ABSTRACT

Two constituencies determine the role women play in US politics. One is the electorate, comprised of a majority of women who support female candidates in greater numbers than male voters. The second is the elected members of the House and Senate, mostly men, who vote on the leadership positions for each party and make the rules for committee chairmanships. Here, men have been reluctant to yield power even as the number of female legislators has increased such that the extreme hostility sometimes displayed toward women penetrating their once all-male domain. Over the next quarter century, the male members of Congress smoothed the sharp edges of their anti-female attitude, but the determination to keep women in their place did not diminish. The role that serendipity plays in political life should not be under-estimated. The 2000 presidential campaign spilled over into Florida with a disputed vote count and charges of favoritism, if not nepotism, in how the state tallied the election results.