Greetings.
In this article by The Huffington Post, author Marina Fang discusses the general public opinion that there aren’t more women running for political positions because they’re more concerned about family matters. However I believe this opinion is wrong. Although society is continuing to evolve, the role of women staying at home to take care of kids is still the norm. (Stay-at-home dads are slowing becoming more prevalent.) Because of this norm, the general public still feels that family situations limit women’s abilities and opportunities to be dedicated and viable political candidates. An example brought up in the article is how there’s speculation about whether Hillary Clinton will continue to run despite the fact that she’ll be a grandmother soon at the time that the article was written; she is currently a grandmother and is still running.
The article brings to light data collected by Jennifer Lawless, the director of Women and Politics Institute at American University. Lawless found that the main reason why there aren’t more women in politics is because most political recruiters maintain a close network of contacts; and women aren’t often on those lists. Women aren’t on those lists because they aren’t generally encouraged to run for political positions. According to Lang, no one in the job field regularly says to a female colleague, “you should run for political office.” Without this encouragement, women don’t feel as if they’d be able to succeed in the campaign even though evidence shows that there isn’t any difference between how women and men are treated within campaigns. Fang suggests that to alter this system, the general public needs to dissociate the idea that a woman's ability to succeed is based on her family conditions and to encourage more women to run for office. Fang believes that it could be possible to convince the public that once more women are present in the political system, our government will vastly improve.
Fang’s points are all valid, and I do agree that we need to continue to blur the line of gender roles in our society. At the same time, I feel her argument that if more women were in politics our current system would be better is a bit presumptuous. More than likely, a different viewpoint or opinion will improve our government but at the same time, there’s no proof. Women may be just as irrational and argumentative in political offices as men.
Moving forwards, I do feel that more women need to be encouraged to pursue politics as a possible career, but I’m curious as to whether a gender-balanced government will improve the system or if it will remain stagnant.
In this article by The Huffington Post, author Marina Fang discusses the general public opinion that there aren’t more women running for political positions because they’re more concerned about family matters. However I believe this opinion is wrong. Although society is continuing to evolve, the role of women staying at home to take care of kids is still the norm. (Stay-at-home dads are slowing becoming more prevalent.) Because of this norm, the general public still feels that family situations limit women’s abilities and opportunities to be dedicated and viable political candidates. An example brought up in the article is how there’s speculation about whether Hillary Clinton will continue to run despite the fact that she’ll be a grandmother soon at the time that the article was written; she is currently a grandmother and is still running.
The article brings to light data collected by Jennifer Lawless, the director of Women and Politics Institute at American University. Lawless found that the main reason why there aren’t more women in politics is because most political recruiters maintain a close network of contacts; and women aren’t often on those lists. Women aren’t on those lists because they aren’t generally encouraged to run for political positions. According to Lang, no one in the job field regularly says to a female colleague, “you should run for political office.” Without this encouragement, women don’t feel as if they’d be able to succeed in the campaign even though evidence shows that there isn’t any difference between how women and men are treated within campaigns. Fang suggests that to alter this system, the general public needs to dissociate the idea that a woman's ability to succeed is based on her family conditions and to encourage more women to run for office. Fang believes that it could be possible to convince the public that once more women are present in the political system, our government will vastly improve.
Fang’s points are all valid, and I do agree that we need to continue to blur the line of gender roles in our society. At the same time, I feel her argument that if more women were in politics our current system would be better is a bit presumptuous. More than likely, a different viewpoint or opinion will improve our government but at the same time, there’s no proof. Women may be just as irrational and argumentative in political offices as men.
Moving forwards, I do feel that more women need to be encouraged to pursue politics as a possible career, but I’m curious as to whether a gender-balanced government will improve the system or if it will remain stagnant.