Women Voting Turnout and Their Representation in Politics of the USA - Research Proposal Example

Women voting turnout and their representation in politics in USA INTRODUCTION Women play an important rolein voting. This generation keeps on accommodating more and more women inpolitics across the world. Women have always been encouraged to join the political arena and see themselves as empowered leaders in politics. However, despite all these, women still register only high turnouts in elections but less representation in politics. Although women gained the constitutional right to vote only in 1920, they constitute an important bloc in the USA. More women than men are registered to vote and a higher percentage of women vote than men (Lawless and Fox, 4). The last election saw Barrack Obama garnering 56%of votes from women. In 1996, Bill Clinton’s voters constituted 54% of all women and 43% of all men. This indicates that women form the larger part of voters than men. This has resulted to an existence of gender gap in voting. A gender gap in voting refers to a difference in percentage between Women and the percentage of men voting for a given candidate. Even though both men and women vote, they may do so by different margins resulting in a gender gap. Despite this high turnout in the number of votes, their representation in politics still remains low and has become an issue. Research indicates that most divided nations and ethnically diverse states that elect women instead of men tend to have better economic performance. Several organizations have always come up to fight for nomination of women. This was evident in 1970s and 1980s with the existence of bodies such as NOW (National Organization for Women) and other women political organizations. Having a look at more successful nations that have achieved high women representation in politics gives guidance on what should be done to change the political landscape. Some of the countries that have been at the forefront in electing women include Sweden with 45% representation of women at the national level, Finland with 42.5% and Denmark with 39%. Most of their political parties put more priority in recruiting women candidates with some requiring positive quotas where half of their candidates are women. Further research also indicates that these countries use multi-seat districts instead of one-seat districts where political parties win seats in proportion to their vote share. Other strategies that have been adopted to ensure equal representation of women and men in the political arena include recruiting early and more often. Women should be encouraged to participate more. These are useful ingredients for closing the gap in political ambition. Another barrier that deters women from participating in politics and can be addressed is the perception that the electoral environment is biased. These perceptions are not consistent with reality. Creating mass awareness about the fundraising competence and women’s electoral success can serve as a very useful tool in changing women’s perception of biased electoral arena. Training programs and technical assistance are also useful in closing up the gender gap. These can go a long way in combating the tendency of women identifyingthemselves as unqualified to run for the office despite the many qualifications they may be having. PROBLEM STATEMENT This research seeks to determine the women voting turnout in USA and the representation of women in politics in USA. The voting turnout of women between 1920 and 2008 has always been higher than that of men. It is the intent of the researcher to determine the reasons behind this and how it has affected the outcomes of the elections. The researcher has therefore formulated several questions to aid in understanding the topic. Women turnout in voting in the USA has always been higher since the 1920s. Because of the potential of women to determine the outcome of elections, issues important to women receive more attention than men’s issues during campaigns. As a result of this favor, the gender gap in voting continues widening more and more. Even though women have made an attempt in voting, the same cannot be said for the elected office. There still exists a wide disparity between men and women. In 2009 for example, only 90 out of 535 members of Congress were women. This indicates that there still exists a large gap in women representation in US politics that needs to be addressed. Women thus play very little role in politics. Main objective The main aim of this study is to determine the women voting turn out in elections and whether they play any role in US politics. Research questions The research seeks to answer a number of questions. These include: 1. What is the influence of biasness and competition in political environment on the representation of women in politics? 2. How do qualifications affect women participation in politics? 3. What is the relationship between aspects of campaigns and women representation in the elected office? 4. How do leadership qualities such as confidence affect women participation in politics or voting? 5. Does lack of suggestions for women to run for the office deter them from realizing their political ambitions? 6. How has past failures of women political candidates influenced women’s perception about the political environment and their turnout during voting? 