Women in Law and Politics Journal.pdf Danielle Mikaelian

Columbia University
Women in Law and Politics
Journal
Volume 1 l Issue 2 Summer 2019
A COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY WOMEN IN LAW AND POLITICS PUBLICATION
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Columbia Women in Law and
Politics Journal
VOLUME I | ISSUE II | SUMMER 2019
Editor-in-Chief
Danielle Mikaelian
Executive Editors
Sonia Mahajan
Cara Maines
The Columbia Women in Law and Politics Journal is the publication
of Columbia University Women in Law and Politics
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Political Pregnancy and Public Perception
Jennifer Kaplan, Barnard College
A Look at Women’s Political Participation
in China
Hannah Kim, Rice University
Swing Like a Girl
Victoria Morgan, University of Southern
California
Female Representation in U.S. Congress
Rosalie Moss, Barnard College
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Dear Reader,
As the Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Women in Law and Politics
Journal, it is my great pleasure to announce our second issue. I am
extremely grateful to have had the privilege of spearheading such a
novel, rapidly evolving publication.
The Journal, as a publication of Columbia Women in Law and
Politics, further cements and reafﬁrms the presence, value, and
necessity of the organization. Through expanding our reach through
a biannual journal, it is the sincere hope of the WILP Executive
Board that, by highlighting contemporary struggles of women, we
can help promote gender equality.
Speciﬁcally, our careful choice of articles, which encompass topics
like female congressional representation, the gender pay gap, and
political pregnancies, emphasizes the incessant struggles women
face while striving to achieve equal treatment. Through providing a
non-partisan platform to share academic writing that promotes
discussion of issues related to women, the CU WILP Journal Editorial
Board hopes to highlight disparities and further close the gap
between individuals of different genders.
After a meticulous review process, the Editorial Board selected less
than half of submitted articles for publication. Selected pieces were
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chosen as a result of their commitment to exposing gender
inequalities, persuasiveness of argument, and dedication to future
progress. The four articles featured act as examples of exemplary
undergraduate scholarship.
I would like to personally thank our Executive Editors, Sonia
Mahajan and Cara Maines, without whom this publication would not
be possible. They dedicated hours of their time to the journal’s
production over the course of the semester and winter break.
Moreover, they will be returning to the Editorial Board next
semester, and I look forward to advancing the journal with such
dedicated and talented individuals.
We look forward to the future of the journal and forthcoming female
advancement. The last ten years have featured remarkable progress,
including global promotion of LGBTQ rights and the creation of
organizations and movements that promote female advancement.
However, gender disparities remain rampant, and as an organization,
we will continue to work to remove barriers preventing women from
obtaining equality.
The Editorial Board hopes that you enjoy the Journal. Thank you for
taking the time to read our inaugural issue.
Sincerely,
Danielle Mikaelian
Editor-in-Chief
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MISSION STATEMENT
The goal of the Columbia Women in Law and Politics Journal is to
promote discussion regarding the legal and political questions
affecting women today. As an academic journal, we prioritize
stimulating intellectual debate highlighting factors affecting female
progress. To accomplish this, it is essential that we:
i) Provide a platform for undergraduate women’s voices through our
commitment to only publish articles by women authors and having
an all-women editorial staff.
ii) Make available the resources necessary to open discourse on
issues of women in law and politics among undergraduates.
iii) Accept articles from students in all Columbia undergraduate
schools, including Columbia College, the Fu Foundation School of
Engineering and Applied Science, the School of General Studies,
and Barnard College. The journal hopes to expand its reach in
further issues.
iv) Remain a non-partisan publication that accepts and publishes a
wide range of articles addressing the diversity of topics and
viewpoints found within the ﬁelds of law and politics.
v) Hold authors to the highest standard possible in terms of the
content and integrity of their articles, and abide by the principles
set out in Columbia University’s Academic Integrity and
Community Standards.
Disclaimer: The goal of the Columbia Women in Law and Politics
Journal is to provide undergraduate women with a non-partisan
platform to share academic writing that promotes discussion of issues
related to women. The views expressed in the articles are not
representative of those of the journal or its editors.
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The submissions of articles must adhere to the following guidelines:
i) All work must be original, previously unpublished, and written by
undergraduates who identify as women
ii) We will consider submissions between 2,000 and 7,000 words
(exceptions apply—contact us if you would like to write a shorter or
longer article)
iii) The journal accepts research papers, opinion pieces, and analyses
centered on books related to law and politics, or women’s
experiences in law and politics
iv) Pieces must be academic in style, but readable by a wider
audience
v) All pieces must include a bibliography and endnote citations
We accept articles on a continuing basis. Please send all inquiries to
columbiawilp@gmail.com.
SUBMISSIONS
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Political Pregnancy and Public Perception: A
Study of Two Women Who Have Given Birth
While Serving in Congress
Jennifer Kaplan | Barnard College
COLUMBIA WOMEN IN LAW AND POLITICS
Abstract
With Tammy Duckworth’s January 2018 pregnancy
announcement, the senator from Illinois becomes only the tenth
woman in Congress to become pregnant while serving as a
representative. As news of her announcement has spread across a
variety of media sources, it’s clear that such an ‘event’ is
newsworthy. Senator Duckworth’s treatment by the news media
regarding her pregnancy, and the media portrayal of the first
woman to become pregnant while serving in Congress,
Representative Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, are the subjects of this
comparative study. Taken together, the analyses of articles
following Burke’s pregnancy in 1973 and Duckworth’s in 2018
examine the ways in which the press represents women who
embody the cross-section of several key identities: women, people
of color, mothers, and working women. This study seeks to
answer the following question: how does the United States media
portray pregnant women in public roles—specifically, women in
Congress? Ultimately, I argue that, though media portrayal does
differ on a case-by-case basis, generally the press reverts to
characterizing women based on predefined roles: first as a
mother, then as a politician, and finally—but only under certain
circumstances—as both. Analysis of this categorization will prove
useful to those who seek to understand ways for increasing
women’s involvement in leadership roles, as well as the
intersectional study of gender and media.
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When Tammy Duckworth, the junior Senator from Illinois,
announced her pregnancy in January 2018, she was only the tenth
woman in Congress—and the first Senator—to become pregnant in
office. When she gave birth to her second daughter on April 9, she
became part of an even smaller club of women who have given birth
during their elected terms. As news of her announcement spread
across a variety of media sources, it became clear that such an
‘event’ was newsworthy. Through a historicizing lens, this paper
will take a step back to analyze the event that foregrounds Senator
Duckworth’s pregnancy and resulting media coverage:
Congresswoman Yvonne Brathwaite Burke’s “historical first”
pregnancy while serving as a Representative from California in
1973. I examine the ways in which the press represents women who
embody the cross-section of several key identities: women, people
of color (Burke is African American, and Duckworth is Thai
American), mothers, and working women. This study seeks to
answer the following question: how does the United States media
portray pregnant women in public roles, specifically women in
Congress? Ultimately, I argue that though media portrayal does
differ on a case-by-case basis, the press generally reverts to
characterizing women based on predefined roles: first as a mother,
then as a politician, and finally—but only under certain
circumstances—as both.
At first glance, it seems clear why so few women have become
pregnant while serving in Congress. Congress itself was entirely a
boys’ club until 1917, when Jeannette Rankin became the first
woman to serve as a Representative for Montana in the House.
Since then, only 306 women have been elected (or, in some cases,
appointed following the deaths of their Congressman husbands) to
roles in the U.S. legislature: 269 in the House of Representatives, 39
in the Senate, and 12 in both the House and Senate. These numbers
are small when one considers the fact that there have been

