Women in Politics: An Equality Emergency
While the mid-term elections involved the constant media coverage of several female candidates (O’Donnell, Angle, McMahon, et al), the current tally shows that even when the last winners are determined, the number of women in elective offices will have dropped for the first time since 1978. Experts indicate that the number of women in the upcoming Congress is expected to slip slightly below the previous figure of 17 percent. This will bring the U.S. ranking to 90th in the world for the number of women serving in its country’s national legislature.
The situation has been declared an “equality emergency” by the Women’ Campaign Forum (WCF), a nonpartisan organization founded to support women at all levels of office, particularly during the earliest stages of their public life when support is most needed.
While many people look to 1920 and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment as the start of women casting ballots in the United States, this actually isn’t true.