Women in American Politics

Overview

Males have historically dominated the American political scene, leaving females to often be an underrepresented body in government. Philip Cohen states “the United States, like every society in the world, remains a patriarchy[1]: they are ruled by men” [2]. While numerous female candidates have emerged on the American political scene throughout the years, no female has ever successfully been elected commander and chief. In 2016, the United States of America saw Hillary Clinton run for President. On November 8th 2016 she was defeated by Donald Trump in a very close race. While the U.S.A has seen “44 presidential administrations, [and] 43 men as president, Donald Trump now being the 44th" [3]. 44 men have been able to get elected and yet not one woman has achieved the same title.
The 2016 election has stirred the discussion of how America struggles to achieve parity in government. For example, in the Huffington Post an article titled “Let’s Be Clear: Hillary Lost Because she is a Woman” [4] was published. While there are numerous counter arguments, the discussion of why females are underrepresented in the government is the source of many discussions. This may be attributed to the fact that the presence of women in American politics is not representative of gender equality [5] despite the efforts of numerous institutions.

Hillary Rodham Clinton as Secretary of State, prior to her 2016 run for presidency.

History

While woman in American politics have not yet achieved the highest title of president, their overall presence in the American political system may not be overlooked. Historically, women have run for numerous electoral bodies in the American system. And their presence has only grown since the first women achieved positions in the political system.

Women for President and Presidential Candidates

Victoria Woodhull was one of the first female politicians in the United States. “One of Woodhull’s first major political moves after declaring her presidential candidacy was sending her Memorial (1870) to Congress in which she argued for woman’s suffrage using the New Departure strategy.” Woodhull was fighting for women’s suffrage at the time 43 Women after Woodhull have also made an attempt to run for President. [6]

Women as Vice-Presidents

Women have also attempted to be elected as vice presidents in the United States. As Susan J. Carroll says in the novel Women as Candidates in American Politics, “the pathbreaking 1984 nomination of Geraldine Ferraro as the Democratic candidate for the vice-presidency of the United States” have stirred huge amounts of attention towards the presence of females in American politics. The two most succesful candidates for this were Sarah Palin, and Geraldine Ferraro. Sarah Palin was the first Vice-Presidential nominee from the Republican Party of the states, and was nominated for Vice-President by Senator John McCain in 2008.[7] Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman ever nominated for a Vice Presidency of one of the major U.S political parties [8]. She represented the candidate for the Democratic party of the United States, and was nominated by Walter F. Mondale in 1984. [9]

Women in Congress

The first woman to run for congress was “Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1866. She ran as an independent in New York and won just 24 of the 12,000 votes cast.” Since then 307 women have served in Congress [10]. Sandra Day O'Connor was the first female to be appointed to the Supreme court. She received her title in 1981 by President Reagan and served until 2006. Additionally, women have served as governors, members of the President’s cabinet and mayors in years as early as 1887 [11].

Current Presence

In the current American government, the influence of women has greatly increased from the previous decade. In fact, “the number of women serving in state legislatures has more than quintupled since 1971” . Unfortunately, women still only represent 24.6% of state legislators . Currently seven women currently serve in cabinet or cabinet-level posts, and there are six current US governors that are women . Of these 6 governors, only two of these women are women of colour .
In Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox’s article, the presence of women in politics decreases as the level of the position increases. While there is more female representation in small community based governments in the United States, the female presence on the national level is minor .
Women have held numerous important roles in the history of the American government, although it is far from parity. This is because in order to achieve parity in the United States Governmental body many obstacles must be surmounted such as barriers to women’s interest in running for office. These would have to come in the form of “major cultural and political changes”. The Unites States has struggled to overcome the societal factors that discourage female presence in politics. In fact, “90 nations now surpass the U.S. in the percentage of women in the national legislature” demonstrating the inability of the United States to keep up with the rest of the world in terms of promoting female presence in their political system. In the photo from the Center for American Women in Politics attached, the proportions of women and men congress and senate members are demonstrated. There is still an overwhelming male presence in these high level governmental institutions.

A representation of the presence of women in the American House of Representatives, as well as the American Senate

References

Carroll, Susan J. Women as Candidates in American Politics. N.p.: Indiana University Press, 1994. Web. 1 Dec. 2016 Jones, Jason. “Breathing Life into a Public Woman: Victoria Woodhull’s Defense of Woman’s Suffrage.” Rhetoric Review 28.4 (2009): 352–369. Web. Lawless, Jennifer L, and Richard L Fox. “Men Rule.” Women and Politics Institute (2012): n.pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2016. Rutgers, Center for American Women and Politics, Fact Sheet: Women in State Legislatures 2015 (2015)