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a total of 12,244 Representatives in U.S. history; women represent
roughly 2.5 percent of all U.S. Representatives throughout the
country’s existence. One hundred and six women are currently
serving in the 115th
Congress. All told, there simply haven’t been
enough women serving terms to create a high frequency of
pregnant members.
The general composition of Congress itself is another factor
that has likely led to the dearth of pregnant women who have
served in its ranks. The average age for women to give birth is 26.4
years in the United States. This is well below the age of most
members of Congress, who collectively average 57.8 years old in the
House and 61.8 in the Senate. Further, women tend to be older than
men when they run for office the first time. While it is true that the
age at which women give birth in the United States has been
trending upwards for decades, biological fertility restrictions,
coupled with the fact that members of Congress generally have
established careers before running for national office, go far to
explain why so few Congress members have given birth during their
tenures.
Moreover, it is clear from prior studies that women serving in
political office are less likely to start families during their terms and
less likely to have children overall. This may be attributed to
expectations that women stay at home to raise children when they
have them. Alternatively, this may be attributed to the
discrimination that women who already have children face when
applying for jobs or attempting to advance their careers.
With these facts in mind, how Congresswomen are portrayed
when they become pregnant during their terms is worthy of
investigation. Previous studies have focused on stereotypes that
female politicians face, and other studies have described the
discrimination that pregnant women face either generally or in the

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workforce, but there is currently scant literature on women who
have become pregnant while serving in political office. While Julia
Bard discusses the phenomena of “Housewife Superstars” and
“Political Strongwomen & MP Mums” in her 2004 book Media Tarts,
her analysis is limited to women politicians in Australia. Noting the
absences in the previous sources, this paper will explore the gap in
the literature on pregnant women politicians in the United States.
Background: Stereotypes of Women Politicians
Women politicians face certain stereotypes not applicable to
their male counterparts. These stereotypes play into how female
politicians are portrayed in the media and perceived by the public.
Studies have shown that voters are more cognizant of female
politicians’ misconduct as compared to their male peers. The added
scrutiny on female politicians’ behavior, as well as broader
perceptions of their activities while in office, is likely a result of the
historical association between women and the domestic sphere,
with the public sphere reserved as a realm for men only. Voters also
negatively portray female politicians when they are perceived as
“power-seeking,” while male politicians receive no such
punishment for their perceived intentions. Additionally, a 2014
study found that female politicians “are defined more by their
deficits than their strengths,” while simultaneously being viewed as
possessing more negative attributes than male politicians. Overall,
existing literature demonstrates that female politicians are viewed
and evaluated differently from their male peers.
I predict that these stereotypes will impact my findings in
several key ways. Firstly, we know from previous studies that male
politicians are not asked, or judged, about their family lives nearly
as frequently as their female peers. That said, preexisting

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stereotypes and the tendency for harsher judgment will likely yield
more critical coverage of women politicians’ pregnancies. Secondly,
I expect to find an emphasis on family life in these articles, as well
as coverage questioning how these women can balance being both
mothers and politicians. Further, a woman politician’s self-doubts
about her abilities to handle both motherhood and work will be
magnified by the press. Finally, given previous studies that have
revealed that women politicians tend to de-emphasize their family
lives while running for office in order to offset stereotypes about
women belonging in the home, I suspect that coverage of Burke’s
pregnancy will reveal that she deflects questions about how
pregnancy will affect her family life and instead redirect the
conversation to her political agenda or other less domestic subjects.
Background: Stereotypes of Pregnant Women
Pregnant women are treated differently from non-pregnant
women, with treatment varying based on context. Pregnant women
seeking “nontraditional roles,” for example, in the workforce, face
hostile reactions. They are also often viewed as “childlike” and more
likely to receive assistance from strangers who view them as
helpless. Moreover, pregnant women are likely to be subject to
discrimination in the workforce through termination, or never hired
at all as a result of their condition.
These stereotypes can be magnified when the individual in
question is not white. Studies have shown that black pregnant
women are more likely to be perceived as single mothers.
Additionally, theories of intersectional feminism predict that
individuals embodying multiple marginalized identifies will
experience discrimination relating to both, thereby magnifying the
overall discrimination that these individuals face; I pay particular
attention to how the intersections of race and gender affect
Representative Burke’s media portrayal.

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Project Outline & Methodology
This project applies a qualitative analytical approach to the data at
hand. What that means in practice is that, rather than construct and
label each article discussing the respective congress member’s
pregnancy on a coded scale, I have chosen to dissect them on a
line-by-line basis. Through this approach, two themes emerged in both
Congresswomen’s pregnancy-related media coverage: 1) emphasis on
their status as the “ﬁrst” to accomplish a variety of tasks, and 2) their
techniques for achieving work-life balance.
Predicted Outcomes:
Stereotype Hypothesis, Part A
The attention given to these representatives will skew
negative, owing to questioning of their ability to handle being a
representative and a mother simultaneously.
Stereotype Hypothesis, Part B
Alternatively, it is possible that the representatives in this
study used their pregnancies as a means of advancing policy
decisions. Pregnancy itself could potentially serve as a powerful
political tool for advancing legislation regarding reproductive
health, abortion policy, and the role of women in the workforce,
among other matters generally grouped under the umbrella term
“women’s issues.”
Case Study: Yvonne Brathwaite Burke—“‘A Dubious Honor’”
After her election to the House as a California Democrat in
1973, Representative Burke became just the third African American
woman to serve in Congress. That same year, she would achieve
another historic milestone: becoming the ﬁrst active member of
Congress to give birth while serving in the legislative body. The
media portrayed the novelty of Burke’s pregnancy as being a

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personal burden for her, emphasizing her quote that being the first
was “a dubious honor.” Ultimately, the attention she received, in
addition to the responsibilities of childcare, likely compelled her to
not seek election to the 96th
Congress in 1977, as her colleagues in
Congress speculated that her decision stemmed from the
exhaustion of commuting from California to D.C. every week, as
well as unhappiness at being separated from her young daughter
and husband.
Congresswoman Burke first publicly announced her pregnancy
on July 4, 1973. Likely as a result of the Watergate investigation,
which was heating up at the time, Burke’s announcement was not
widely covered in the press. There are only five recorded instances
of newspapers writing about her announcement immediately after
the fact, in mass-circulation newspapers the Los Angeles Times, the
Washington Post-Herald, and The New York Times, and in historically
black papers The Chicago Defender and The Los Angeles Sentinel. In
September—over two months after her pregnancy had become
public knowledge—the Boston Globe ran a profile covering the
“expectant Congresswoman.” In November, as her due date
approached, her baby shower and, eventually, the birth of her
daughter, Autumn, drew more media attention—possibly due to a
lull in breaking news regarding the Nixon Administration.
Media depictions of Burke tended to fall into two different
categories: 1) those noting her pregnancy as a “historic
first”—contrasting with Burke’s own rebuttal of this label as a
“dubious honor,” and 2) emphasis on her prepartum and
postpartum work-life balance, which for the duration of her
pregnancy replaced focus on her political agenda with writing
almost exclusively centered on her life as a wife and mother-to-be.

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I. “A Historic First” vs. “A Dubious Honor”
About half of the coverage regarding Burke’s initial pregnancy
announcement consisted of brief blurbs, often nestled deep within
the ‘current events’ portion of the newspapers listed. These tended
to include either short headlines or omit headlines entirely; when
headlines were included, they tended to cut straight to the point in
just a few words. For example, the Los Angeles Times titled its piece,
“Rep. Yvonne Burke Expecting a Child,” while the Boston Globe went
for the even more pared down, “Expectant Congresswoman.” On a
very different note, the Washington Post elected to use a quote from
Burke in their coverage, using the headline “Rep Burke: ‘A Dubious
Honor’” above its article on her pregnancy, which—interestingly
enough—completely omits mention of “pregnancy” or associated
terms until the body text itself. Due to the paucity of titles on these
articles covering her announcement, it’s difficult to come to a
conclusion on overall titling trends, outside the seeming preference
to use the word “expecting” instead of “pregnant” to describe
someone with child, though this latter point is merely a semantic
issue, and could likely be explained by linguistic trends during the
time period itself, as opposed to any individual writer’s opinion of
Representative Burke’s pregnancy in particular. Besides, both
“pregnant” and “expectant” are still used by the Centers for Disease
Control, with the latter having taken on a more progressive
connotation in recent years for its gender-neutral applications (e.g.,
“expectant parent”).
A much more meaningful analysis can be gleaned from the
articles’ content. Here, then, is where the greater emphasis on the
historical nature of Representative Burke’s announcement is
discussed. Major mass-circulation newspapers The Los Angeles
Times, the Boston Globe, and the Washington Post-Times Herald
noted that she was the “first” member of Congress to become
pregnant while in office, as did the historically black newspaper,

