Gender Inequality In Politics

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Gender inequality, the unequal treatment of an individual solely based on gender, remains to persist as a major obstacle in human and societal development. Although gender issues have recently become of great concern, stereotypes have penetrated into the sphere of politics. These labels influence people’s beliefs on gender roles, which drives men to be favored over women in society. Potential conflicts arise as a result of the prejudiced bias that clouds society’s judgment. When women are given the opportunity to be involved in political reality, society becomes more insightful, strengthened, and justified. Despite the progress that has been made over the years, the discrimination and disadvantages that women endure in politics continues to …show more content…

According to the 2011 UN General Assembly, women encounter inconveniences in the political arena “often as a result of discriminatory laws, practices, attitudes and gender stereotypes, low levels of education, lack of access to health care and the disproportionate effect of poverty on women” (UN Women USNC, par. 1). The global statistics of women representation in the government clearly expresses the issue of gender inequality. As of the past two years, only 18.3% of government ministers and 22.8% of all national parliamentarians were women (IPU UN Women, pt. 1; IPU Women in Parliaments, pt. 6). In addition, 11 women are serving as Head of State and 12 are serving as Head of Government (Perm Missions to the UN, pt. 2). Gender diversity is vital in government positions because if they are making life-changing decisions about laws and behavior, both sides of the human populations deserves to have a say. Furthermore, females are rarely appointed to significant ministerial posts as represented by a marginal 11% of Asian ministerial posts that are filled by women (Press Release, par. 12). When including four chambers with no female representation, women account for less than 10% of …show more content…

The ultimate gender equality issue for the U.S. is female empowerment because women account for fewer than one-fifth of elected members of Congress and one-fourth of cabinet members (Saadia Zahidi, par. 2). This instability poses threatening challenges to the country’s prosperity and ability to flourish as a nation. Majority of Americans feel that women are as capable of being good political leaders as men and they find women on par with men on leadership traits such as intelligence and creative thought process. However, the U. S. was ranked 104th out of 190 countries in this past year (Oh and Kliff, par. 1). Even though they make up more than half of the United States’ population, women are still not well-represented in top government roles because men remain to make up 80% of the Trump administration (Redden, par. 3). Women hold just 19.3% of the seats in the House of Representatives and 22% of the seats in the Senate (Women in the U.S. Congress 2018, par. 1). Surveys have shown that work-life balance and family responsibilities are not a barrier for low representation of women in politics or business. Women are equally qualified for the same job opportunities as men but stubborn barriers tend to exist. This is a direct result of the enormous gap between female and male desire to run for office. While Democratic women are

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