This year has been a year of intense loss and tribulation for most Americans. Many American citizens feel like we are heading in the wrong direction and are actually seeing the downfall of our nation. However, in the year many dub the worst year of all time, we can finally start to see a new hope. Not only did we just elect the first black woman as our vice president, but the United States has elected a record number of women that will be serving in Congress.
Women will make up a quarter of Congress, which includes 102 women that will have chairs in the House of Representatives this upcoming term. This is the highest percentage of women in U.S history and a huge step forward for the equal rights movement.
Women will now make up 23% of the chamber’s voting members. One third of the women got elected into office last midterm election. The midterms also sent five new women to the Senate. The country is on the right track to provide all citizens with equal rights and representation within the government. People are tired of seeing older white men run this country. Americans feel as if they are not all represented when it comes to lawmaking. Women now have a say on the laws that directly affect them, such as abortion laws.
The history of women in Congress starts more than a century ago, when the first woman was appointed to Congress, Jeanette Rankin. She was elected in the year 1916, two years after the country agreed that women can vote. However, there has not been a huge female turnout in Congress until the last two decades. Approximately 63% of the 325 women elected to the house since Rankin’s time have been elected since 1992. The Senate also sees a similar trend, with 29 of the 56 women who have ever served in the Senate taking office in 2000 or later.
The message is loud and clear that Americans want more diverse lawmakers making decisions for the whole nation. It does not make sense to have the same demographic of Caucasian men over the age of 50 to keep making laws that are affecting Americans of all genders and ethnic backgrounds. Americans have spoken and it is clear what they want. According to a recent Pew Research survey, “59% of adults say there are too few women in high political offices.” Women want and need more representation in high-ranking positions.
In a press release, CAWP Director Debbie Walsh said, “Women’s representation in American politics has been, through struggle and persistence, on a long, if occasionally fitful, upward trajectory. With all that progress, at best women will still make up less than 30% of Congress in 2021.” Walsh remains optimistic by saying, “The 2018 cycle was a story of Democratic success; this year we are seeing significant gains on the Republican side. Advances for women must come from both sides of the aisle if women are to achieve equal representation in Congress.”
In this 2020 election, not only have we seen more women enter into Congress, we have also seen a more diverse congress. All “squad” members, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley won reelection this year after joining the House in 2018. All of the members are progressive Democrats and women of color.
This is what Americans needed at a time when the country feels extremely divided. We are finally starting to see people that actually represent the diversity in America in positions of power. The year 2020 has finally delivered some good news. and Americans can finally celebrate making progress as a nation.
