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The number of women in the US Congress has reached a record number, but there are still fewer women in Congress than men. Political scholars debate the causes of this gender imbalance, citing two leading reasons—the first points to the structural features of the US electoral system. The second suggests that party institutions, from party organizations to election campaigns, create barriers to women’s participation in elections.
Structural problems arise partly from its single-member constituencies. The two-party system and the lack of term limits give men an electoral advantage (Greenberg & Page, 2019). Women can get into Congress by winning an open-seat contest (Sanbonmatsu, 2020). It means that in most electoral cycles, women have few opportunities. In addition, the US lacks the gender quota system that is legally enforced in most democracies.
Participants in party institutions at all levels, including voters and donors, may be biased against women in high political positions. In recent years the increasing number of women in elected positions from the Democratic Party became a noticeable trend, and there are oppositional dynamics in the Republican Party. Sanbonmatsu explains that the Democrats have influential donors who support women in elections, while the Republicans have such organizations with significantly fewer resources (2020). She suggests that the sources of women’s inequality are not only gender but also race, nationality, and other factors.
It is possible to assume that the gender imbalance will improve in the coming decades. It is logical to assume that a more significant number of candidates will increase the representativeness of women in Congress. However, women face barriers even at the stage of promotion. They need to be more competent to win the support of donors and the party and eventually get the same number of votes as men. Introducing structural changes in the political process or carrying out reforms at the level of party institutions can improve the situation.
References
Sanbonmatsu, K. (2020). Women’s Underrepresentation in the US Congress. Daedalus, 149(1), 40-55. Web.
Greenberg, E., S. & Page, B., I. (2019). The struggle for democracy, 2018 elections, and updates edition. Pearson.
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