Homework No.7

Help me study for my Political Science class. I’m stuck and don’t understand.

650 words

Reflection paper and personal vote

Watch the film ‘Miss Representation’ — here’s a link:

https://documentarylovers.com/film/miss-representation/

First, write a reflection of the film. What did you think? What did you learn? What did you already know? What did you think about the women who were interviewed and what they had to say? Do you think that there are important issues that the film left out? The film talks a lot about how women are portrayed in the media, how they are valued or not valued. It looks at women’s struggles to gain equality in politics and the workplace. It looks at the many challenges that women have faced and continue to face in gaining leadership roles – including the presidency. Many other countries have had women leaders, but the United States lags here. If women better supported other women, then a woman could have been in the White House years ago.

Consider this: women have had the vote for 100 years. More women register to vote than men. More women than men actually show up to the polls and vote. So why don’t women voters support more women in office? One challenge is the ingrained ‘God-man-woman-child’ hierarchy. Another challenge is that there are typically more male candidates than women. One reason is funding. It is difficult to get a decent ‘war chest’ – or funding – to run an effective campaign. People have tended to donate more to men’s campaigns than to women’s campaigns. But there has been some improvement on that issue. Now there are groups like Emily’s List that work to raise money for women candidates.

Here’s a link to more such groups: https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a23678900/women-political-organizations-run-for-office/

Finally, let’s say that you are in Congress and there is new a vote right now to re-launch the ERA amendment, using the exact same wording.

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification

In 2020, how would you vote? Yes or no? And why? You need to consider that this is not simply a ‘women’s’ issue. We tend to think of sex/gender discrimination as affecting only women, but there are instances of male discrimination centering on work considered suitable only for women such as childcare (nanny, pre-school, kindergarten) or nursing situations. There have also been examples of LGBTQ issues, ie. men being asked to ‘tone down their gayness.’

See Wildhaber v. St Louis County, MO.

(https://www.eandblaw.com/employment-discrimination-blog/2017/06/23/police-officers-gayness-prevented-promotion/