Sexism remains a significant issue in U.S. politics, poll shows

8/11/2024 6:09

        For the second time in U.S. history, a
        major party nominated a woman for president and for the second
        time she lost. Democrat Kamala Harris' election loss to
        Republican Donald Trump on Tuesday followed Hillary Clinton's
        loss to him in 2016.
        
        Reasons for Harris' loss were many - an Edison Research exit
        poll showed deep concerns about the state of the economy and
        people's financial situation was a driving factor.
        
        But sexism persists. An October Reuters/Ipsos poll found a
        55% majority of registered voters said sexism was a major
        problem in the U.S., while 15% said they would not be
        comfortable voting for a female president.
        
        Women head governments in 13 of the 193 member states of the
        United Nations, although the number of countries that have had
        female leaders has risen steadily since 1990.
        
        In the United States, 51% of the population are women and
        42% are people of color, according to the U.S. Census. American
        women trail men in terms of pay and representation in government
        and management.
        
        
        
        CONGRESS, GOVERNORS
        
        The 2022-24 U.S. Congress was 28% women, the highest
        percentage in history, and 25% of lawmakers identified as Black,
        Hispanic, Asian American, American Indian, Alaska Native or
        multiracial, according to Pew Research Center.
        
        Of the 143 women in the 117th Congress, 49, or 34.3%, are
        women of color, the Center for American Women and Politics
        said.
        
        In 1975, Ella Grasso became the first of 49 women elected
        governor of U.S. states, said the Center for American Women and
        Politics. Three women of color - SuSana Martinez and Michelle
        Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, both of whom are Hispanic, and
        Nikki Haley of South Carolina, an Indian American - have served
        as governors, but no Black women.
        
        
        
        WHITE HOUSE OCCUPANTS
        
        Every one of America's presidents has been male. Democratic
        former President Barack Obama was the first Black man elected to
        the office in 2008.
        
        If elected, Harris would have been the first woman and first
        woman of color to serve as president.
        
        Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, was the first woman to run as a
        major party's nominee for president in 2016; she won the popular
        vote but lost the Electoral College to Trump.
        
        Harris was the first woman vice president, having taken
        office in 2021 with President Joe Biden. Geraldine Anne Ferraro,
        a Democrat, was the first woman nominated by a major party for
        vice president in 1984.
        
        
        
        PAY GAP
        
        The progress towards closing the gender pay gap in the 20th
        century slowed in the 21st century. In 1982, women made 65 cents
        for every dollar men made; by 2002 that figure was up to 80
        cents, according to Pew Research Center.
        In 2023, women working fulltime year-round jobs made 84 cents
        for every man's dollar, the Department of Labor reports. Black
        women made 69 cents for every white men's dollar.
        
        
        
        EDUCATION DISPARITIES
        
        Women have been more likely to obtain a bachelor's degree
        than men since 1981, according to the National Center for
        Education Studies. In 2019, women began making up a majority of
        the college-educated workforce, Pew Research Center found, a
        trend that has intensified since the COVID-19 pandemic.
        
        
        
        ABORTION RIGHTS
        
        Harris was born in 1964, four years after the U.S. Food and
        Drug Administration approved the modern birth control pill and
        nine years before Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling
        that created federal protections for abortion access.
        
        In June 2022, the Supreme Court removed those protections,
        limiting access in over half of U.S. states. That makes the
        United States one of four countries globally to reduce legal
        access to abortion care, according to the Center for
        Reproductive Rights.
        
        
        
        CEOS, BOARDROOMS
        
        Women made up 11% of chief executives at Fortune 500
        companies, Pew Research found in 2024, and 30% of Fortune 500
        board members.
        
        Across S&P 500 company boardrooms, women accounted for 34%
        of all directors this year, up from 33% last year and 19% in
        2014, according to leadership advisory firm Spencer Stuart.
        
        A 2023 McKinsey study showed that companies with over 30%
        women executives were more likely to outperform companies with
        fewer women executives or none.
        
        
        
        MATERNAL MORTALITY
        
        The U.S. has the highest rate of maternal deaths of any
        high-income nation, and over 80% of those deaths are
        preventable, the Commonwealth Fund reported in 2024.
        
        Black women are three times more likely to die from
        pregnancy-related causes than white women, according to the
        Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC and health
        experts attribute the inequities to chronic conditions such as
        cardiovascular disease but also structural racism, implicit bias
        from healthcare providers and lack of access to quality
        healthcare.