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34 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com olitics in A merica has changed considerably since women won the long desperate bale to vote almost 100 years ago. Obviously, the rules of the game have changed enormously in recent years as is evident from the current presidential campaigns. Party line politics that ruled both sides of the aisle for decades has fractured but, one noticeable change that hasn't happened as quick ly as we might have thought 20 years ago is the percentage of female representation in elected office. Women hold only 19 percent of congressional offices and less than 25 percent in the state legislators. e numbers have remained stagnant for over two decades. No doubt considerable headway has been made since the activism of the Women's Suffrage movement and pioneers like Susan B. A nthony, Lucy Stone and Sojourner Truth; however, our advancement has pre y much stagnated since 1992. Ironically that is the year the media coined "e Year of the Woman" in reference to four women being elected to the Senate which had never before occurred in a single year. In response to the headline-writer's catch-phrase, Senator Barbara Mikulsk i, one of the aforementioned Senators, said, "Calling 1992 the 'Year of the Woman' makes it sound like the year of the Caribou or the Year of the Asparagus. We're not a fad, fancy, or a year." Indeed, they were not a fad, but then again, female representation hasn't grown as rapidly as expected. e most flagrant reason is obvious: sex ism, both historical and present-day. Women were forced to endure a knock-down, drag- out fight in order to get the vote due to the common sex ism of the day. Women weren't highly regarded in most intellectual areas and this much is evident when look ing at some popular opinions of the time. For example, in 1867, literar y giant Mark Twain is quoted as saying , "I never want to see the women voting , and gabbling about politics, and electioneering. ere is something revolting in the thought." Ouch, Mark! ough to his credit, his views, like many of the time, evolved. So, why are we still stuck? DOUBLE STANDARDS In truth, sex ism hasn't necessarily evaporated, and though it may not be quite as prevalent, there is a double standard that cannot be ignored. Pundits took to the air waves to speculate on Chelsea Clinton's pregnancy and how Hilar y Clinton's pending role as grandmother could potentially affect her 2016 ambitions for the White House. Such consideration was not made when 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mi Romney proudly troed his 18 grandchildren throughout the campaign MissRepresentation By Bridget O'Brien POLITICS P BELOW: The Senate Democratic women in 1993, L-R: Murray, Moseley, Braun, Mikulski, Feinstein, & Boxer RIGHT: Women casting their first votes in NYC, c. 1920s

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