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The Chicago Defender. In a more oblique approach, the New York
Times wrote that “Veterans of Capitol Hill could recall no prior
instance of pregnancy among members of Congress,” while also
referring to her news as a “milestone.” Still, with the brevity of
these announcements and their unceremonious position buried
within the commentary and community sections of each paper—as
well as a lack of attention to detail in some cases (the New York
Times incorrectly identified Burke as a Republican)—it’s clear that
this story was not a priority in most cases, regardless of historical
significance.
While the majority of these articles were kept very short
(often only a single paragraph or a few sentences), the Los Angeles
Times went more in-depth in its coverage. In contrast to the
generally simple, fact-heavy and analysis-light approaches of its
peer papers, the Los Angeles Times formatted their story as a profile
of Burke. Noting how “life for freshman members of Congress is
usually humdrum” but Burke “has introduced something new,” the
paper presented her pregnancy as not only a piece of positive news,
but as something fresh, “new,” and interesting. This angle becomes
less surprising when one takes into account Burke’s position as both
one of three black women, and one of only 16 women overall
serving in the 93rd Congress (all of whom were serving in the
House). Further, Burke’s relatively young age (she was forty) and
“freshman” status, as well as her very recent rise to fame—which
the Los Angeles Times also notes when referencing how she “came
to attention…when she presided over parts of the Democratic
National Convention” in 1972—all contribute to the impression of
her ‘freshness’ that the paper plays on. Young, black, a woman, and
now the first Congress member to become pregnant while in
office—Burke represented the dawn of a new era in the U.S.
government, and a challenge to the white, male norm. Further, a

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more lighthearted depiction of her news was probably motivated at
least in part by a desire to create a counterpoint to the ongoing
tense Watergate revelations (that day’s front page story focused on
the Cox probe of President Nixon); and it also helps that, as a Los
Angeles representative and native, the Los Angeles Times was her
hometown paper, thus making a more personal, sympathetic
portrayal more likely due to the fact that many readers were her
own constituents.
This take on Burke’s pregnancy wasn’t limited to her initial
announcement, nor was it confined to the Los Angeles Times. Over
two months later, the Boston Globe ran a story on the “Expectant
Congresswoman,” describing how Burke was both a harbinger of
things to come, and not alone in the new trend of Congresswomen
mothers:
Now that younger women are being elected to Congress, the
numbers of Congressional women with pre-school children
may increase. Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D., Colo.) already had
two small children when she was elected last year. Inevitably
there will come a time when a child care center will have to be
installed on Capitol Hill.
Here, Burke is depicted as having set a precedent, while at the same
time as being a beneficiary of the changing attitudes towards
working mothers. The reference to Schroeder, who “already had two
small children” when elected and who, ostensibly, would continue
to care for them while she served in office, indicates the writer’s
perception of increasing public acceptance (as represented through
electability) of young mothers and mothers-to-be. At the same
time, however, the reference to a “child care center” being “installed
on Capitol Hill” is more difficult to tonally analyze from the
perspective of the present, when such questions and suggestions
are considered seriously. On the one hand, this

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Statement can be read as sardonic, pointedly critiquing
Congresswomen’s desire to have children while in office to the
point where the government itself would have to take care of them;
“installed” implies an intrusion and a disruption on Capitol
grounds. Further, the mixture of the domestic (“pre-school aged
children”) and the public (“Capitol Hill”) may be being called into
question. On the other hand, given the straightforward,
fact-focused style of the rest of the article, this may have been the
(un-credited) writer’s attempt at flippant humor.
Treatment of Burke’s pregnancy as a “historic first” carried
over into coverage of her maternity leave in the fall of 1973. As the
New York Times noted,
Congresswoman Yvonne Brathwaite Burke received unusual
attention on the floor: The 41-year-old Democratic
first-termer was going home to California last week to have
her first baby. Veterans of Capitol Hill could recall no previous
instance of a maternity leave for a member of Congress. And
when the request was formally granted, Congressman H.R.
Gross of Iowa rose and cheerfully noted the occasion as a
‘historic first for the House of Representatives’.
In this passage, the word “first” is used three times: initially to
describe Burke’s status in Congress (“first-termer”), then to
describe this as her “first baby,” and finally through Congressman
Gross’s acknowledgment that Burke’s being granted maternity leave
represented a “historic first” for the legislative body. This emphasis
on her maternity leave as representing one of many “firsts”
continued in other publications: in The Los Angeles Sentinel, Atlanta
Daily World, and The Chicago Defender, while the Hartford Courant
referred to her as setting a “precedent for the U.S. Congress.” In a
slightly different approach, the Los Angeles Times

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referred to her as “scor[ing] a first” in receiving permission to take
maternity leave (which, the paper noted, is typically reserved “for
personal illness or illness of a family member”), phrasing which
frames her leave as a personal accomplishment, rather than simply
an occasion of historic note. In a very different formulation, the
Chicago Defender wrote the following: “Congresswoman Yvonne
Brathwaite Burke…became a historic first for the Congress when
she was granted a leave of absence for maternity reasons to have
her baby,” in which she herself is characterized as a “first.” Whether
this is simply poor phrasing or a deliberate attempt to elevate Burke
to the level of a new, prototypical woman serving in the political
ranks is unclear, though intriguing.
At the same time, there’s a distinct cleavage between the ways
that different media sources portrayed one particular, significant
quote that Burke gave regarding her pregnancy news. In the Los
Angeles Times article that first announced her pregnancy, the
following exchange is recorded, seemingly directly between
journalist and subject: “Of her congressional first, Mrs. Burke said,
laughing, ‘It’s a dubious honor. Frankly, that hadn’t crossed my
mind.’” Here, Burke’s use of the phrase “dubious honor” is framed
as a lighthearted, dismissive remark; “honor” here takes on the
meaning of a title that the Congresswoman had earned for being
the “first” to become pregnant while in office. The second portion of
her quote clarifies this tone. In claiming that thinking of being the
“first” as an “honor” “hadn’t crossed her mind,” Burke reveals that
she was not concerned with thinking of her pregnancy as a
distinction. This statement displays her reacting lightheartedly
(“laughing”) at the interviewer’s framing of her pregnancy as
something prestigious. The exchange is recorded midway through
the article, in a single paragraph (this is one of the lengthiest
articles covering her announcement), and the writer doesn’t dwell

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on it.
However, removed from the context of the original article in
the Los Angeles Times—which other papers, specifically the
Washington Post Times-Herald, cited as a source for their
articles—the quote takes on a much more sinister implication. The
Washington Post, for example, used this quote in its headline, “Rep.
Burke: ‘A Dubious Honor.’” Singling this one quote out, without
context—or explicit reference to Burke’s pregnancy that was, in fact,
the article’s main focus—is misleading in and of itself. However, this
framing is made even more problematic by the fact that the paper
never clarifies Burke’s tone. When incorporating the titular quote
into the article’s text itself, the Post writer had this to say: “‘A
dubious honor,’ the Congresswoman was quoted as saying after
being told she was, according to Capitol Hill historians, the first
representative to become pregnant in office.” The cause-and-effect
structure of the exchange between the reporter and Burke, wherein
Burke has been “told” of her pregnancy’s historical status and
responds by labeling the “honor” “dubious,” carries the implication
that she is not only dismissive of calling her “first” an “honor,” but
also ashamed at having earned the distinction in the first place.
“Dubious,” while literally meaning “doubtful,” can also carry
connotations of distrust, apprehension, and distaste—and this is
the precise subtext with which the word is loaded in this article. The
New York Times also highlighted this quote without elaborating on
the original context in which Burke said it. As previously detailed,
Burke was “laughing” when she told the Los Angeles Times reporter
that being the first pregnant woman in Congress was a “dubious
honor.” Looking at the more in-depth description from the Los
Angeles Times, her remark is not framed as a blunt dismissal at
being identified as the “first” to become pregnant while in
office—nor is it an admission of shame at bearing

