Op-Eds
August 11, 2024
Below is an excerpt from Despite Kamala Harris Candidacy, U.S. Women's Representation Is Stagnating by Courtney Lamendola and Steph Scaglia:
As the nation heads toward a bruising presidential election, with attention focused on the horse race dynamics of winners and losers, it’s easy to lose sight of some underlying factors that define our political landscape.
Despite the fact that Vice President Kamala Harris is poised to win the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, women remain vastly underrepresented. Women are more than half of the nation’s population yet they are still significantly absent from the seats of power at all levels of government. They hold just one-third of all elected positions in 2024, and only 28% of all Congressional seats.
Not only that, but despite the record gains women made in the years following the 2018 “Year of the Woman,” wins for women appear to be slowing down. Outdated rules and systems create an unlevel playing field, limiting opportunities for women to enter and remain in politics. As a result, progress in the US toward gender balance has been slower and more uneven than it should be. Systemic political reform is needed to enable more women to run, win, serve, and lead.
Read the full article in LA Progressive here and in Democracy SOS here.
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