Why Representation in Politics Actually Matters

The research says so!
U.S. Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez  speaks as Reps. Ayanna Pressley  Ilhan Omar  and Rashida Tlaib  listen during a press...
Alex Wroblewski

At this week's presidential debate, both serious contenders left in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination made a historic pronouncement. Former Vice President Joe Biden committed to choosing a woman as his running mate, while Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said that, "in all likelihood," he would do the same. Online, where most of the discussion currently resides because of the global coronavirus outbreak, reaction to the candidates pledge was mixed. For some who hoped, after four years with an avowed misogynist in the Oval Office, that a woman would be the one to deliver the country from President Donald Trump, the promise was welcome, especially now that the contest has dwindled down to two old, white, straight men. Others saw the gesture as the hollow homogenization of over half the population — just one thing to consider amid other critical criteria upon which to evaluate a future presidential nominee.

But having women in politics — and more broadly, having representation across all identities of race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status — has tangible effects on the health and functioning of democracy, political scientists told Teen Vogue. Indeed, the body of research showing the value of having women run for and attain political office is rich and growing.

The first argument for the equal inclusion of women, and all identities present in America, is basic fairness, says Kelly Dittmar, assistant professor of political science at Rutgers University–Camden and scholar at the Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics. “If the system is meant to be a representative democracy, then it should be representative of the many populations it serves, and that includes women.”

Despite the significant gains in the 2018 midterms, women are still woefully underrepresented in American politics. As it stands, women occupy 127 of the 535 seats in the U.S. Congress, or 23.7% of power. For statewide executive offices and state legislatures, the share for women is only slightly better, hovering around 30%. The global average for women’s representation in government is 24.5%, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which places the U.S. 82nd of 189 countries on this metric.

“Having women and people of color in political office is beneficial because it’s a sign our political system is open and that everybody can participate no matter their position,” Christina Wolbrecht, professor of political science and director of the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy at Notre Dame University, told Teen Vogue. If equal democracy is a sign of democratic openness, then our paltry representation of women, and especially women of color, shows American democracy is not an accessible — or healthy — system.

For many, Warren’s exit spawned such a flood of frustration because it reinforced this exact idea, said Mirya Holman, associate professor of political science at Tulane University. “The way she dropped out with a lot of people being supportive, but that not translating into actual votes, reminds people the system is not actually all that open or welcoming to women,” Holman told Teen Vogue.

Setting fairness aside, women are vital to American politics because they bring symbolic power that comes with a cascade of benefits for democracy. Put simply, “It matters because you cannot be what you cannot see,” Jennifer Piscopo, associate professor of politics at Occidental College, told Teen Vogue. Increasing the number of women in political leadership makes it more likely young women and men will see women as both capable of and an equally natural fit for public leadership, Dittmar, the Rutgers professor, pointed out. “This starts to disrupt what has been a white male dominance in American politics, and that is especially true at the presidential level where no woman has served,” she added.

Symbolic representation also provides the crucial ingredient of trust needed for the successful relationship between the governors and governed in any democratic society. In 2016, Piscopo and her research partners Amanda Clayton of Vanderbilt University and Diana O’Brien of Indiana University ran a series of survey experiments asking Americans to read fictitious articles about state legislative committees with varying levels of gender balance that were evaluating sexual harassment policies. The findings showed a resounding rejection of all-male panels that decided to decrease penalties for sexual harassers, with respondents saying they were less likely to agree with the outcome, more likely to believe the process was unfair and the decision should be overturned, and less trustful of the overall results. “When the folks in office are more diverse and gender-balanced we see people have more trust in government and participate in politics more. The paradox is all these stereotypes make it hard for women to get into office in the first place,” Piscopo told Teen Vogue.

Recent research from Wolbrecht and fellow Notre Dame University professor David Cambell also confirms the relationship between representation and trust in government, especially among girls. Based on a national sample of 997 American teenagers, ages 15–18, administered in the fall of 2016 before the election, and then again in 2017, Wolbrecht and Cambell found a drastic decline in how girls, especially those identifying as Democrats, viewed the state of American democracy. In 2016, 37% of Democratic girls thought politics helped meet their needs. A year later that belief had dropped by 20 percentage points.

But when these same teens were interviewed again in 2018, Democratic girls’ trust in democracy rebounded back to 30%, a result Wolbrecht and Campbell credit to the historic number of women who ran in the 2018 midterm elections. Increased faith in politics was especially pronounced among Democratic girls who lived in places where one or more women ran for the U.S. House, Senate, or governor. On the other hand, the trust remained stagnant in areas where there were no women candidates.

This “role model effect” is important not only for trust in government, but also for another critical element of democracy: civic engagement. As Wolbrecht and Cambell write, young women tend to become more politically engaged when they see women engaging in visible, viable campaigns, a finding bolstered by research from Tiffany Barnes, an associate professor of political science at the University of Kentucky. Using data from 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Barnes discovered a direct relationship between women’s representation and political engagement. “Having more women in office, and in visible political positions, is associated with more women engaging in activities like protest or talking about politics, and contacting a representative more frequently,” Barnes told Teen Vogue.

On a substantive policy level, the evidence shows women’s legislative effectiveness is greater than men’s. And although the backgrounds of women are far from monolithic, women overall bring different, valuable perspectives to the currently male-dominated process, Dittmar said. “We value the experience of someone who has had military experience or lived abroad, so, why wouldn’t we value the distinct experience women have in society?”

Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Elizabeth Warren Never Stood a Chance

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