Monday, June 21, 2010

Public Policy

States maintain inequality by working with other institutions. They assign roles and distribute resources. States also regulate other institutions and provide guidelines for expected behaviors or roles and channel resources and power. They stay involved in international policy-making. For example, they regulate family, education, economic systems, and religion. As of today, fortunately, I have never experienced discrimination by the state first hand. Years ago white men were the only people allowed to vote, own land, and could have slaves, whom were Native American. Women were also not allowed to vote and were made to stay home and do the housework. Today, women still constitute a small number of candidates for local, state, and national offices. I don’t believe that there will ever be equality in our democracy because there is a tremendously small amount of women in Congress. Congress, today, still illustrates white men domination. I believe there is always going to be a small amount of women involved in any type of government. In order to have a more just state I believe that there needs to be more of an acceptance towards women. There obviously needs to be more women in the government but in order to do that we just realize that women are just as capable as men in many things. Today, I believe, that women are just as or if not more capable than men. Women are definitely more recognized than years ago but there is still a long way to go for there to be full equality.

3 comments:

  1. I agree that there is a need for women in congress! And it has come along way but still not enough. When Sarah Palin ran as vice president there was a lot of people who didn't like that and I think it hurt the Republican party. As mentioned in the lecture more men general are republican because of the issues at hand and for Sarah Palin to be running in the Republican party was a big deal. I know a lot of women who liked the idea of a women running but more people turned their heads and mad comments. They focused more on her being a women then what she was good at. If you were to look at hr job description of the governor on Alaska she has a hard job dealing with russia and boarder control. If it was a man in her position and running for vice president it would've been a lot different. I think its wrong that she was judged because she was a women. Just like race and color, don't look at the color or gender look at what that person can do or has done.

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  2. There is definitely a need for more women in office. However some of the blame lays in the hands of women. It is up to us to run for office, and vote for the women running. In addition, sadly many women are still anti-feminist and honestly believe that men make the better leaders. I grew up hearing remarks made about how a woman could not be president because she would be unstable for one week out of the month. It is up to us to change these beliefs held about women in power.
    On a side note, Hillary Clinton also faced a lot of sexism throughout her campaign. She was raked through the coals for publicly, while a male presidential candidate was accredited for his genuine concern when he shed a tear.

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  3. This is a great discussion going on here! I love it when posts spark conversations. That said, I think it's important to clarify a few things. First, while it's absolutely true that Sarah Palin confronted undue gender-based criticism, it's factually incorrect that she dealt with difficult issue with Russia and border control. Russia and Alaska do not share a border. Second, it's a really helpful exercise to think about how the gender-based attacks on Hillary Clinton were different from those made against Sarah Palin. Palin was often characterized as an inexperienced beauty queen, while Clinton was an aggressive woman who was sacrificing her femininity in her quest for power. Two very different sets of stereotypes, but both were really persuasive to large segments of the American population. Why do you think stereotypes can be used so effectively against women running for public office?

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