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this distinction. Consequently, the New York Times,’ and
particularly Washington Post’s, sensationalization of this quote puts
both Burke’s perception of her own pregnancy, and Burke herself, in
a negative light.
II. Work-Life Balance
Another major theme in the press coverage of Burke’s
pregnancy revelation included her efforts to achieve work-life
balance, both during her pregnancy and subsequent to the birth of
her first child. This theme manifests chiefly through three
subthemes, each present in the following motifs: 1) focus on her
Congressional role (literal references to work), 2) an explanation of
how she balances her Congressional and maternal roles (physical
relocation, referring to her newborn child as part of her
“constituency” and 3) descriptions of her domestic duties (her role
as wife, need for outside help, and physical appearance).
First, references to Burke’s work life—chiefly through her own
quotes—frame her as a ‘working woman,’ primarily identified
through her role as a politician. In a Los Angeles Sentinel story about
Burke’s baby shower (“Lavish Stork Shower Honors Congresswoman
Yvonne Burke”), Burke is quoted on her continued commitment to
her Congressional duties:
I haven’t felt ill, so there was no reason for me to stop work. In
fact, even though I am home now, I still keep up, there is so
much correspondence…and with the Impeachment Bill and
Congressman Gerald Ford’s Vice Presidency clearance, it’s
important that I continue to work.
Here, Burke describes how the present political climate has
necessitated her continued attention to “work” and
“correspondence” throughout her maternity leave. While clearly
part of this is situational, given the pressing nature of the

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“Impeachment Bill” and general tensions related to the Watergate
scandal, Burke also suggests that her continued labor is voluntary.
As she explains, only feeling “ill” would create a “reason” for her to
“stop work.” Even while having been officially granted
Congressional leave, she remains committed to her political
obligations. The determined, work-oriented mindset she displays in
this quote runs contrary to the rest of the Los Angeles Sentinel’s
article, which predominantly emphasizes her domestic duties.
While the reiteration of her congressional responsibilities may
be linked with the contemporary political climate, depictions of her
and her husband’s desire to move to a more convenient location
play to more universal themes of familial readjustment and
‘settling down.’ The Boston Globe describes how “Yvonne and…Bill
Burke…are planning to move from Potomac, Md., to a home nearer
the Capitol so that the new mother will have a shorter commute,” a
single sentence which manages to both negate Burke’s professional
status (note that she is identified by her first name, rather than her
last, and the honorific “Representative” is omitted) and identify her
with a future role (“new mother”), rather than her present one
(Congresswoman). Further, though it is likely true that a “shorter
commute” motivated the Burkes’ move, nothing is said about how
that commute would affect Bill Burke, also a professional (a
“management consultant”) about to take on a significant role as a
“new” father. This disproportionate focus on Representative Burke’s
work-life balance, in comparison to her husband’s, further reveals
the double standard to which working mother and fathers are held.
At the same time, Burke is quoted in the Los Angeles Sentinel
regarding her and her husband’s commuting plans. As she frames it,
she will be splitting her time between two locations—“Los Angeles”
and “just outside of Washington,” the latter referring to the location
of the Burkes’ “farm,” which, according to her, “is just

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great for children.” Here, she makes no reference to the shorter
commute, nor does she frame the move as specifically a result of her
status as a “new mother”; rather, it’s undertaken ostensibly for the
sake of her new and future “children.” Taken together, these
references to Burke’s relocation as a result of her pregnancy reveal
the ways in which both she and the media sought to understand her
multiple identities. Describing her “moving” represents both her
literal and figurative transversal between two roles that, in past
decades, were irreconcilable: that of both “mother” and “worker.” In
including quotes and/or descriptions about her commute, Burke
becomes located at a midway point between these two roles; on the
one hand, she is the “new mother” physically removed from the city
on a “farm” that is “just great for children,” at a time when cities
were coming to represent criminality, corruption, addiction, and
other phenomena thoroughly antithetical to raising children. On
the other hand, in choosing the “shorter commute” and a location
“nearer the Capitol,” she becomes a responsible worker, loyal to her
constituents.
On a very different level, other media sources used puns in
order to highlight Burke’s dual roles as both politician and mother.
Two newspapers, The Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune,
created variations on the same image: that of Burke’s imminent
birth as adding to her “constituency,” or labeling her daughter a
“new constituent.” While this wordplay is by no means malicious, it
does represent yet another example of media finding creative ways
to highlight Burke’s dual roles as both politician and mother.
Much more concerning media depictions elevated Burke’s
domestic role above her political role, specifically as a result of the
impending birth of her daughter. Returning to the Los Angeles
Sentinel’s coverage of Burke’s “Stork Shower” that I mentioned
previously, the framing of Burke primarily as a housewife-mother,
rather than as an equally committed wife, mother, and politician,

24
becomes almost immediately apparent. Author Jessie Mae Brown
notes that “there was absolutely nothing political about the happy
afternoon,” implying that politics itself is a dirty word—despite the
fact that she was reporting on a politician. Further, though Burke is
introduced as a “Congresswoman,” Brown quickly explains that,
throughout the shower, she “was in her role of Mrs. William Burke,”
as though her existence as a wife must be completely extricated
from her existence as a politician or working woman; Burke is
referred to as “Mrs. Burke” throughout the remainder of the piece.
This latter point is signiﬁcant, as the status-neutral honoriﬁc, “Ms.”
(similar to the status-neutral “Mr.”) was becoming more widely
used during the late 1960s-early 1970s. Photos included in the
two-page spread also represent Burke exclusively in a domestic
role: in one, “she is assisted by [a] hostess in displaying a baby
blanket”; in another, she “registers delight over the adorable baby
clothing, nursery furnishings and stuffed toys” her attendees had
gifted her. Given the historic precedence of portraying
women—including women politicians—as most comfortable in the
domestic realm, this choice in photographic spread shouldn’t be
surprising. Historically, journalists and photographers have
requested women politicians to pose for photo-shoots where they
did the dishes or hung out the wash; by the 1970s and 1980s, many
refused. This tradition dates back decades, with early recorded
instances in Australia in the 1940s. As Julia Baird explains, “Ever
since they began being elected to [Australian] parliament, women
have been asked by photographers to hop back over their garden
fences and pose in contrived displays of domestic competence.” The
fact that these photos were taken at Burke’s baby shower, a
traditionally feminine rite, does not go far enough to explain the
heightened femininity and domesticity in these photos. Quite the
contrary: a decidedly masculine presence in the form of her

25
husband, William Burke, is represented here as well, though he is
described in the caption as merely a passive observer, “caught by [a]
photographer, as he takes a look at some of the gifts.” This
non-participative depiction is quite different from the portrayal of
the female attendees as active, enthusiastic participants in the
feminine revelry. For example, the writer describes his wife as
“register[ing] delight” at holding baby clothes and blankets. This
described division between husband and wife must be considered
part of a larger trend of portraying female politicians as housewives
and mothers first, politicians second.
As a mother-to-be balancing both her work and domestic
duties, it is unsurprising that Burke called on her friends for
assistance. However, the focus on this assistance in the press
represents yet another classic example of harried women not being
able to take on two roles at once. For example, the Los Angeles
Sentinel highlighted both the “eight hostesses” at her baby shower
and her “administrative assistant, Yvonne Archer” in particular, the
latter responsible for “helping the ‘little mother-to-be’ take it a bit
easy until the arrival” of her child. Similarly, the “Cherokee Charlie”
column in the Chicago Defender spotlighted “Rep. Martha Griffiths,”
who “announced that she will head the team of babysitters for the
‘new member.’” In fact, this latter column characterized all of the
women in Congress as hankering for domestic roles, referring to
“the 16 women members of the House of Representatives” as
“anxious ladies in waiting for the birht [sic] of Rep. Yvonne
Brathwaite Burke’s first child”—as though her pregnancy was both
only a woman’s concern, and the only concern of all the women on
Capitol Hill.
Finally, in perhaps the most classic example of highly
gendered, unequal press coverage, several writers found ways to call
attention to Burke’s appearance while writing about her

