MOST OF us feel conflicted about the brouhaha surrounding the presidential elections. We're sick of it because we want a resolution, but it's so exciting we can't stop talking about it. Hard as it may be to believe, though, the White House race wasn't the only important news of the week.
The United States Senate has changed greatly not only in terms of party affiliation, where the chamber could still end up evenly split, but also in gender. The last Senate contained nine female members. Next year there will be at least 12, possibly 13. While this is still a small number, it represents significant progress for the responsiveness of the electoral system.
Contrary to what many believe, the low number of women in politics at the national level isn't due to rampant American male sexism. Unfortunately, though, women are affected by certain peculiarities of the American system, including the fact that the odds are stacked in favor of incumbents. Because historically there have been fewer women in political office, they tend to be the challengers. Yet in any given congressional election, incumbents win over 90 percent of the time, an intimidating prospect for any politician.
Studies by political scientists show, however, that women who run for open seats do as well as men. These same authors conclude that women will benefit most when incumbents retire.
The incumbency advantage is proven in the experience of female Senators running for reelection. Of the three women running for their second full term, none were defeated. Once in office, these women built coalitions and found the funds that enable them to keep their seats.
Although women are scarce in the House and Senate, they are much better represented in state legislatures. This appears to be the most promising route to electing women to higher office, particularly this year. Both Debbie Stabenow, a House member who unseated a Michigan senator, and Maria Cantwell, a House member who is currently waiting for her Senate race to be called, began their careers on the state level. The problem is getting these women to take the risks and the extra responsibilities involved in moving up the ladder to higher office.
Ultimately, women in particular and the American system in general benefit from having more female elected officials. Female legislators aren't automatically more likely to vote for "women's issues," which are difficult to define anyway. However, it has been shown that a larger female presence in state legislatures translates into more legislation both proposed and passed on issues of concern to women. The theory is that although many men will vote for childcare, or women's health research, they are not as vigilant about proposing and sponsoring this type of legislation.
The 2000 presidential election, however, showed that these issues are important to both sexes. Education, health care and care of the elderly -- all traditionally considered women's issues -- polled as major concerns for both women and men.
Although the genders are, generally speaking, equally concerned about such issues, men and women have very different experiences. Drawing women into Congress brings new legislative perspectives that help to better reflect the electorate as a whole.
Women legislators are more likely to have direct experience with education, since both the teaching profession and the ranks of school volunteers are overwhelmingly female. Women are more likely to be caretakers for elderly parents, and so have more direct experience with the problems of Social Security and Medicare. In these areas and others, female legislators bring additional experiences to the table that help to improve the quality of legislation.
With such an uncertain situation in the White House, we cannot look to the next president -- whomever he may be -- to provide all the leadership needed on these issues. Although divided, the next Congress will take a crucial role in shaping plans to address issues of importance for Americans.
Although their numbers are still small, women made huge gains in elected offices last Tuesday. An increased female presence in the halls of Congress invigorates our political system and increases the quality of representation for all. There is no "magic number" of women in Congress to ensure quality representation. However, working towards a political system where we can confidently say that a woman is not handicapped in a race by her gender is a laudable goal. Reaching that goal is the best way to bring about the most important milestone of all, a female president.
(Elizabeth Managan's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily.)
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