In the 112th Congress, out of 435 members in the House of Representatives, 76 were women.
Out of the 100 members in the Senate, 17 were women.
Just as the 113th Congress ended on January 2nd, there were 81 women in the House, and 20 women in the Senate.
If these number don't get you fried up, then you aren't seeing the larger problem here.
We are in 2016, and as much as you would like to say that you're "okay" about how far women have made it, it's just not enough. Just because we can vote doesn't mean we're not criticized for our choices when we do. Just because we can go out and have jobs doesn't mean we are treated with respect and as human beings when we go to work. Did you know that only five percent of America's CEO's are women?
Now, whether it be because women just choose different career paths or just simply don't care for politics is fine, and I understand that; however, it is hard for a female student to want to be interested in something that everyone gives her a hard time about. A young girl who says she wants to grow up to be the President of the United States will have her hopes crushed very soon when someone says, "But, like, wouldn't you rather be a nurse? Or maybe, like, stay at home with your kids?"
When I walked into my political science discussion on the first day, out of about 20 people, 5 were women. When a man raised his hand to make a statement, all eyes around the room were focusing on him, and you could see the concentration as people took in what he had to say. When one of the women raised her hand to say something, everyone went back to what they were doing, whether that be playing on their phones, talking to their friends, or just not paying attention in general.
When our TA asked a question and called a male to answer it, he praised him for his contribution to the topic. When a female raised her hand to answer the question, her answer was granted an, "OK," and a change of topic, as if her answer had never been received.
When we were told in my political science lecture that we were going to be discussing women in politics, the male in the row behind me groaned.
It is not okay for a vote to be held about what a women can and cannot do with her own body when so few of the members participating in the vote are actually women. This means women also have to do their part, too, by wanting change, breathing change, dreaming of change, and making change happen.
Of course we need women with the right views for our country, and I'm not saying it's all a perfect picture, but we can get there. We're even getting somewhere now that we have women and even some men who are brave enough to speak out about these issues. We should've started earlier, but it's better late than never.
A woman's place isn't just in the House. It's also in the Senate.