26
pregnancy. In a column called “Gertrude Gipson’s Candid
Comments” in the Los Angeles Sentinel, the titular Gipson referred
to Burke as the “pretty Congresswoman…on the ‘infanticipating’
list,” while Jessie Mae Brown’s later coverage of Burke’s baby
shower noted that the “‘little mother-to-be’” “looks great.” In a
slightly less obvious reference to physical attributes, Brown also
pointed out attendees’ clothing: the “hostesses” wore “matching,”
“long ‘Nanny’ aprons,” in “bright quilted plaid” (she reiterated the
clothing choice twice in her article). This focus on the
Congresswoman’s looks and dress—especially labeling her “‘the
little mother-to-be’”—is superficial and patronizing. Her husband’s
dress and appearance receives no equivalent attention in any of the
articles under study.
Such depictions not only negate the “work” aspect of Burke’s
“work-life balance,” portraying her solely as a mother, but restrict
her (and the other Congresswomen mentioned) to a specific kind of
motherhood: one rooted in the domestic. Burke is rarely quoted,
especially in the article on her baby shower, leaving her actual
thoughts on the gifts or staging of the photos unrecorded in favor
of the author’s vision. Such depictions, rooted in historical
traditions, overgeneralize what all women want or should be.
Section Conclusion
Overall, Burke’s coverage in the press was erratic. While
events involving the Nixon Administration may have limited the
amount of space contemporary papers had for news regarding her
pregnancy announcement, what was published still reveals a
significant amount regarding perceptions of pregnant politicians.
While some of the shortest pieces focus on facts without much
analysis—simply stating her name, that she was a Congresswoman,
pregnant, and the first to be both at the same time—the longer
pieces reveal a significant number of

27
preconceptions. For example, the fact that her “dubious honor”
comment took on a life of its own reveals some of the preliminary
biases of journalists looking for a way to portray her pregnancy in a
negative light. On a related point, the paucity of quotes from Burke
in any of the articles made it so that the respective writers had
more control over the way in which Burke’s pregnancy was framed
than she did.
Above all, however, coverage of Burke’s pregnancy and the
birth of her daughter reveals that women are still assumed to have
and desire a primarily domestic role, even when they occupy
high-powered government positions. Though this bias was not
presented in all the articles under study, it became particularly
apparent in the informal way reporters referred to Burke, the
grouping of all 16 women representatives with Burke as her
“babysitters” and “ladies in waiting,” and her hyper-feminized
portrayal in coverage of her baby shower.
Limitations of This Study
The limited coverage of Burke’s pregnancy and the birth of her
daughter provided a challenge for comprehensive comparative
media analysis. Only 17 articles total were written on her pregnancy
announcement, maternity leave, and birth between July 4th
(when
her pregnancy ﬁrst became public knowledge) and November 29th
,
1973 (six days after the birth of her daughter). These articles all
appeared in newspapers: eight newspapers based in major cities,
and one local newspaper—nine different sources in total. Of the
major city newspapers, four are historically black newspapers.
On a different note, studying a single case study, however
thoroughly, can only yield so much information. A lengthier
analysis involving all ten women who have been pregnant while
serving in Congress, who span the ideological and racial spectrum,

28
would likely yield much richer results.
Suggestions for Future Research
As this is a qualitative study that stays very close to the
original text of each source, it would be beneficial for future
researchers to construct a quantitative study using the same
sources. For example, it would be intriguing to see how a given
newspaper—say, the New York Times or the Washington Post—has
reported on each of the ten pregnant Congresswomen over the past
forty years, creating a ranking scale to assess tone in regards to the
themes that I have chosen: how each woman’s pregnancy is treated
in relation to its novelty, her work-life balance, and her future
political agenda.
Final Reflections
It becomes apparent that women in Congress, despite their
high-powered positions, are not immune from age-old debates on
the line between the domestic and public sphere, and women’s
roles in both. In fact, their increased visibility may even make them
more appealing targets for journalists who wish to push a particular
viewpoint—and it turns out that, contrary to my prediction, it is
solely their status as women, rather than racial minorities, that
motivates this pigeonholing. In Burke’s specific case, this resulted
in a multitude of articles interrogating her decision to move (but
not her husband’s), and her choice of words in describing her
pregnancy, as well as including photographs that frame her as a
hyper-feminized ideal—the “pretty” Congresswoman who is a wife
and a mother before she is a politician.
The concept that women are often pushed into predetermined
roles by news media is not a new one. In her analysis of the media

29
portrayal of on Australian politician-mothers, Baird concludes,
Old stereotypes die hard, and the imagery of the mother is
powerful, but the problem for women in the noughties is still
often posed in public commentary as an either/or scenario:
babies or promotions, families or careers, lonely success or
loving sacriﬁce. The truth, of course, is that most women do
both.
Though third-wave feminism has pushed us closer to a world in
which women can be “both” mothers and politicians
simultaneously, without media privileging one identity over
another, my analysis reveals that we still have a ways to go.

30
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A Look at Women’s Political
Participation in China
Hannah Kim | Rice University
Abstract
With traditional family structures and social power deriving
influence from Confucianism, China’s society has always revolved
around the patriarchy. Though the freedoms and privileges
granted to women have varied according to the societal values
and regional situation of the time, the status of women has
consistently been secondary to the interests and priorities of their
male counterparts. Perhaps due to the rise in globalization and
the scrutiny of the international community, China has made
significant efforts to promote gender equality and is actively
working to improve its legal system to protect the rights and
interests of women. Yet there is still minimal attention drawn to
the lack of women’s representation in politics. This paper will
seek to understand the factors that contribute to the lack of
women in political leadership roles and draw a contextual
understanding of how China’s institutions and society have
influenced the role of women. Furthermore, by offering
comparative analysis with South Korea and the United States,
this paper will attempt to find a correlation between the rights of
women in society and the political representation of women.
34

35
China’s Political Structure
The political structure of the People’s Republic of China is
defined as a socialist republic run by a single major party, the
Communist Party of China. Xi Jinping, the President and the
presiding General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, is
arguably seen as the most powerful figure in China’s political
system. While the Communist Party governs the state, provincial
and local governments govern the people. The People’s Congress
members at the county level are elected by voters. These county
level representatives have oversight of local government and are
the grassroots representation that slowly moves up in the hierarchy
of the government. The county level People’s Congress elects
members to the Provincial People’s Congress, which in turn elects
members to the National People’s Congress that meets every year in
Beijing. The National People’s Congress (NPC) consists of 2,270
members, all elected for 5-year terms via the multi-tiered
representative electoral system. This body serves as the legislative
branch, which votes to approve proposals or legislation from the
Party and elects the major officers of the state. Within the NPC,
there is a Central Committee comprised of the top leaders of the
Communist Party. They are nominally elected by the NPC, and in
return their role is to elect the members of the Politburo and the
Standing Committee.
The Politburo is a 25 member body that can be seen as the
main source of power within the government. Though they are
nominally elected by the Central Committee, analysts believe that
the Politburo is more of a self-organized group in which members

36
themselves choose new members and replacements. The power of
the Politburo resides from its members, who simultaneously hold
other influential positions within the government. Within the
Politburo, there is a seven-member Standing Committee consisting
of the most powerful members of the Politburo. This committee
meets weekly and consists of the President, the Premier, and other
top leaders. Though the Standing Committee theoretically should
report to the Politburo, in practice, it is supreme over its parent
bodies. Because China is also a one-party state, the Standing
Committee’s decisions also de facto have the force of law.
Women in Politics
Though they are not legally barred from entering politics or
rising up to the highest of positions, women are a significant
minority in the political sphere. To outline general observations: no
woman has ever been been selected as the President or been on the
Standing Committee, there is currently only one woman on the
Politburo, and only 4.9% of the Central Committee consists of
women. In the NPC, women make up about 24% of the 2,270
members. While the numbers and proportions of women in the
higher levels of governments are significantly low, these statistics
are not considered especially notable by international standards. In
fact, China’s parliamentary representation of women is still
surprisingly high. China currently ranks the 70th highest in women
parliamentary representation out of 193 countries according to a
United Nations archive. This ranking is derived by the proportion of
women holding seats in national parliaments. This is because