7. Is the notion that women are home and children caretakers a factor that contribute to majority of women not participating or taking part in politics? Context and background of the study Past studies indicate that more women than men take part in voting in USA. This has been the order of the day year in year out. This has resulted to creation of a gender gap. The largest gender gap was created in 2012 which was the last election held in U.S. another bigger gender gap was observed in 2004. The above information can be illustrated in a table below: Year Presidential candidate Women (%) Men (%) Gender gap (Pts.) source 2012 Barrack Obama Mitt Romney 55 44 45 52 10 Edison research 2008 Barrack Obama 56 49 7 Edison media research and Mitofsky international John McCain 43 48 2004 George Bush 48 55 7 Edison media research and Mitofsky international John Kerry 51 41 2000 George Bush 43 53 10 Voter news service Al Gore 54 42 Ralph Nader 2 3 1996 Bill Clinton 54 43 11 Voter news service Bob Dole 38 44 Rose Perot 7 10 1992 Bill Clinton 45 41 4 Voter news service George Bush 37 38 Rose Perot 17 21 1988 George Bush 50 57 7 New York times/ CBS news Michael Dukakis 49 41 1984 Ronald Reagan 56 62 6 New York times/ CBS news Walter Mondale 44 37 Based on the statistics on the table, it is a clear indication that women voting turnout is high as opposed to men’s voting turnout. This can be observed across several years except a few years such as in 1984 and 1988. However, despite the high turnout, few women form part of the elected office. The study will target all the US citizens in all countries. As of 1970s, women occupied almost no major elective positions in U.S political institutions. By 1979, women comprised of less than 5% of the seats in the U.S House of Representatives and about 10% of state legislative positions across the country. Since women’s presence is vital in the political arena, it is important to understand why so few women hold office in the United States. As compared to other nations, the United States is losing ground when it comes to women representation in politics. It is now ranking ninety-eighth in the world for percentage of women in its national legislature behind Kenya and Indonesia. This is far much worse than the 1998 ranking where it was ranked fifty ninth. Having more women in the office not only upholds democratic values of fairness and representative government but several research studies indicate that the presence of women in legislatures make significant differences in terms of the policies that get passed. Many people think that women suffrage began in the English- speaking world in the 1970s. Women became more active in the quest for their own suffrage during the 19th century when women suffrage was extended in many countries. Among the first countries to uphold women suffrage were New Zealand in 1893 and Australia in 1902. However, the demand to gain suffrage started in 1840s emerging from broader movements for women rights. In 1848, the first women rights convention known as Seneca Falls Convention passed a resolution. This resolution was passed in favor of women’s suffrage even though some of its organizers felt that the idea was too extreme and did not therefore support it. Countries such as Britain, America and Canada did not achieve this as their women were still not winning the same rights till the end of World War 1. After the civil war in America, the agitation to vote became more vocal. However in 1869, disagreement arose among women due to the proposed 15th amendment. This amendment gave the black men vote but did not consider women. The disagreement led to the formation of two organizations namely, the National Women Suffrage Association and American Women Suffrage Association. One organization was led by Susan Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton while the other was headed by Lucy Stone. The first one was formed with an aim of pressing for suffrage at the federal level and more institutional changes. Institutional adjustments advocated for included things such as giving property rights to married women. The latter, on the other hand, aimed at obtaining the ballot through state legislation. After several years of bitter rivalry, the two groups merged to form National American Women Suffrage Association (NASWA) in 1890. People hoped that the Supreme Court would rule that women had a constitutional right to vote. The suffragists therefore made many attempts to vote in early 1870s. They were turned away and most of them filed lawsuits. In 1872, Lucy Anthony succeeded to vote but she was arrested and found guilty in a widely publicized trial. This trial gave the movement new momentum to fight more for their rights. In 1875, the Supreme Court ruled against them and this made most of them to push for the amendment of the U.S constitution that would empower women. The movement worked towards promoting women suffrage on a state-by-state basis. National Women’s Party (NWP) led by Alice Paul was formed in 1916. This was a militant group that pushed for the passage of a national suffrage amendment. Several supporters of NWP approximately 200 were arrested on their way to White House. Some were sent to prison and endured forced feeding while others went on hunger strike. At the same time, NASWA, which had two million members, made national suffrage amendment their top priority. After a series of struggle and fights, the 19th amendment was passed which became part of the U.S. Constitution on August 20th. The amendment stated, “ the rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on an account of sex.” The legal right of women to vote became established over the course of decades. It first started in various states and localities and then spread nationally from 1920. Importance of the study Findings of the study will be useful in various ways. Countries with low participation of women in politics will understand and have tips on ways of attracting and empowering women to run for the office. They will be able to come up with policies that foster and promote females to engage in political affairs. Useful tips will be adopted such as recruiting more female candidates and disseminating information about the electoral environment which is an important step in ensuring the narrowing down of the gender gap in ambition. The gender gap in political ambition is driven by lower levels of political recruitment and lower self- assessments of political qualifications. Another factor behind the wide gender gap is that women perceive the electoral environment to be competitive and biased against them. Finally, the fact that women remain the primary caretakers of their homes kids may contribute to them eschewing making decision to run for the office. The struggle to balance family chores with professional responsibilities has become part of the bargain for modern woman. Even if family structures and arrangements do not preclude women from thinking about a full range of lifetime career options, the circumstances under which such thoughts cross the minds of potential candidates might differ for men and women.Having understood these reasons behind the existence of gender gap in politics, political bodies will look for new strategies in an attempt to counter the problem. Carrying out major political and cultural changes can also help to a greater extent in increasing the representation of women. It will help overcome different barriers that prevent women from running for the office. