As demonstrated in the two articles below, to the media, only liberal females holding public office are considered for gender diversity.
"With this fall's midterm elections, the number of women serving in Congress could drop for the first time in a generation — a twist on a political season many had dubbed 'the year of the woman.'"
-- From "Sarah Palin effect sees record number of women stand as Republican candidates" by Alex Spillius in Washington, London Telegraph 8/29/10
Often controversial, outspoken and resolutely Right-wing, Republican women are beginning to overhaul the image of the [Republican] party.
After its heavy losses in 2008 to the Democrats, the Grand Old Party was written off as too male, too old and too out of touch.
Success at the polls in US Congressional elections on Nov 2 would also lift the overall number of women in American national politics . . .
A record 140 women have competed in Republican primaries for the House of Representatives and the Senate this year, almost double the number in 2008. Once the primaries are completed in mid-September, the final tally of female candidates is also set to exceed previous levels, according to party officials.
Mrs Palin and others, like Michele Bachmann and Marsha Blackburn, both relative newcomers to the House of Representatives, have provided role models for conservative women that didn't use to exist, she said.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Women in Washington, your seats are at risk" by Lisa Mascaro, Tribune Washington Bureau posted at Los Angeles Times 8/29/10
Women now hold 90 seats in Congress: 69 are Democrats and 21 are Republicans. After the November election, Congress could end up with as many as 10 fewer female members, prognosticators now say, the first backslide in the uninterrupted march of women to Washington since 1978.
Many of the vulnerable Democratic women this fall first arrived on the waves of the 2006 and 2008 elections, but now face tough odds in districts that have since soured on the party in power and on President Obama's agenda.
The fortunes of women in Congress have ebbed and flowed . . .
Women made mostly steady gains through the election of President Kennedy in 1960, when 20 women held office in Congress, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
But two years later, the midterm elections, which are often unkind to the party in power, saw the number of women dip to 14. It was not until President Carter's election in 1976 that the number of women returned to 20.
The gains came mostly on the Democratic side of the aisle, as women who had made their way through elected positions on school boards, city councils and state legislatures jumped to Congress.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
