My Page: Tracy Velazquez

Guest Column

Does gender matter in politics? The answer to this question, it appears to me, is “yes.” First, a little history on women in politics:

Nineteen states – including Montana – have absolutely no female representation in Congress. Women make up over half the population, but hold only 15.2% of the seats in the U.S. House and Senate, 220 years after our country’s independence. To gain equal representation by 2020, the hundredth anniversary of women’s suffrage, women would need to win nineteen more seats every two years.

Here in Montana, less than one in four of our legislators are currently women; eighty-eight percent of the Montana Senate is male. Jeannette Rankin may have been the first woman representative in Washington, but she was the last woman representative for Montana, ever. Why is this important? Because research has shown that women believe that women represent them and issues important to them better than men do, regardless of party.here. [more]