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Various studies indicate that women can run for the office and perform just as well as males. No differences arise in men or women’s electoral success. However, women still remain under-represented in political institutions. Researchers have attributed this to the fact that women don’t run for the office. There is a substantial gap in political ambition. Men tend to have political ambition whereas women do not. According to a survey done of about 4,000 males and females, it was found that despite the emergence of high profile women in politics such as Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Sarah Palin, the gender gap in political ambition still remains the same.The main reasons for under-representation according to Lawless and Fox (2) can be summarized as follows; Women are substantially more likely to perceive the political environment as highly competitive and biased against women. Most women believe that the political environment is highly competitive and that men tend to be favored more than women when it comes to matters such as elections. As a result, quite a majority of women shy away from joining the political arena. A survey done by Lawless and Fox (10) indicates majority of women regard their political environment to be highly competitive. More than half of the women believed that very few or none of the women who run for office fare as well as their male counterparts. This is a common belief that most women are inclined to and very few of them are willing to change their perception. Another reason for the under-representation of women is that women are less likely than men to think that they are qualified for the office. This is one of the biggest barriers that deter women from joining the political institutions. Even though they might be having the necessary qualifications needed, majority of women undermine the fact that they can run for the office. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin’s candidature could be another reason that aggravated women’s perception of gender bias in the political environment. Most women believed that the failure of Hillary Clinton to get the presidential seat was a clear indication of the gender bias in politics. Fourthly, women are still responsible for the majority of childcare and household chores. Most women still believe that their roles are taking care of children and carrying out household activities. They view their participation in politics as less imperative and attribute the success of political institutions to their men. Politics has over the ages been regarded as a men’s thing and their chances of being elected are high. This has also attributed to more women voting for men instead of voting for women (Lawless and Fox, 12). Another reason behind less representation of women is that women are less likely to receive the suggestion to run for office than men. These suggestions are mostly made by party leaders, elected officials, political activists and non-political actors. Generally, politics is characterized with intense competition which can only be easily managed through affiliation to popular and relevant political parties. Lack of recruitment to such parties is particularly one of the most powerful reasons as to why fewer women than men consider candidacy. Female potential candidates are less confident, less competitive and more risk averse than men. Entering the political arena involves taking a courageous step of putting oneself before the electorates. One should anticipate any outcome be it negative or positive such as disruption from regular routines, loss of privacy and possible rejection. The decision requires confidence, courage, risk-taking and being proactive. These are some of the characteristics that men have always been traditionally encouraged to embrace and women to avoid. Another common factor behind women’s less representation is that women react more negatively to various aspects of modern campaigns. In order to win in the political arena, one has to endure a series of difficult personal circumstances and engage in diverse activities. Majority of women view campaign tactics such as fundraising, voter contact and dealing with press with negative attitude hence their less representation in politics. Unless these issues are addressed, the gender gap in voter turnout will continue widening more and more. Women turnout during voting will continue being more and continuously form the decisive bloc in elections yet we still don’t see any much effort in women running for the office as men do. Definition of terms Arena This refers to an area or environment where a particular activity is carried out. Election This refers to the process of choosing a leader, members of parliament, councilors or other representatives by popular vote. In other words, it is the choice of a leader or representative by popular vote. Gender gap A gender gap refers to the difference that arises due to inequality in voter turnout between men and women who support a particular candidate. It can be expressed as a number or percentage. Political arena Refers to any area where political activities are carried out. Turn out This refers to attendance of people in a particular event such as during voting. Disparity This is a state of being unequal, different or incongruent. Disparity can be observed in terms of numbers, representation etc. Women Suffrage Refers to the right or chance of women to vote, express their opinions or participate in decision making. Sample A sample is a subset or small part of population selected for measurement, observation