One of my classmates made a very good point by asking, "how many congressmen are under 18?" Of course the answer is none, which means that a huge percentage of America's population is represented by people who aren't even in that group. This idea made me wonder about other groups that represent Americans in Congress, and I came across an article from the PBH Network. The article mentioned other statistics about the ages of congressmen, but the statistic that surprised me most was that women, who represent 51.6% of voters, only make up 16.3% of the Congress. Why is that? And how does it affect the decisions made by Congress?
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Under Representation
On Thursday in class we were discussing the difference between social history and political history. We talked about how social histories are more accurate representations of the general population than political histories, which lead to the question of how well Congress really represents the American people.
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I think those are very important questions that you bring up. I think it shows the faults in the American government. The key is what can we do to change it without completely destroying the basis of the system which would likely confuse many Americans. I think there are always stereotypes and people judging based on a "books cover" instead of reading into the material. So I think that, that affects the decisions Congress makes very much.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting stats and post. I am surprised that women make up 16.3% of congress. I actually thought it would be a lower amount. I looked up a stat:
"The median weekly earnings of women who were full-time wage and salary workers was $657, or 80 percent of men’s $819. When comparing the median weekly earnings of persons aged 16 to 24, young women earned 93 percent of what young men earned ($424 and $458, respectively" (http://www.dol.gov/wb/stats/main.htm).
It's scary that adult women still earn substantially less than their male peers. The surprising statistics act as motivation to succeed, as we know success is only possible with dedication.