The lack of woman in politics

 Recently I read a from HUFFPOST TEEN  an entry from a blog called The Lack of Women in Politics. The “article” was not overly long but mostly objective and informative. It raised an issue of inequality in politics between men and women. It said that woman are still seen as a stereotypical housewives , whose place is at home, maybe at some job (not time consuming), but definitely not in politics, because of their assigned roles as wives and mothers.

This image created by men is very hurtful and unfair, because despite the progress made with equality, women still are outnumbered in countless jobs, especially in politics. Although many studies have shown that women are more than capable of running for the office and can devote themselves to the family life as well as to their work, still they are dismissed as professionals.

I am certain that it will take many years, if not decades to put a stop to such prejudice. That the unjust image of women will eventually case to exist and that female politicians will not compel surprise or disbelief. 

K.

Woman in government – in search of literature.

Today I started to do a little research for anything connected with women in government (in written form), so in short a book hunt. It is not going as smoothly as I anticipated, but I am patient and after Christmas will re-start my search. So I came across 2 books and a list of books concerning women in politics. I hope to find something worthwhile.

Let’s start with the first book Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics by Justin S. Vaughn, Lilly J. Goren. Obviously I won’t go into details, I only just found it, but it seems promising, so here is a little description “The president of the United States traditionally serves as a symbol of power, virtue, ability, dominance, popularity, and patriarchy. In recent years, however, the high-profile candidacies of Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and Michelle Bachmann have provoked new interest in gendered popular culture and how it influences Americans' perceptions of the country's highest political office.” For more, go to : http://books.google.pl/books?id=jy3nMjlXnyoC&hl=pl&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The second book is a Women and Government: New Ways to Political Power by Mim Kelber. Like I said previously I just found it, so I can’t give any reviews. Here is a short description “This comprehensive, up-to-date work examines the political status of women in the world's governments and challenges the view that women in the United States and other countries are breaking through traditional barriers to achieve unprecedented political power. It is based upon a study funded by the Ford Foundation and directed by Bella Abzug and Mim Kelber. Using interviews with female political leaders and data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the United Nations, and other sources, the study notes that although women have made great progress in some areas, "in the majority of male-led governments the environment remains either indifferent or hostile to sharing power with women." The book describes the historical and ideological basis for women's exclusion from leadership, the official and unofficial efforts being made to overcome this disparity, the diverse experiences of women in developing and industrialized nations seeking entry to male political strongholds, and the particular problems they face in electoral or appointive office.” For more information go to : http://books.google.pl/books/about/Women_and_Government.html?id=fXDV3HQTtPcC&redir_esc=y

Also while searching I came across a list of book concerning women in politics, here it is https://www.questia.com/library/politics-and-government/political-science/u-s-political-figures/women-in-politics  I do hope it will be hopeful in writing my BA paper.

So that’s it for today. I think it’s a good start in beginning my bibliography.

More to come,

K

Commander in Chief - The First Lady or Gentleman?

Since my last entry last week, I have watched a few episodes of Commander in Chief and came to  few conclusions about men.  

First of all, why men are so jealous of women on higher seat. The character of Nathan Templeton is a perfect example of that kind of behaviour. Because he did not become the President of United States his main gaol in life changed, and he is doing everything in his power to destroy the current President, that is a woman -   Mackenzie Allen. He wants her to lose power, to humiliate herself and her way of governing. Why? Because he can’t deal with his pride, he thinks that woman are not supposed to rule in government, especially as the head of the nation. And the perfect example is the process of finding a person for a seat as Vice President. Mackenzie had her own candidate chosen already and good reasons backing her decision, but because she didn’t ask Templeton for advice he decided to push through his own man, the one that President definitely did not want. The media found out and choosing another person for the office would seem unprofessional. However Mackenzie did what she thought was best for the country, she denied choosing the candidate suggested by Templeton and named her own, the one she wanted from the beginning.

Secondly the position of “The First Lady” Rod Calloway. The staff was disoriented how to behave because he was a male. At first he was treated like The First Lady, which completely wasn’t fine with him. He had to experience the change because of his gander, he was faced with difficulties just like his wife had. I think that is a perfect example of how stereotypes conduct people’s lives. But coming back to the topic at hand, Calloway in time became The First Gentleman and had changed his duties to those more suitable for him.

These examples perfectly show how gender, stereotypes and prejudice can affect people’s life. Women have to face many challenges in their lives, especially at work. And being a female politician in the Office is still something rare and widely commented. The situation of The First Gentleman shows how gender affect people’s view of behaving and acting around said person and very often creates even more misleading stereotypes as well as difficulties with performing given duties.