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Commentary Too - Mar 19, 2006 - Printable Version
- In Congress, It's Still a Man's World
by Mark Faulk
"Something which we think is impossible now is not impossible in another decade."- Constance Baker Motley (First Black Woman in the U.S. to become a Federal Judge) I have been an advocate of women’s rights for years. Let’s face the cold, hard reality: men have screwed America up almost beyond repair, and certainly beyond recognition, The culture of favoritism, power, and greed that has driven our male-dominated political process for the past 228 years has resulted in a massive imbalance in the distribution of wealth, a national deficit that threatens the very fabric of our country, and a corrupt system controlled by a men-only club of good-old-boy favoritism.
Critics will argue that there is no evidence that women will do a better job of running things than men have, but in a political environment where Congress looks like an all-white, men only millionaires country club, the real question should be: Can women do any worse of a job than men have?
Our country is spiraling out of control, and replacing one white millionaire male congressman with another has proven time and again to be ineffective in bringing about change in our floundering nation. The names may change, but the cronyism remains the same. Which rich white male do you want to represent you?
On the website http://www.voterunlead.org/ , there are a few sobering facts that flash across the top of their homepage, facts that should serve as a call to arms for every woman in America. While it’s easy to blame the system for the discrimination against the “weaker sex” (See how this works? Even the stereotypes are designed to degrade women), let’s take a look at the real problem…..women themselves need to seize power, and they have the voices and the votes to do it, and do it now.
Here is the harsh reality that Vote,Run,Lead so effectively utilizes to make their point:
-No women of color have ever been governor of a U.S. state.
-Out of 180 countries, only 12 are currently led by women.
-Women have only had the right to vote for 84 years, our democracy is 228 years old.
-Of the 12,000 members of Congress, there have only been 215 women elected in the history of the United States.
Take a look at that last quote….” Of the 12,000 members of Congress, there have only been 215 women elected in the history of the United States.” How can that be right? How can that be at all? In the United States, according to the 2000 US Census, 50.9% of the population in our country is women, and there are 5.3 million more women than men.
Almost 51% of our population is women…..and yet less than 2% of our Congressmen throughout history have been women (hence the term “CongressMEN”). Add to that total the men who believe that women deserve to share equally in the responsibilities of running our country (c’mon, there have to be a few thousand of us out there somewhere), and America is ripe for a takeover.
Now let’s take a look at one more fact that Vote,Run,Lead lists on their website, the one figure that women have absolute power over, the one fact that has to change before we can truly declare that “all men AND women are created equal”.
-Over 15 million 18-34 year old women did not vote in the last presidential election.
Fifteen million voters, far more than would have been needed to swing the 2004 presidential election, far more than would be needed to put hundreds of women in positions of real power in our government in this year’s elections.
For America’s women, the time is now. The time to run is now. The time to vote is this year, this election. And the time to lead is now as well…before it’s too late.
And that’s the Faulking Truth.
Go here and sign the pledge to vote, but don’t stop there. Convince qualified women everywhere to run for public office, and then give them the votes to back it up. Start now…start today, and don’t stop until 50.9% of our Congressmen are Congresswomen.
http://action.voterunlead.org/petition/
Go to Vote, Run, Lead to learn how you can help bring gender equality to the leadership of America:
http://www.voterunlead.org/
Send this article (please include a link) to every woman's rights organization on the internet, post it on every forum, and send it to everyone you know.
"The day will come when men will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside, but in councils of the nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race."
—Susan B. Anthony
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