immune from the impact of inequitable gender relations. The central thesis of this paper is that women’s underrepresentation in elected office creates serious problems. This paper begins by analysing the key barriers of women to get into politics, especially into leading positions. It will then go on to the argument that women have special interests and needs, and that male politicians cannot represent those concerns adequately. Additionally, this paper describes further problems in today’s political world, such as women’s identification with
One thousand years go by and an abundant amount of people still view women in a stereotypical type of way. On the opposing view, if women did not overstretch the slightest of things, this wouldn’t be such an enormous issue. Women may be overreacting to what the media has to say about them. It is not affecting everybody but a vast majority of successful women from continuing to moving forward said Marianne Schnall. Important to realize, women are capable of doing jobs men can do. Such jobs as being an engineer, physician, mechanic, lawyer and even top notch business women! Up to the present time there is an ongoing public debate on women suffering from double standards. If it makes a female feel threatened or belittled than it may be sexist. A very interesting article this came to be because the writer had numerous accountants to keep her argument steady. A worthy writer brings up present time activities, statistics, and people being affected by the scenario and provides the reader some closure. With a devastatingly crucial issue such as women being shunned by the media, it’s not okay to have the ideas of other people in your work. In the article, “Controversial Hillary Cover of Time Illuminates Sexism in the Media” by Marianne Schnall, implies that the media is negatively affecting the chances of women becoming successful with all the sexism it is portraying. Marianne Schnall is a published writer and professional interviewer with many influential credentials that she in not afraid to use.
Throughout history, women have always fought to gain equal political rights, but conventional roles kept women from getting enough political representation. Many suffrage groups founded by women challenged the conventional roles of women during 1840 to 1968 with the dream of obtaining equal political representation. In 1919, the nineteenth amendment, drafted by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton was passed. The 19th amendment has been desired by many women for years. Although the 19th amendment passed and women thought that they were able to be equal in politics, many women did not get equal political representation due to their conventional roles at the time period. Women were not able to achieve high roles in politics, shown through the fact that there has never been a woman president in the history of the United States. The presidency of women did not occur due to the perceptions that generally, women should be protected and hidden, not out in the open and leadin...
One major factor in why women did not reach equality in America in the past century was their underrepresentation in local, state, and federal politics. Between 1917, when Jeanette Rankin became the first woman to serve in the United States Congress, and 2000, only 219 women have been elected as US representatives or senators. Of these, only 28 have been women of color. In contrast, in the 20th century over a thousand men served in Congress, and 132 men of color. In the 106th United States Congress (which met from 1999-2001) only 58 of the 535 legislators were women, and only 18 were women of color. As a result, laws that benefitted women faced heavy opposition before they could be passed. In addition, women made up the minority of Supreme Court justices and presidential cabinet members at every point in the 20th century, and of the 15 presidents...
Electing more female officials into Congress and state legislature to fulfill the gender gap in the American legislation will give women more pathways to equal rights in laws and policies. Currently, women only represent twenty percent of the American national legislation, and even less in many state legislations. Furthermore, this underrepresentation in the American government leads to a gender gap and misrepresents America’s body of approximately fifty percent female population. The general belief that the overwhelming amount of men in American legislation office causes women not to participate in politics. However, according to the American University in D.C. their study showed the perceived gender gap in government prevents women for running for political office. Nevertheless, the study found that novice politicians are more likely to run for office if encouraged by a fellow incumbent politician to run for a competitive seat; thus, it only takes more encouragement to fulfill the gender gap in politics
In Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign for president, there were people who criticized her for looking too haggard and they questioned whether or not her prior political success was because of her husband, Bill Clinton (Lawless). This narrow media coverage of her appearance is a consequence of our culture’s issues with stereotypes in gender. The men that were running were not questioned as to whether their success was dependent on others, however, since society placed the stereotype that women are being valued only for their appearance. The main issue with this is that without the initial gender stereotypes, all candidates, business owners, news anchors and people would be treated equally and