what with two women topping the ballot in the north carolina senate race— oh you hadn’t heard? its kay and liddy— people are starting to think that the glass ceiling has shattered. was this a superficial smattering of glass?
let’s see:
1) this senatorial election cycle, north carolina will elect a woman. what, chris? no….. we’re not swinging that way this time.
2) we also might elect a female governor (beverly perdue)
3) and maybe… the first woman vice president (sarah palin)
is this the wave of the future?
nope. these dashing damsels are actually the exception in north carolina. despite the prominence of these positions, women actually only hold 22% of elected office. this includes school board membership, city and town councils, and the state house and senate. i should also mention that in north carolina, the female vote makes up 54% of the electorate. furthermore, women in office are concentrated in cities, while in more rural areas, over one-third of offices have no female leaders involved in the policy process.
so comprehensively, only 16% of women are on the ballot. that means that 84% are men, even though of the voting constituents of north carolina, 46% are men.
on the bright side, in the olden times, there were no women in political life at all. you know, in like the 1800s. this is the new millenium, people.
so… who can we blame?? as it turns out, everyone.
- women express interest in campaigns half as often as men.
- on average, women enter the political arena 12 years later than men. (family, primary caregiver, ect)
- the republicans and democrats don’t often train and recruit women for office.
- society
- culture
- history
the last three, if you’re interested, well, you could read volumes.
According to Gloria Steinman, gender is the “most restricting force in America,” despite the media’s disregard for gender in campaigns.
maybe, if gender became as important as race in the public sphere, america could move forward and crush these societal plagues once and for all.
the secondary moral of the story is, i’m a personalized blogger. you got comments/questions i DEDICATE A BLOG TO IT.
