Why women decide elections in U.S.

Although men and women don’t actually differ on matters of issues in the United States, but the driving force of elections in America are the females. WALE ELEGBEDE reports

The United States has not had a woman seat in the White House as president but the major force behind the outcomes of every presidential election in Americasince1984arethewomenfolks. Votes from women in elections over thepast36yearshaveoutnumberedthat of their male counterpart, but men hold the chunk of elective offices in the U.S.

The story of former President Barak Obama into the White House in 2008 was propelled by women, especially black women, and they also played huge roles to keep him there in 2012. In 2016, it was the votes of white, suburban women that gained much attention.

While more women voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump won among white women. Dissenting these issues in the wake of the 2020 presidential election in the US that pitched President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden, Professor Christina Wolbrecht, director of the Rooney Centre for the Study of American Democracy at the University of Notre Dame, explained to over 200 journalists covering the US elections in a virtual briefing organised by the Foreign Press Center, that the influence of women in the American elections was great as they constituted more than 50 per cent of the voters. Alongside Wolbrecht at the briefing was Tierra Stewart, national fellowship programme director of IGNITE National, who explained that women voter turnout is higher because they have more at stake.

Identifying the significance of Y2020 asthecentennialof theratificationof the 19th Amendment which prohibits discrimination in voting rights on the basis of sex, Prof Wolbrechtsaid there’sbeen a lot of interest in women voters throughout the 100 years in which they’ve been nationally enfranchised, adding that withthe19thAmendmentallstatesareto allow women to participate in elections.

She said, “Since 1980, women as a group have participated in elections at a higher rate than men do. I might mention that it’s actually been since 1964, that there have been more women in the presidential electorate, even when they were turning out at a slightly lower rate.

There are simply more women of voting age in the United States, due mostly to the fact that women have longer lifespans, at least in the U.S.” While urging caution when talking about women as a group, she said women are just as diverse in their identities and their interests as men are, adding that, “One of those ways in which women are diverse is racially. This is showing over the last five presidential elections.

“This is actually a global phenomenon in most advanced industrial democracies. In the period immediately following women’s enfranchisement, women are more likely than men to favor center-right parties. That’s often referred to as the traditional gender gap. Again, we see that in many places around the world.” Fielding questions on factors that have shaped the party affiliation of American women, Prof. Wolbrecht said a lot of people assume that women were becoming more Democratic than men because of the difference between the parties on women’s rights issues.

“The reality, however, is far more complicated. There’s actually not a lot of good evidence that it is those sorts of women’s issues that explain why women are slightly more Democratic and men are more Republican. The truth is men and women in the United States don’t actually differ that much in terms of those issues, and if anything, men are, for example, more pro-choice than women are in the United States. “Instead of it being women’s issues specifically, it is instead issues that impact women’s lives differently. In particular, the gender gap is a function of differences in preferences for the social welfare state, specifically of course programs to do with poverty, elderly folks, et cetera, but also investments in education, in healthcare, et cetera.

Women in general would like to see the government doing more in those areas and being more engaged. “And certainly, since the 1960s, that isasetof issuesthathavedramatically characterizedthe two parties with the Republicans wanting smaller government, fewer of these sorts of programs, andDemocratswantingmore.

“Why might women be more supportive of an active social welfare state? I think the first answer that comes to most people’s minds is because they are more likely to recipients of these programs and it is true in the United States that our ideas of who deserves government help often focus on mothers and children, and so women are in fact more likely to be recipients of these programs.

“Just as importantly, it turns out that just like men voters, women vote their own economic interests and women are much more likely than men to be employed in the sectors of health and education and social work, and so see the values of those programs, understand their own political interests being tied to them, et cetera. I would emphasize that in particular,” she explained.

Sharing her views on the barriers that women of color in the United States face to be able to compete for elective office, Stewart said there is need to support women to run for elective offices regardless of their race or color.

Stewart narrated thus, “I know a young woman recently who put a bid in to run for city council of her town. Also, full-time worker, and so that means she put in a proposal on how she can maintain her responsibilities at work, as well as running for office. And not only did she receive a lot of scrutiny for that, she ended up having to resign from her race. “And then the environment was so coerced when she’d been in work that she ended up also resigning from her place of work.

So not only did she lose her campaign, she lost her job. And so that’s what I mean about the barriers to try to run for office. But what I like to say about that, the bigger struggle, the more the power.

So, you know why it’s such a struggle because of what you gain.” Stating that the most important change is equal representation, she stressed that the idea of putting all women in one bucket is untidy, clarifying that, “The story of Latino women is not the same as the story of black women, it’s not the same as the story of white women, and others, because of their links to their communities and other reasons as well.”

Giving an overview on the that pact of Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Senator Kamala Harris, the first woman of colour on a major party’s ticket, Stewart said her choice is going to secure the black woman vote but there is no guarantee she will connect with Gen Z who are the biggest vote in the population.

“A lot of people aren’t really that excited about Biden in general, is more like just settling for Biden. And I’m just going to speak directly for right now, the black community. And so, with bringing Kamala Harris onboard that automatically is going to secure the black woman vote, it really is,” she said. “And I don’t think Kamala has enough connection with Gen Z in order to turn out the vote for them as well.

They’re not particularly motivated by her either, or are they motivated by Biden. Honestly, I feel like with this upcoming election is really going to be a very close call.” Meanwhile, Prof Wolbrecht said with its attendant consequences, a quota system provision for women in United States politics is nearly impossible, adding that the current system in America have ‘quite weak’ parties that would find it difficult to make proportional work as a result of primary elections “There’s some evidence that, for example reserved seat programs. One of the goals was that if you get more women in office, you’ll make everyone understand that women can be good, elected officials.

Some of the early evidence actually just makes people mad that women unfairly got those seats. And so, they’re going to vote for men in all the other sort of seats. In the United States, a quota system is nearly impossible.

“So, anybody who puts themselves forward can be a candidate and the voters decide which candidate they want to be the party’s nominee. So even if the party wanted to say, we want 25, 30, 40% of our candidates, for let’s say the U.S House to be women, they don’t actually have the power to make that happen. We also, of course, then don’t have list systems.”