37
China’s political structure relies on more than just the upper levels
of politics. The local governments and municipalities play a more
influential role in the people’s day to day lives. Every three to five
years, China elects more than two million lawmakers at the county
and town levels, with more than 2,000 counties and 30,000
townships. The United Nations has recently worked on increasing
women’s representation in leadership roles within such local
municipalities in rural China. In 2011, The UN Women’s Fund for
Gender Equality funded All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF),
China’s leading organization focusing on women’s issues and
rights, for the “Enhancing Chinese Women’s Political Participation”
programme. From 2011 to 2015, the program aimed to improve laws
and policies focusing on gender inequalities, increase women’s
influence in local government, and monitor Chinese women’s
political participation in the provinces of Shanxi, Heilongjiang, and
Hunan. In each of these provinces, the program updated election
guidelines to include more female representation in village
committees and set up temporary special measures and quotas. The
program also provided leadership trainings and advocacy work to
help women learn how to campaign and run for public office. At its
conclusion, the project was deemed a success and demonstrated
how improving economic and political empowerment in
combination with a social support network of female associations
could drastically increase women’s participation. The increase in
female political leaders in these three experimental provinces at the
grassroots level demonstrates that there is potential to create more
opportunities for women in other provinces as well.

38
In order to address why the program needed to be
implemented in the first place, the factors that influence women’s
participation in China overall need to be more thoroughly
examined. Caroline Horekens, a UN Women’s specialist in Asia
Pacific, outlines three basic conditions that promote women’s
presence in political decision making: whether the obstacles
women face in the electoral process and their ability to exercise a
real choice in elections are addressed; whether spaces are created
for women to articulate their policies and stances; and, whether
public institutions respond and are held accountable for women. In
China, the first condition must be extensively analyzed in order to
understand what sorts of obstacles women face in participating in
the electoral process. Paxton and Kunovich claim that gender
ideology can strongly influence the number of women in national
legislatures. The gender ideology in China stems from the historical
values originating from Confucianism regarding the roles of the
male and female within the context of the family and in society.
Though its application is not as rigid in practice in modern society,
the foundations of the ideology are still present in many forms. As a
product of such beliefs, women tend to have a lack of
self-confidence due to the ‘feudal attitudes’ that suggest women are
inferior to men. In a survey conducted by the ACWF, 61% of men
and 54.6% of women agreed that ‘the field for men is in public and
the domain for women is within the household’ (All-China
Women’s Federation & National Bureau of Statistics of China
2011). This cultural perception may contribute to why women are
less likely to be seen favorably as political or public figures, which

39
could explain their lack of participation even at the local level.
While the survey is slightly outdated, the continued lack of female
participation suggests that this perception may still be prevalent in
subtle ways.
The second condition, which cites the need for spaces for
women to articulate their policies and stances, also needs to be
further addressed. Political participation can include leadership in
powerful companies, membership in government boards and
bodies, and participation in discussions on policy. Women’s
participation in civic and grassroots organizations thus need to be
considered a part of their political participation as well. In the same
ACWF survey from 2011, 92.9% of women were concerned with
domestic and foreign affairs, but only 18.3% took initiative to raise
suggestions in their communities and local municipalities. This
demonstrates that women are not apathetic towards political
issues, but rather are not taking action to address these concerns
and interests. Likewise, women are more likely to be met with
resistance from local law enforcement if they speak against the
interests of the higher officials. For example, when Wang Yicui tried
to run as an independent candidate in Fengming in 2016, a city
government official physically assaulted her and claimed she was
interfering with the electoral process. She claims that police did
nothing to help and have not prosecuted the city official. As for
spaces online for women to articulate their stances, many feminist
movements and organizations have been closely monitored by the
Party. In 2015, the government arrested five feminist activists and
authorities shut down the popular online group “Feminist Voices,”

40
in March of 2018 (Rachel Vogelstein 2018). By limiting the spaces in
which women are able to voice their opinions, the second condition
is not met.
For the third condition, holding institutions accountable is an
important factor in creating change for women. China has made
significant efforts on the policy level to increase women’s
participation at the middle and lower levels of politics. However, the
political structure of the Chinese government and politics regarding
promotion create significant barriers to women’s political
participation. In order to rise up the political ladder, the
hierarchical structure greatly influences the pool of eligible
candidates for promotion. For example, in order to be nominated or
elected to the Politburo, candidates must have connections with
members of the Central Committee in the NCP or demonstrate
years of experience and excellence in a variety of leadership
positions. Prior to the 19th Party Congress, out of China’s 31
provincial level administrations, no woman served as provincial or
municipal party secretary. This position is considered to be the
most important stepping-stone to a Politburo seat. Likewise, only
two women served as governors at the time of the elections, making
the pool of experienced female candidates incredibly small. The
lack of women participating at the lower levels makes it more
difficult for women to be present at the higher levels. Furthermore,
in order to rise up, extensive years serving in different positions
enhances the opportunities for promotion. Yet, the governmental
retirement age requirements give men almost 10 more years to
serve than women, perpetuating the idea that women may not be as

41
capable for a longer period of time. Such policies are examples of
how government support can alter the ways in which society
perceives working women.
Aside from the three conditions, the other potential barriers
that women face in participating at the lower levels of politics can
be attributed to the discriminatory employment policies for certain
positions in government. Though the Party has passed regulation
and legislation emphasizing gender equality, its implementation is
not as thoroughly enforced in practice. For example, one city in the
Guangdong Province stipulated that more than half of its 576
available posts were open to only males in the 2017 civil servant
recruitment advertisements. The gender bias for the civil servant
recruitment process negatively reinforces the idea that women are
not allowed to be in certain positions and perpetuates the belief
that women cannot fulﬁll the same duties and roles as men. Public
institutions are already reluctant to hire females due to negative
social stereotypes, and these gender-biased policies further
exacerbate the perception of women in government. In May 2018,
Zhao Donghua, a female member of the 13th National Committee
of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)
submitted a proposal titled “Eliminating Gender Bias in
Recruitment of Local Civil Servants” to the top political advisory
body. As a civil servant, Donghua recognized the prevalent biases
women face in the political arena and is thus able to use her limited
power and inﬂuence to propose solutions to higher political bodies.
Thus, the presence and participation of women must be encouraged
by the higher administrations through proactive solutions such as

42
eliminating discriminatory policies, implementing potential quotas,
and encouraging women to apply to all positions. A vast majority of
86.7% of surveyed people, men and women alike, agree that “gender
equality will not be achieved on its own but only through proactive
promotion.”
Women in Society
The rapid economic growth in China has made it one of the
most productive and largest economies in the world. Women in
China have played a significant role in aspects of socioeconomic
activities that have helped propagate the country’s economic
success. Chinese women hold one in four senior management roles,
and have increasing control over wealth. The 2010 World Bank data
indicated that China ranked first in the world for labour force
participation by women, demonstrating that the majority of women
in China were earning their own living. China’s commonly used
euphemism stemming from Chairman Mao, that women are
“holding up half the sky,” was used in headlines to demonstrate the
power of women in the economy. Likewise, women are thriving in
education, as in 2016, 50.6% of postgraduate students were female,
and in the same year, 52.5% of college students were women. This
was the first time women exceeded men in educational
participation, and it indicates a strong trend towards continuing to
have women in higher education. Though China encourages
women’s participation and contribution to the economy as well as
education, there are interesting dynamics that interplay with
politics and societal perception.

