Throughout the many years I’ve been interested in politics, I’ve been told by various female adults, “We need more women involved in politics.” But what does that really mean? How many women are really involved in politics?
The infographic I’ve included in this post is from 2012, but it still contains important information about women’s roles in politics. Women make up 50.8% of the population in the United States, yet they only fill 16.8% of the seats in Congress. Of the 535 seat in the United States Congress, 90 of the were held by women. How is that representing our population equally or fairly? When you look at the percentages of women in state offices in the infographic below, they’re only a little better. Less than a quarter of the seats in state elected offices are held by women.
This infographic is one of the best I’ve found regarding women in the political world. Not only does it provide a wealth of information, it also is laid out in a fairly simple and easy to follow format. I really wanted to find an inforgraphic that discussed women in local governments, but there wasn’t anything out there that fit what I was looking for. Local politics are easily the most overlooked when it comes to elections, yet it’s the political realm that people live closest to and are the most affected by. Maybe one day I’ll do research on women’s roles in local governments and create an infographic about my findings.
I will leave you with this quote from Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State.
“Every country deserves to have the best possible leader and that means that women have to be given a chance to compete. If they’re never allowed to compete in the electoral process then the countries are really robbing themselves of a great deal of talent.”
– Madeleine K. Albright, NDI Chairman
Hannah W. Hopper 
Love this post!! It really speaks to women about the need to enter politics in some way.
LikeLike
Powerful post! There needs to be more women involved in politics! Love the graphics and visuals.
LikeLike