Discrimination against Women in Politics:.

            

             The United States of America prides itself on its democratic tradition. Yet does democracy not mean that citizens from all races and classes and both sexes should be represented? Since women were granted suffrage in 1920, they have made great progress. Even so, women continue to be underrepresented in government considering their proportion of the population. There are some barriers that have traditionally stood in the way of women running for elective office, but most of them have been overcome. Much of the population still views these barriers as keeping women from obtaining elective office, and many people believe that women are discriminated against at the polls, being voted for much less than men. But this is not true. American citizens who still hold that outdated opinion need to be informed of the truth.

             Statistics show that women do not actually have a harder time running for office than men. To examine this premise, let us first look at some recent gains made by women in politics and some of the traditional barriers that have been overcome. Then we will consider an important study which supports the idea that women are not discriminated against. Altogether, we will see that women are not being discriminated against. They do not have a harder time winning elections, and they are making great progress.

             When looking for recent progress of women in American politics, the elections of 1992 stand out. That year has been called "The Year of the Woman" by many people. A record number of women candidates competed and won in congressional races. One hundred six women won major party nominations for the House of Representatives and 47 won their general election races. In races for seats in the Senate, 11 women ran and 6 won (Darcy, Welch, and Clark, 1994). .

             To understand why women do not have worse chances than men when running for office, it is important to understand some of the traditional barriers that have been inhibiting in the past.