United States of America

Women aren't running for office because barriers to entry too high

Since the 1980s, more women have registered to vote than men. In the 2012 election, 7.8 million more women cast ballots than men. Women are more engaged in politics than their male counterparts in a lot of ways. But when it comes to actually making the laws, women are sitting on the sidelines, making up just 18 percent of Congress.

If you knew nothing else about the Republican Party, two days at the Republican National Committee's Summer Meeting would convince you that it's a party taking its recovery seriously, having bottomed out with embarrassing polling and technological failures in the fall of 2012, along with major deficits in appeal to key demographic groups...

Women are defined in American society by the men who are or aren't in their lives. From the time we're little girls into young adults, we're encouraged to find our prince charming and never let him go. People quietly frown upon single women, wondering what's wrong with women like me who haven't married yet or may never marry.

The Georgetown law student Rush Limbaugh labeled a "slut" and "prostitute" because of her comments before congressional leaders about insurance coverage of contraception in 2012 has joined a training program for Democratic women with ambitions of running for public office. Sandra Fluke, then a student at the Catholic university, objected to not being able to acquire birth control through the university's plan.

Fluke, a native of Pennsylvania, will be representing Emerge California's class of 2014. She hopes to get women more active in California politics.

When I wrote my article on the subtle, sexist whispering campaign against Janet Yellen, my example of a rare not-so-subtle sexist comment came from Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve. Asked about Yellen on CNBC, he worried that the pick would be “driven by gender,” even as he allowed that she was “extremely capable.”

We invite you to read the full article published July 31