Newsflash 12/3: An Unfortunate Election Year for Women in Washington

In the CNN article “Despite new female faces in Congress, numbers in decline,” author Dana Bash reports the disappointing decline in the number of women in Congress after this November’s election. Earlier this month, voters came out in droves, proving their skepticism of the Democratic leadership in Congress by electing Republicans, many of whom also beat out long-time incumbent representatives with a traditionally strong competitive edge. While the media highlighted this year’s contest as a year for women, the turnout proved to be otherwise. This year marks the first in three decades that the number of women in Congress has not increased. In fact, only 17% of representatives in Congress are women, a staggering number when we consider that women make up over half of our nation’s population (Bash). Congress is supposed to be a body that represents the multifaceted population and interests of that population under a democracy. However, with such little representation of women in Congress, a major group of people in our country is being underrepresented and as a result their interests are being overlooked and often ignored. While I do not think there should be quotas in place to ensure a certain number of females fill specific seats in Congress, I do believe that the government ought to enact legislation that better benefits female Senators and House Representatives. The laws that govern our legislative body ought to provide women with better access and flexibility, with their roles as mothers and wives kept in mind.
Bash reports that while the number of women in Congress did not increase this year, there was a record number of Republican House Representatives elected, in some cases beating out strong political bulls (Bash). For instance, Bash explains, GOP candidate Vicky Hartzler from Missouri toppled incumbent House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, a 34-year House veteran (Bash). While Hartzler and other elected Republican women do not credit their victories on gender, they do agree that their perspectives as females and mothers were appealing to constituents. Further, in a predominately male-dominated party, Hartzler and other elected Republican representatives explain that they will give their party a unique outlook.
Despite the gains for Republican women, there was still no increase in the number of female representatives overall in Congress (Bash). This trend seems to fit with the fact that there has been relatively no growth of females representatives since 1992, the so-called “year of the woman.” In fact, of the 535 members of Congress, only 73 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives are women and only 17 of the 100 members of the Senate are women (Bash). Lisa Murkowski’s Senate race in Alaska, which has yet to be decided, could also have an impact for the representation of women in the legislative branch. If Murkowski is not reelected, the number of women in the Senate will drop for the first time since 1979 (Bash). It seems odd that such a small number of women are represented in the body that should reflect the makeup of America.
Further, while the media has made it appear that women are making strides in politics, the case is clearly not a reality. With Hilary Clinton as a Presidential candidate and political powerhouse, along with Sara Palin as the first female Vice-Presidential nominee and Nancy Pelosi as the first female House Speaker, it appears that women are taking the stage as strong politicians with political vigor and determination that would scare any male seeking election. However, despite the strides these pioneers have made, Bash reports, Republican women had a relatively small success rate in this year’s election: 28% (Bash). Democratic female candidates, though a little more successful, only secured 46% of the seats for which they ran (Bash). And while Democrats have one-up on female Republicans in their success rates, fewer Democratic females competed in the election this year than in the recent past. Regardless of party affiliation, the results are clear, as evidence of the fact that the United States ranks a high 90th in the world when it comes to the number of women in national legislatures.

In addition, despite any gains women made this year in Republican representation, their novice status has altered the role of women in leadership positions in Congress. Lawless with the Women and Politics Institute at American University says, “The problem with Republicans is that not only do they have very few women, most of them are relatively new entrants into the chamber” (Bash). The only leadership position that remains seems to be Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington. She is expected to keep her position as vice chair of the House GOP Conference, the fifth-ranking position if you count the speaker at the top, Bash explains (Bash). She decided not to take a higher-ranking position, because as a pregnant mother of two, she feels it is the right decision “professionally and personally” (Bash) In addition, with the Republican overhaul in Congress, many Democratic female representatives are losing their prominent leadership positions. For instance, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will hand over her position, but will likely hold on to her role as top House Democrat. Further, Rep. Louise Slaughter at the House Rules Committee, Rep. Nydia Velazquez at the Small Business Committee and Rep. Zoe Lofgren at the House Ethics Committee are expected to lose their leadership positions (Bash). The only woman expected to rise in the ranks, according to Bash, is Ros-Lehtinen, who is likely to become chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (Bash). With such a diminished role of women in the legislature and such an influx of novice representatives, it seems unlikely that women will wield as much power as they had in the past, which as we know, was very little.

I believe that while the Republican Party made strides in electing women this fall, the overall lack of women and their diminished role in Congress is indicative of a country that still falls short when it comes to representing all interests in government. In order to fix this unfortunate reality, I believe the government ought to enact policies that give women better access and flexibility to compete and work successfully in the legislature. I think this can best be accomplished by providing women with work hours that allow for them to juggle the difficult tasks of being oftentimes mothers and professionals. Furthermore, there ought to be policies that allow pregnant politicians to hold high ranking positions while going through the normal birth process. This would allow women like Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington to move up the political ladder while maintaining a healthy personal life. Also, I believe there should be better policies to encourage women to run for positions in politics. This may mean campaign finance reform or other means to allow easier access for professional women from diverse backgrounds to seek candidacy. Finally, I believe that by increasing awareness through the media that women make up such a small percentage of our legislators in Congress, it may be possible to inspire more females to join their political allies in a race to Washington.


Bash, Dana. "Despite new female faces in Congress, numbers in decline." CNN.com, 10 November 2010, .