A group of predominately straight white guys gathers to contemplate the unique perils of 21st century America.
20 women serve in the 113th U.S. Senate — the highest number ever but that’s still 31 senators away from proper gender representation.
Only two black senators serve in the 113th congress. That’s 2% of senators compared to roughly 12% of the U.S. population.
Four Hispanic or Latino senators serve in the 113th congress. That’s 4% of senators compared to roughly 13% of the U.S. population.
One Asian/Pacific Islander serves. That’s 1% of senators compared to roughly 5% of the U.S. population.
No Native Americans serve in the United States Senate. That’s 0% of senators compared to roughly 1% of the U.S. population.
Only one openly- LGBT senator serves in the United States Senate. That’s 1% of senators compared to anywhere between 2% and 15% of the U.S. population (statistics of LGBT Americans are historically unreliable).
So, by the numbers, 73% of senators are straight white guys and only ~30-35% of Americans fall into that demographic. Straight white guys are punching way out of their weight class.
SOURCE: Congressional Research Service
This might seem a little shocking to you (cause, you know, all white guys are horibad and only think about white guys) but I’d much rather be represented by Hermain Cain than by Harry Reid.
Would you vote for Mr. Cain over Mr. Reid?
BTW, they did have a “SOLUTION” to the parity issue, “Women only seats”, iow, they want to dispense with democracy and have 50% of the congressional and senate seats as women.
My response was “But, this would only ensure that women would get hose seats , NOT Liberal Women”, then they responded with “But only women would get to vote for those seats as well”.
I stopped talking after that.
@ jatc Contrast that with demands to reduce physical standards for women to get into the FBI or some police departments. Contrast that the absence of calls from progressives to have a different physical standard for women in the infantry. Because women are worried there might be an actual draft someday, they have no problem not meeting the standards in the same proportion as men. A job that people might want, progressives are all over trying to find ways to increase female participation even if that means lowering standards. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to insert a picture, but… Read more »
Here is a quesiton I have asked MANY MANY feminists.
If Bill Clinton was running against Sarah Palin, who would you vote for.
ALL of them said Bill Clinton.
So I said “You would vote for a white man, who has sex with a very young intern in his office, instead of a woman and yet you still complain about parity”.
Politics still trumps Gender.
The irony of Sarah Palin being the first female president might actually be worth having Sarah Palin as president.
Wow, you found people who will vote for a candidate’s values instead of just his/her gender! So amazing! Much groundbreaking! Such insightful!
What was your point here?
The issue regarding gender is tricky. In some respects it could be simply that men are farrr more likely to want to run for office? Here in Aus there was 1 female and 5 males on my local vote to choose from.
In other areas I’ve heard there are many initiatives for instance to get women into areas like S.T.E.M yet very few applicants from women so even if women are 51% of the population, you may not get 51% distribution of the people wanting to join politics and other areas being female.
Okay, you’ve now successfully pointed out the problem, I guess, so what’s the solution? Year after year we hear about it over and over “there’s too many white men in office!” And yet, when it comes time to throw the hat into the ring, it’s white guy versus white guy. And around it goes again “there’s too many white men in office!” So what’s the solution? Because frankly I’m sick of people griping about this, but doing nothing. If women want more women in congress and the senate and every other government body, women actually have to step up and… Read more »
“20 women serve in the 113th U.S. Senate — the highest number ever but that’s still 31 senators away from proper gender representation.”
And that’s 18 senators more than proper gender representation when you look at who has sacrificed for our freedom in the U.S. military.
Good point John. My question is, what does gender have to do with anything? These are representatives of the people, are they not responsible no matter what gender they are? Considering the ratio and how men have been screwed over for so long, it certainly reflects that “men” don’t favor “men.” It’s been men in these positions, that if anything, they have done more harm to men then anything else. But then there is another side of me that says, give it all to women. Just like the pissing and moaning I hear from modern women where life sucks because… Read more »
“are they not responsible no matter what gender they are? ”
That would be a good point if the House and Senate were not full of old white males actively seeking to control women’s reproductive choices.
@ His Shadow
“That would be a good point if the House and Senate were not full of old white males actively seeking to control women’s reproductive choices. ”
That would be a good point if women took sole responsibility for a choice they want to solely make.
It would be great if you could elaborate on that last sentence and reassure me that you are not as incredibly stupid as you currently sound.
@ Mary Bamburg There is a difference between a choice and a mistake. Anyone can make a mistake whether it’s in the incorrect use or non-use of birth control. Accidents can happen. People can show weakness, get drunk, etc. If a woman has the ability to have an abortion over say 3 months, it’s not an accident, mistake, or misjudgement, it’s a choice. If women want the sole right to choose, which they mostly have right now there may be certain restrictions in some areas based on viability, then men should have the option of legally opting out of the… Read more »
Good point John. My question is, what does gender have to do with anything? These are representatives of the people, are they not responsible no matter what gender they are? Considering the ratio and how men have been screwed over for so long, it certainly reflects that “men” don’t favor “men.” It’s been men in these positions, that if anything, they have done more harm to men then anything else. But then there is another side of me that says, give it all to women. Just like the pissing and moaning I hear from modern women where life sucks because… Read more »
“And that’s 18 senators more than proper gender representation when you look at who has sacrificed for our freedom in the U.S. military.”
Brilliant. Just brilliant.
Men: “Women can’t serve in the military because they’re too dainty and weak.” Other men: “We don’t need more women in Congress because women don’t serve in the military.” If there were a Dudebro Award for Circular Reasoning, my friend, you’d be a top contender for this year’s prize.
Women have been able to join the armed forces for quite some time.
@ Franklin
It’s amazing how it’s only certain jobs that progressives are concerned about parity, the “good” jobs or maybe you can point out the article where one laments the fact that the U.S. military isn’t 51% female or the one where someone is complaining that 51% of the firefighters fighting the wildfires in California and Arizona aren’t women. You can do that with pretty much any statistic or condition that favors women.
Oh, lovely. A live we-hunted-the-mammoth argument. Those are getting pretty rare in the wild.
So cute.
@ Lars
Oh great another if we can’t dazzle them with brilliance we’ll baffle them with bullshit argument.