43
In Age of Ambition, Evan Osnos argues that women in China
have been so successful in entrepreneurship because the
Communist Party is a “boy’s club” that intentionally excludes
women. This leads to women pursuing other areas of interest that
can be expressed while seeking total autonomy. Though women
have incredibly high participation rates in the economy and are
taking over the management positions to become wealthier than
before, gender discrimination in the workplace is still a prominent
issue. Recognized by both the government and society as an issue
that needs to be addressed, women are still in need of aid in the
workplace through policy change and political awareness in how
policies are implemented and enforced. It is commonplace for
employers to ask women about their marital status and plans about
childbirth. As such, women are naturally perceived to be more
difﬁcult to hire and are more likely to be laid off and unemployed
than men are. Likewise, this misogynistic view translates into
sexual harassment and abuse that many Chinese women face in
both the workplace and in domestic settings. Though women in
China are undoubtedly powerful workers for the GDP, the
continuous social movements targeting the need for women to be
domestic and an emphasis on marriage continues to impact how
women are perceived. Government-backed propaganda campaigns
that focus on the need for women to marry earlier and have more
children further target women who are focused on their careers
rather than preserving the household. These campaigns and social
concerns are potentially lashbacks against the rise of powerful
women in the economy. If women were to participate in politics,

44
China currently does not have a legal definition of sexual
harassment or specific laws to deal with these cases when they
arise. Yet, women are beginning to speak out against forms of
sexual violence and harassment that society refuses to
acknowledge. As the #MeToo movement has gained traction
globally and within China, the pressure for the government to
respond to these needs and issues is more tangible. As a result,
China is preparing a Draft Civil Code, aimed to require employers in
the country to take measures against sexual harassment in the
workplace. However, there is no guarantee of how well enforced
such policies will be, and local regulations and provincial
governments will most likely need to fill the gaps left by national
laws. Beijing Yuanzhong Gender Development Center cited that
though nearly 40% of women in the workplace claimed to have had
experienced sexual harassment, only 34 court verdicts were made
on sexual harassment out of nearly 50 million court verdicts
between 2010-2017. This signifies either a flaw in the legal system
or in the ways women approach legal action for harassment. Sexual
assault and harassment are not issues only prominent in China —
even the most forward countries have yet to eradicate these cases or
provide tangible solutions. Though the lack of women in politics
cannot be directly seen as a contributing factor to women’s status
in society, it is representative of the broader implications of the
continuous need for expanding women’s rights.
Literature Review
Stanley Rosen, in her published article from 1995, claims that even

45
the social response could also be negative due to these domestic
concerns and cultural priorities. Though some women may have
held political power in the early 1950s, the majority of women
holding such positions were restricted to doing solely women’s
work, and there were few women who were important enough to be
able to be appointed to the Central Committee. Women were the
most involved in politics during the Cultural Revolution in the
1960s and 70s, when there was a quota system that enforced a
certain number of positions for women at the lower level. However,
upon modernization and the removal of the quota system, women
were not as visible in the political system.
Rosen cites three factors in the drop of women in politics after
the Cultural Revolution. First, the implementation of the
production responsibility system transformed the management of
agriculture from a collective to an individual household economy.
This made it more difficult for women to receive recognition, as
most began to work within individual communes in factories and
workshops. Second, the general weakening of mass organizations
such as the Women’s Federation made it more difficult for women
to demonstrate their expertise to be rewarded for their work. And
lastly, Rosen suggests that the Communist Party had not expended
much effort to recruit women, especially as they held a hostile view
towards Western feminism and attempted to stem it at all costs.
While Rosen provides a comprehensive historical review, the
literature was written in 1995, and many other factors have since
then influenced the role of women in not only society, but also in
politics. The rest of this research will focus on defining these other

46
implications in a new, globalized context.
Xiajuan Guo and Yongian Zheng produced a briefing series in
regards to women’s political participation in China in 2008. Taking
into account the changes the Party had undertaken in an attempt to
address women’s rights, the brief summarizes the turning points in
women’s political participation and its general increase in recent
times compared to the past. Most importantly, the key turning
point was when China hosted the Fourth World Conference on
Women in 1995. The global stage created a more pressing desire for
individual rights and more favorable gender policy that swept
international norms. In the late 1990s, China reinstated affirmative
action policies encouraging more women in political roles, though
there were no set quantifiable quotas. The Party implemented
institutional reforms to train and select specifically women cadres
through the Women’s Federation and actively sought to convey
public interest in women’s equality. Yet even with affirmative action
policies, Guo and Zheng suggest that the low rates of political
participation are due to the fact that the policy wording is
intentionally vague in addressing women’s presence in politics.
They claim that the unclear standard for women led to ineffective
implementation of gender policy and greatly hampered progress to
female participation. However, this briefing fails to take into
account how women may personally bar themselves from being in
politics, even with the existing affirmative action policy. At both the
lower and higher levels of politics, women are being impeded in
ways that overshadow policy.

47
Analysis
Does the lack of women in politics indicate national
oppression of women? Or is the oppression of women perhaps a
reason for the lack of women in politics? Examining the
participation of women in other fields strongly indicates that the
latter is more likely. Legally, women are of the same stature as men
and are allowed to pursue the same passions and careers. Yet, due
to the lasting impacts of societal values and the lack of benefits for
women in public service, women most likely are not encouraged to
run for political positions. While China does not have a single
political female leader advocating for the issues and problems
women are facing, there are many grassroots organizations and
women looking to provide solutions and urge the Party to further
enforce existing policies. Thus, these social movements may be
more persuasive for women to join than public office, where they
will most likely be passed up for promotion or neglected in
pursuing their personal agendas.
The relationship between the status of women and political
representation may be a cyclical one. If a woman were the President
or a member of the Standing Committee, women’s rights would not
necessarily be immediately addressed, though it could be argued
that the failure to address these issues is due to the lack of
representation. While men run the Party and the government, they
cannot be completely negligent of women’s issues. In fact, many of
the policies on gender discrimination and harassment are
spearheaded by males — they must be, in order to preserve public
satisfaction. Xi Jinping likewise is aware of the need for greater

48
action to address these movements and has promised that future
legislation would be passed to target the issues of discrimination
and harassment. However, no visible movement towards protecting
women through policy has been made public as of yet (Emily
Rauhala 2017). If women believed their interests could be addressed
or at the very least prioritized by female representation, there
would theoretically be a movement pushing for more of it. The lack
of such a movement indicates that women are not convinced that
having representation will necessarily solve societal issues.
Therefore, women are prioritizing activism and social movements
to convince the Party to listen and enact change.
Comparative Analysis
In order to assess how signiﬁcant certain aspects of China are
to the women’s lack of political participation, South Korea and the
United States will be used in a comparative analysis. South Korea
has an incredibly similar historical background and cultural
perception of gender ideology to that of China. As Asian countries
that relied upon Confucianism for social construction and
perceiving gender roles, many of the issues women face today are
similar in both China and South Korea. Granted this similarity and
holding women’s perception and gender ideology constant, their
main difference is in political structure. South Korea’s democratic
system is drastically different from the one-party system in China.
As South Korea serves as the middleground comparison, the United
States will then serve as the polar opposite of China in terms of
both gender ideology and electoral system. As a country that is

49
predominantly known for publicly leading the feminist movements
and a fundamental belief in equality for gender roles, the
perception of women in society in America is quite different
compared to that of either China or South Korea. In theory, if
China’s cultural aspects or political structure are the barriers to
women’s representation, the comparative analysis will yield
conclusions about what factors may influence the participation rate
of women.
South Korea
South Korea’s government is structured much like that of the
United States, with a separation of powers amongst its political
branches and a representative democracy. President Geun Hye Park
was the first woman to be elected President in 2013 and the
National Assembly (the general legislative body) consists of 299
seats--51 of which are occupied by women. The proportion is at
17%, which is the highest it has ever been in Korean history. The
seats are elected by proportional representation, and up until the
year 2000, the number of women in office was significantly lower.
Quotas implemented since then have increased women’s
participation by requiring parties to have a certain number of
women on the tickets, even if they were unwinnable.
While women are seemingly politically encouraged to run for
office, the democratic system depends on individuals initially
choosing to run in order to take office. In a study organized by a
group of former and current women politicians, it was found that
only 10.5% of the 934 nominated candidates who chose to run were

