Gaps in Government

Political offices in the United States are still held by a much smaller ratio of women to men in comparison to other nations around the world. “Ninety nations around the world have more women in their national legislature than the United States. Rwanda, Cuba and Sweden are among the countries ranked in the top five,” stated an article from Lancaster online. 

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/advancing-women-s-role-in-politics-is-still-a-work/article_0d759d48-9437-11e3-a778-0017a43b2370.html

“Women…were used to seeing women as the teachers, not the principals; as the nurses, not the doctors; as the flight attendants, not the pilots,” the article provides some positive insight into the way the United States is today as compared to 50 or 60 years ago.  But, the political arena continues to be a field with substantially fewer women holding positions. 

The article identifies three reasons why this disparity continues to occur.  The director of the Center for American Women and Politics, Jean Sinzdak, explains what she believes is most likely the contributing factors to gender disparity in government.

 

“1. Women are less likely than men to get asked to run for office.  2. Women have a harder time seeing themselves as politicians because they have fewer examples and are much less likely than men to think they are qualified to run.  3. Women react more negatively than men to partisan politics including asking for money to launch campaigns.”

I’m not sure these reasons are entirely accurate, but still deserve some consideration. It is especially interesting to consider why the United States isn’t closer in gender ratios as compared to almost one hundred other nations.