There are two views of why there are more men than women in politics. The first theory is that women often are very hesitant to run for public office. Women make up 19% of Congress, 25% of State legislators, and 12% of governors. Contrary to popular belief there are not a whole lot of women in the pipeline to public office. Those women who are in public office indicate that lack of self-confidence is at the heart of the issue of why others don’t run. It took Senator Gillibrand 10 years to make the decision to run. Male college graduates are twice as likely to see themselves capable of being a politician than women. Women are less likely to be urged by parents, teachers, or party leaders to enter public office.
But there is another reason based in gender studies that more women don’t run for office. It is also one of the reasons why Trump beat Hillary in the 2016 election. It is also the reason why he remains in power today. Governor Kate Brown of Oregon in an October 25, 2016 article written by Claire Miller has another reason that more men are elected rather than women. I have also seen this theory in gender studies publications as well. Miller writes, “Women are more collaborative in nature, so that is an easier sell to voters. What is more challenging for women is in executive roles. They need to prove two things: Number #1 that they’re competent, and #2 that they are likeable, whereas men don’t have to prove that they’re likeable.
Likeable can also include that men have a lower moral and ethical standard to win. This can clearly be seen in the election of 2016 and the continuation of the popularity of the activities of Trump even though they were unethical. Hillary Clinton was hailed as the most knowledgeable candidate to run for the office of the President than anyone else in history. President Obama was quick to make statements to this effect. She forgot those words of wisdom, however, from Tip O’Neill that “all politics are local.” Hillary took certain states for granted and implied that not only was she well qualified but she was entitled to be President because of all the good work she had done over the years.
Compared to Trump she was going to have an easy victory. Trump was considered to be a bad joke. Trump had been the embodiment of the worst attributes in humankind. When he was elected, he was more surprised than anyone. He ran because he thought it would be good publicity. He sinned boldly which caused an attitude that “Oh that is just Trump being Trump.” When he was caught with saying the infamous words in the Billy Bush tape that “when you are important, you can just grab women by their p---y, everyone was convinced his comment would be a nail in his coffin of electability. Just when we thought he couldn’t do anything worse, we learn that he has stolen intelligence reports putting our intelligence people abroad in danger. Days later he indicated that McConnell has a death wish and follows that threat of violence with racist statements about a member of his cabinet who was also McConnell’s wife. Few Republicans, dressed up like cowards, would not publicly respond to this most recent inappropriate language.
I still can’t figure out what policies he put forth to improve our democracy or our foreign policy to be a world citizen concerned with equal rights and human rights here and abroad.
His base states that, “We knew who he was when voted for him. We are not stupid.” They accept his lack of morality or are convinced that he is a victim of the elites and Republicans or Democrats who do not agree with his way of doing things. We never thought that one man could damage our country more than Trump has done.
Just imagine a woman doing a fraction of the unethical things that Trump has done. She would be thrown out of office and onto the trash heap of losers. There is a double standard that has gone unnoticed except, of course, by women.
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