or questioning to provide statistical information about the population. A sample can also be defined as a small part of anything selected using a certain criteria to act as a representative of the whole. RESEARCH DESIGN This chapter covers the description of the methods that will be applied in carrying out research study including the selection of cases, method of data collection and method of observation and inferences. It is organized under the following subsections: target population, sampling techniques and sample size. It also covers construction of research instruments, validity and reliability, data collection techniques, data analysis and presentation. Descriptive research design will be used in this study, because it describes the state of affairs as it exists, when reporting the findings. Gall and Berg (23) points out that descriptive studies result in the formulation of important principles of knowledge and ssolution to significant problems. Descriptive studies will enable the researcher to measure, analyze, compare and interpret data in order to understand women voting turnout and their representation in the elective posts. Target Population The researcher targets groups such as political activists, party leaders, non-political leaders and elected officials all from United States of America. Sampling procedure A sample of 8000 individuals will be selected form backgrounds that tend to yieldhighest proportions of state legislative candidates. Two equal pools of female and male with same professional credentials will be created out the sample. Turning to the sub-samples, for political activists and party leaders, the researcher will draw names from the national directory. A total of 2,000 political activists and 2,000 political leaders will be used. Non-political leaders and elected officials will be selected randomly, each sub-sample consisting of 2,000 people. The total sample comes to 8,000 people. Dependent variables independent variables Women turnout Biasness and competition in the political arena Women representation Qualifications Past failure by political women leaders Suggestions to run for office Leadership qualities such as confidence Aspects of campaigns Data Collection This section focuses on the particular methods of data collection used as well as the benefits obtained from particular data. The study aims at collecting both primary and secondary data for the purpose of analyzing the effects of the above factors on women voting turnout and their representation in political houses. Primary data will be collected through questionnaires. The questionnaires administered consisted of both open and close-ended questionnaires will be delivered to the targeted sample. Standard mail survey protocol will be used. This involves sending the potential candidates an initial letter explaining the study and a copy of the questionnaire. A post card is sent 3 days later. A week later, a follow up letter is sent together with another copy of the questionnaire. An email message may be used to supplement this if possible. The secondary data can be collected from past written documentation on women voting turnout in USA and their representation in the Federal Government. Secondary sources include journals, academic books and internet sources. Data Validity and Reliability According to Berg and Gall (191), validity is the degree by which the results obtained represent the phenomenon understanding. Content validity which was employed by this study is a measure of the degree to which data collected using a particular instrument represents a specific domain or content of a particular concept. Berg and Gall (201) contend that the usual procedure in assessing the content validity of measure is to use a professional or expert in a particular field. Reliability can be increased by including several similar items on a measure, by testing a diverse sample of individuals or using uniform testing procedures. The researcher will use pilot study to test the reliability of research instruments. A pilot group of 500 individuals will be selected from the sample in order to pretest the reliability of research instruments. The individuals used in the pilot study will not be included in the final sample. Data observation and making of inferences Since the data collected from the study will be quantitative, it will be analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics that will be used include frequency, mean, mode and percentages. Microsoft Excel and SPSS (statistical package for social sciences) will also be used to analyze the data. For purposes of comparison and summarizing of responses for further analysis, tables, figures and charts will be used. The researcher will employ multiple regression analysis to evaluate the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Joni and Hills (99) define regression analysis as a type of analysis used when a researcher has an interest in finding out whether an independent variable predicts a given dependent variable. The above methods have been selected since they can be easily carried out and understood by majority of people. Use of tables and charts will enable future comparison of data by different users.Software such as Microsoft Excel will facilitate neat and appealing presentation of data which can be easily read and understood by majority of people. Bibliography Lovenduski, Joni, and Jill Hills.The Politics of the Second Electorate: Women and Public Participation: Britain, USA, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, West Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Eastern Europe, USSR, Japan. Routledge/Thoemms Press, 1981. Gall, Donley ., and Berg Allister. "Does a critical mass exist? A comparative analysis of womens legislative representation since 1950."European Journal of Political Research 41.2 (2002): 233-253. Blais, André, and R. Kenneth Carty. "Does proportional representation foster voter turnout?." European Journal of Political Research 18.2 (1990): 167-181. Jeniffer, Lawless, Richard, Fox. “Men rule. The continued under-representation of women in U.S politics.” Journal of political science, 1-26. Read More