U.S. compared to other nations, is losing ground in female representation in a political standing. America now ranks ninety-eighth in the world for percentage of women in its national legislature, down from 59th in 1998. That’s embarrassing: just behind Kenya and Indonesia, and barely ahead of the United Arab Emirates. Therefore, seeing a country that is so well known not showing an exemplary display of what equality should be is just wrong. Moreover, while many nations around the world make progress increasing women’s presence in positions of political power, the United States has not kept pace; 90 nations now surpass the U.S. in the percentage of women in the national legislature. Certainly, cultural and political components factor into the total number of women who hold seats in any nation’s legislature, but more than 50 democratic countries rank higher than the United States in women’s representation. Saying that are other countries that have more women in congress but those countries are making progress of women’s rights still as well the U.S.
Therefore, countries with a female representation are setting an example of what the United States should strive to be. We arrive at this conclusion by analyzing data we collected in 2001 and 2011 from thousands of male and female “potential candidates”– lawyers, business leaders, educators, and political activists, all of whom are well-situated to pursue a political candidacy the original survey, carried out in 2001, served as the first national study of the initial decision to run for office. Based on mail survey responses from 1,969 men and 1,796 women, we concluded that women were less likely than their male counterparts to consider running for office and that, across generations, men expressed more comfort and felt greater freedom than women when thinking about seeking office.4 therefore men think differently.
Men think with a cold mindset as compared to woman who can understand the situation with a compassionate mindset. But a lot has happened in the last ten years. The events of September 11, 2001, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Nancy Pelosi’s election as the first female Speaker of the House, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s 2008 battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sarah Palin’s vice presidential candidacy, and the rise of the Tea Party movement are only among the many recent developments that might affect interest in running for office. There many things that can drive someone to run for office let it be their thirst for power, a greed for money, or their sincere passion to help those in need. But not everyone’s intentions are crystal clear, which can polarize into self-greed but can also be to help transform the world into a better place for themselves and the people they love. The understanding of politics takes a lot of knowledge of the law and armaments to be able to make policies that can help without breaking the law. The laws need to be voted on and the person that is presenting it needs to be so convincing to make the law or policy pass then if everybody agrees then it’s passed. If there were more women in congress then more women rights policies are going to be able to be passed.