Women and Politics

This post was submitted by Jamie Bence, one of WCF’s Summer 2009 Fellows.

The National Journal reports this week that the Obama Administration has a larger proportion of women in top positions than any of its predecessors.  Currently, President Obama’s team is 34% female, compared to 26% of President George Bush’s administration in 2001.

The new administration also brings unprecedented racial diversity to the White House.  Only nine of the 22 officials designated by Obama as having Cabinet rank are white men.

Here are a few outstanding women working in the Obama Administration:

• Melody Barnes: She serves as the President’s Domestic Policy advisor and Director of the Domestic Policy Council.  Barnes has been charged with issues relating to health care reform, civil rights and women’s health.
• Cassandra Butts:  As Deputy White House Council, Butts performs a central role in White House Legal Affairs.
• Hillary Clinton: Obama’s former challenger is currently serving as the Secretary of State, the third woman in U.S. history to hold that position.
• Lisa Jackson: As administrator of the EPA, Jackson leads a nationwide staff of just over 18,000 civil servants.  She is the first African American to hold that position.
• Katie Johnson: Just 27 years old, Johnson serves as the president’s personal secretary.  However, what Johnson lacks in age she makes up for in experience, having previously worked for Rahm Emmanuel, Hillary Clinton and Parris Glendening.
• Valerie Jarrett:  She is a Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Obama administration.  Jarrett was also pivotal in the Obama-Biden Transition team.
• Janet Napolitano:  The former Arizona governor serves as the third Secretary of Homeland Security.
• Susan Rice: The US representative to the United Nations was confirmed unanimously by the Senate in the first days of the Obama Administration.
• Desirée Rogers: A former Chicago business tycoon, Rogers has taken on the East Wing.
• Mona Sutphen: The White House Deputy Chief of Staff is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Despite the Obama Administration’s commitment to gender equality, women have still not reached parity in the White House.  At the current rate of increase, it will take almost 100 years until women reach gender parity in politics.  At WCF, we can’t wait that long.  Can you?

The news of Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s retirement has dominated the news, blogosphere, and twitter world this morning. Speculation of who President Obama will choose to replace this liberal-leaning justice, of course, ensued.

But refreshingly, the overwhelming prediction for Obama’s nomination is: a woman. From Our Bodies, Our Blog:

Among the names mentioned were former Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan, who Obama named as his solicitor general; Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit; Judge Diane Wood of the 7th Circuit; and Stanford University law professor Kathleen M. Sullivan.

While the general consensus is that Obama’s replacement won’t radically change the ideological makeup of the Court, it does present him with an opportunity to bring some much-needed diversity to the bench. It also gives him a chance to uphold his pro-choice beliefs - that the Constitution supports a woman’s right to privacy, and that Roe v. Wade was rightly decided - by nominating a pro-choice justice.

Obama’s first 100 days included great strides for women being appointed to office as well as protections for our rights and health. The president now has a unique opportunity to keep that momentum going and move toward the goal of achieving gender parity in public office.

The Supreme Court currently sits with one lonely, fabulous woman: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. One out of nine. Women make up over 50% of the U.S. population, yet we only hold 17% of congressional seats, and have one Supreme Court justice.

We can no longer ignore this giant disparity. It’s becoming increasingly more recognized that women’s equal empowerment and leadership is essential to the success and health of a nation. If the United States wishes to continue to move foward and solve the grave challenges before us, we need to make gender leadership equality a priority. It’s my sincere hope that President Obama will lead us into an era where woman have equal power and representation.