The 2008 presidential election was a milestone in the United States as we elected our first African-American president. Of course President Barack Obama’s race was a major topic of discussion at the time…but so was the gender of his major Democratic opponent, Senator Hillary Clinton. And not much as changed since then…Ms. Clinton’s gender is still a topic of conversation as she vies for the 2016 nomination.
Yet nations who we wouldn’t consider to be quite as socially progressive as the US have elected women to their highest office…South Korea for instance just recently elected Park Geun-hye as President…even before that countries like Israel, Pakistan and India as well as Great Britain and Germany.
Despite comprising 51% of the adult population of the US, woman are still underrepresented in elected office…whether it be in Congress, the various state legislatures, or the various governor’s mansions around the country…there are far FEWER women in office than you would expect.
Yes, I know racial minorities are underrepresented as well…but why hasn’t America been able to provide the same opportunities to all women that it has to those cranky old white men?
Ed,
Thanks for the post.
I would encourage everyone to see “The Big Short,” because imho the white-collar thugs it embodies transcend sexism and white supremacy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgqG3ITMv1Q
The clip below is the best explanation I’ve seen of the tranches of securities underneath the U.S. housing market.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hG4X5iTK8M
It was Wall Street who engineered those bad mortgages, because, as the clip makes clear, they couldn’t make as much money on triple AAA rated mortgages.
President Obama’s DOJ didn’t indict even one Wall Street CEO.
Well, black men had the right to vote 50 years before any women so yeah I suppose you could make that case.
That said, I think it likely that you are going to see a female president elected this very fall, assuming the Republicans continue their path down obsolescence avenue and this Bernie charge falls short.