Academic

The Scholar & Feminist Conference XXXIII - The State of Democracy: Gender and Political Participation

By Ann Bartow

Keynote Address by Lani Guinier

Saturday, 3/1, 9:00 am
Barnard Hall Lobby
Pre-registration is recommended

Visit the conference website to register.

… In the last Presidential election, only 55.27% of the voting-age American population cast their ballots. Amazingly, a participation rate of less than two-thirds is still the highest turnout since 1968. Our representational political system represents few, particularly when we acknowledge the lines of race, class, and gender. While the number of women elected to Congress and elective executive offices is indeed increasing, the statistics are still staggeringly low. Of the 435 members of the House of Representatives in the current US Congress, 86 are women. Of those 86 women, 11 are African American, 7 are Latina, and 2 are Asian Pacific Islander. There remains only one woman of color ever to be elected to the US Senate in its 220 year history.

Full post as published by Feminist Law Professors on February 15, 2008 (boomark / email).