Final Paper 1

Throughout the semester, this class has focused on many important aspects of feminism and contemporary issues facing women. While every issue that we discussed is important in its own right, they also connect to a larger web of issues that rest on politics. Every issue that we discussed from equal pay for equal work and maternity leave to reproductive rights and civic involvement is in some way influenced by politics and policy decisions. Unfortunately, women are inadequately represented in public office. For women’s rights to be recognized as a vital issue, more need to be involved in state and national government, especially elected office. This involvement needs to begin with young women. Elected women tend to be older women, but the older a woman begins her political career, they less time that she has to achieve higher office. Women need to become professional legislators.
Kristen Rowe-Finkbeiner’s book The F Word Feminism in Jeopardy examines the impact of women in political office. In her introduction she quotes numbers from the 2000 presidential election: “Only 35 percent of women aged eighteen to twenty-four voted in the 2000 presidential election, compared with 65 percent of women over forty-four. This mean almost 19 million young women between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four didn’t vote” (2). This numbers are shocking and appalling, though more women were involved and active in the 2008 election. The 2008 election also proved that a woman actually has a true opportunity to be elected as president.
The five readings that had the greatest impact on me all involve women’s participation in politics and the impact women could have if they became more involved.
I chose three chapters from Kristen Rowe-Finkbeiner’s The F Word - Feminism in Jeopardy: “Tracing the Social Divide: Campus Women, Social Issues and Volunteerism”; “Making a Difference: Women in Political Power”; and “Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport.” These chapters deal with young women’s concerns about women’s rights and politics and their involvement in the political process. “Tracing the Divide” examines the issues important to college women today. Rowe-Finkbeiner conducted a survey of college women asking, “In your opinion, what are the top three social issues facing young women today?” (59). The top ten responses covered a broad range of topics. They were, in order from one to ten: “gender equality, reproductive rights, self-identity, work-and-family balance, violence against women, economic issues, health care, education, societal and media images of women, and civic engagement” (59). As a college woman, I found these ten issues to be both vitally important and disappointedly not talked about in arenas outside of class. I have been continually disappointed by many of the young women that I am surrounded by. Many do not see the obstacles facing them in their future careers and lives.
The young women that were surveyed are interested in and concerned about issues that impact the lives of all women, young and old. Many of these issues have been of concern for decades, and yet the issues are still not solved. Gender equality in the workplace has been an issue affecting women since women really began entering the workforce at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Equal Rights Amendment tried to equalize earnings. This amendment has never been realized. In fact, a woman was its biggest naysayer.
Rowe-Finkbeiner examines each of the issues from the list in turn and then shifts focus to volunteerism. Her thesis is that young women, while actively volunteering with organizations that work on issues surrounding the concerns with the ten issues listed, they are not involved in politics. Rowe-Finkbeiner asserts that volunteerism may not be enough to solve these issues that are facing women today. She found that women are oftentimes overwhelmed by working on legislative or electoral issues (81). Though running for political office could be a frightening decision, I wish that the political arena could be friendlier to women so they would not be overwhelmed by it.
In the chapter “Making a Difference: Women in Poliltical Power,” Rowe-Finkbeiner examines women who hold elected office. She argues, “young women want politicians to emphasize issues that are relevant to younger voters” (214). It is hard for young women to feel a connection to Social Security reform or defense appropriations.
Her basic thesis is that if all 19 million women who are not voting began voting and if all women joined together on issues, the look of Congress would change completely (219). As a political science minor I have studied representative democracy, and though America is a functioning representative democracy, the lack of women in elected office is one of our political system’s biggest problem. For women’s issues to be brought to the forefront of policy issues, the composition of Congress needs to be equalized. Women only hold 73 of the 435 seats in Congress. When women make up 52% of the U.S. population, the 13.6% of Congressional seats held by women is inadequate. It is important for women to realize that gaining political power may be the first step in gaining women’s rights and equalities in other aspects. It will be through legislation that equal pay for equal work is made mandatory. It would be through judicial review that abortion would become illegal again.
In Rowe-Finkbeiner’s final chapter “Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport,” she once again explains the importance of voting. She attributes the decline in the youth vote to a few campaign tendencies. First, negative campaigning lend to young people no longer seeing politicians as “the sacred” (237). Young women view campaigns as a media race with “tabloid sound bites and bizarre sexcapdes” (237). Many also feel that the “campaign message” is always being pushed at them (238). Young people are increasingly choosing to be Independent or do not wish to be put in one of “two camps” (236).
These factors do work to create cynicism and negativity about politicians and government in general. However, as Rowe-Finkbeiner points out, it is still vital for young women to make it to the ballot box. It is much more likely that legislators are making policy decisions to please the constituents who voted for them. If young women did not vote in the election a few years before, then the politician who may have made decisions unsupportive of women is less likely to lose his or her seat in the next election.
I feel that Rowe-Finkbeiner shows the urgency and importance of both increasing voter turnout among young women and also increasing the number of women who run for elected office.
bell hooks presents a different picture in Feminism Is for Everybody. Instead of focusing on women in politics, hooks focuses more on the politics of advancing feminism. hooks is more radical than Rowe-Finkbeiner in some of her claims. hooks focuses more on the issue of race and feminism. She claims, “Given the reality of racism, it made sense that white men were more willing to consider women’s rights when the granting of those rights could serve the interests of maintaining white supremacy” (4). She argues that privileged white women often forget the struggles for equality (4). hooks is worried “feminist politics is losing momentum because feminist movement has lost clear definitions” (6). She is very likely correct. Feminism has to many objectives, and until there is political representation for all interests it is unlikely that anything will progress.
Jessica Valenti presents an interesting view on gender stereotypes in her book He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know. Her double standard of “He’s a Politician, She’s a Fashion Plate” examines why the news media also focuses on female politicians’ clothing before they focus on what they are doing. Not only do women lack adequate representation, the women who are in elected office are seemingly not taken seriously. Valenti gives examples of Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton. The media famously brought attention to Hillary Clinton’s cleavage: “The Washington Post in 2007 devoted an entire article to how Clinton was showing tit” (56).
As young girls grow up in a time where much focus is already placed on how one looks, it would be discouraging to enter politics knowing that every fashion decision or mistake would be critically examined for millions to read about or watch on TV.
Though many feminist issues interest me, I have always had a great interest in the disparity of women in public office. I feel that I continue on to receive a degree in Women’s Studies and a minor in Political Science each will complement each other. I hope to be able to use both in law school, and I hope that I can use the knowledge of the importance of this relationship to work in some way to further women’s involvement in politics. I wish I could better understand why there are not more women in politics. Is it because they are discouraged to run? Or is it because they feel that they can make contributions in other areas?

Works Cited
Hooks, Bell. “Feminist Politics: Where We Stand.” Feminism Is for Everybody. Cambridge: South End, 2000. 1-6.
Rowe-Finkbeiner, Kristin. “Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport.” The F Word Feminism in Jeopardy. Emeryville: Seal Press, 2004. 233- 263.
- - -. “Introduction: The F-Word.” Introduction. The F Word Feminism in Jeopardy. By Rowe-Finkbeiner. Emeryville: Seal Press, 2004. 1-17.
- - -. “Making a Difference: Women in Political Power.” The F Word Feminism in Jeopardy. Emeryville: Seal Press, 2004. 213-231.
- - -. “Tracing the Divide: Campus Women, Social Issues, and Volunteerism.” The F Word Feminism in Jeopardy. Emeryville: Seal Press, 2004. 55-105.
Valenti, Jessica. “He’s a Politicain, She’s a Fashion Plate.” He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know. Emeryville: Seal Press, 2008. 54-57.