50
women. Though the ruling and opposition parties had pledged to
allocate 30% of the nominations to women due to quota standards,
they were never forcefully implemented. The study cites that
women in rural areas are even less likely to run, perhaps due to lack
of resources and programs designed for aspiring women politicians.
Another study found that 69.5% of surveyed participants agreed
that women were not participating enough in politics, even after
the presidential election. When asked for the reason why women
are not participating, the largest portion of respondents at 26.6%
cited that, “Koreans don’t feel comfortable with women
politicians,” while 24.4% cited that “male politicians are seen to be
more capable than their female counterparts.” This reiterates the
idea that culturally, women are not yet seen as being as competent
as males in political affairs or to be public ﬁgures.
In society, having a woman president spurred conversations
on how women’s rights might be better addressed. In fact, during
her campaign, President Park promised a “women’s revolution,” to
provide support for child care, increased opportunities for
promotion, and salary equity. Yet by the end of her term, South
Korea was still ranked the lowest of all OECD countries in
“Glass-ceiling index” of friendliness towards working women.
Furthermore, the women’s employment rate is only rising in service
industries or in “pink collar jobs,” such as secretaries or clerks,
indicating a lack of women in senior positions or executive
leadership. The gender wage gap is also at 36.3%, the worst of all
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
nations. In conclusion, having a female president and a quota

51
system did little to outweigh the lack of women in parliament in
addressing women’s needs. The potential for reform does not
necessarily increase with a woman being the head of the state.
Rather, the local and middle levels of politics would have to
prioritize policies that would aid women in enacting change.
The women in Korea are actively seeking reform in society,
though interestingly not pursuing a movement for more political
representation as a mechanism to achieve those goals. On June 9,
2018, 22,000 South Korean women marched to protest the violation
of women’s privacy and to raise awareness regarding the fact that
the government was not taking these issues seriously. In a survey by
the Korean Institute of Criminology nearly 80% of males claimed
they previously physically or psychologically abused their
girlfriends, and 78% of victims do not seek recourse. Abortion is
also illegal except in cases of rape or incest, and even so, women
need the permission of the spouses for an abortion or face ﬁnes and
jail time. While abortion can be seen as a partisan issue, it is one
indicator that can be used to measure the progressiveness of the
society towards women’s autonomy. Furthermore, 9 out of 10
women in South Korea think that women are not treated equally to
men, while 93% of respondents think that Korea is not a
gender-equal country. Women in South Korea are arguably in need
of more governmental support in society to help combat the
prevalent issues of discrimination and negative social perception.
Comparison
Though President Park was able to achieve the highest position in

52
South Korea, she is also deemed an anomaly, only favored due to
her father’s extensive support network as a previous president.
Having a woman in the highest possible ofﬁce did not improve the
status of women in South Korea, indicating that political
representation does not necessarily correlate to the expansion of
women’s rights. Furthermore, though the political structures of
China and South Korea are vastly different, it was not a factor that
contributed to one country having more women in politics than the
other. In fact, the democratic system of South Korea yielded less
representation for women than the single party state. By
international standards, China exceeds South Korea in many
aspects of women’s equality. For example, South Korea ranks 116th
out of 144 countries in degree of gender equality, while China is at
110th according to the index by the World Economic Forum that
compares the ratio differences between men and women for
economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment,
health and survival, and political empowerment. Though the
difference between the countries is slight, China overall fares better
than South Korea in gender equality in society. South Korea is also
ranked 122nd out of 193 countries for representation of women in
parliament, while China is at a comfortable 70th out of 193. This
indicates that having a democracy does not necessarily yield more
women in politics, nor does it improve the quality of life for women.
Women in South Korea are arguably more restricted in the
governmental support they receive and societal treatment. For
example, abortion in China is legal and is a government service

53
available on request for women, perhaps due to the one-child
policy’s usage of this procedure. The lack of choice in South Korea’s
abortion policies indicates an area where government can impact
women’s lives directly. In both China and South Korea, however,
there is a common movement towards eradicating sexual
harassment and general abuse against women even without a
solidiﬁed coalition of women in government working on such
issues. It is thus more likely that the common ground of culture and
social expectations are the main reasons why women are choosing
to not participate at a higher rate in politics. Women in both
countries are thus focusing on social movements rather than
political engagement, even with the difference in political
structure.
United States
The United States is a federal republic and a representative
democracy. While citizens elect representatives to national, state,
and local governments, the candidates are generally limited to a
two party system. Though the U.S. has never had a female
president, many prominent women are active in the political arena.
Speaker of the House for the Democratic Party Nancy Pelosi and
previous Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are prominent examples
of women politicians. These female politicians are not, however,
representative of the general popularity of women in politics.
In 2018, Congress currently had 20.2% of the seats held by
women, 23% in the Senate and 19.5% in the House of
Representatives. However, in the wake of the current

54
administration, there has been a drastic uptick of women interested
in being involved in politics. Emily’s List, an organization that
works to elect pro-choice Democratic women in politics, has
reported being contacted by more than 26,000 women who were
interested in running for office, compared to 920 during the 2016
election cycle. Overall, about one fourth of all elected positions in
the United States are held by women, with their numbers being the
highest in states that vote Democrat. The main reason for the lack
of women in office is credited to the initial lack of women running
in the first place, as the rate of winning an election is roughly the
same for women and men. Thus, the electoral process and political
structure does not seem to be interfering with the choice of women
to run for office.
Granted that more women this year have decided to be
involved in politics, this indicates a belief that running for office
can change the status quo and perhaps bring about policy change
that impacts women. The causal factor in producing more women
active in politics can thus be attributed to the societal belief that
women in politics can enact change in ways that the male
incumbents perhaps could not. In the international community, the
United States is considered a mobilized country, with women
spearheading the #MeToo movement and spreading awareness
about women’s issues through social media, public protests, and
representation. Though women are legally and socially equal to
men, they face similar sexist and discriminatory attitudes that
women in Asia do.

55
Comparison
The United States is often cited as the country leading the
forefront for gender equality and women’s rights. In reality, the
United States is ranked 49th out of 144 in gender equality—while
China is ranked 110th out of 144. Social treatment of women can
thus be said to be signiﬁcantly better in the United States. Even so,
the United States currently ranks 104th out of 193 countries in
parliamentary representation of women, while China is at 70th.
Though women may have more expansive rights in society in the
United States, this has not necessarily led to more political
representation in the past. Granted that both the culture and
political structure are different when comparing the United States
and China, this indicates that neither are necessary conditions that
lead to more women in politics. The United States relies upon
elected representatives to push for policies, as the state as an entity
does not have an agenda on its own. However, China’s Communist
Party is able to unilaterally respond to the needs of women without
having women necessarily be leading the charge. As more
awareness of women’s issues spread, the Party will most likely
respond more substantially to such needs, as seen already with Xi
Jinping’s response to the #MeToo movement. Though similar
pressure may be mounting in American politics, the direct response
to meet those needs is not immediate.
Conclusion
Does women’s representation matter? Regardless of political
structure or cultural values, studies ﬁnd that women’s overall

56
participation in politics correlates to an increase in policy making
that emphasizes quality of life and reflects the priorities of families,
women, and racial minorities. Though not every woman elected to
political office will place women’s issues or rights at the top of her
priorities, representation is a critical factor for the development of
more transparent policymaking and influential in shifting how
society views women in power. The United States currently has
many women in positions of power who are publicly viewed and
known for their policies. Yet, women in America are still facing the
same types of discrimination and harassment as other women
worldwide. This demonstrates that political representation may not
necessarily yield a direct enhancement of the quality of life for
women, though it may significantly increase the possibility of it. As
seen with the recent elections, the belief that representation will
change the status quo is an indicator of a factor that may influence
women’s decision to run. In South Korea, women are neither
seeking political positions nor seeing an active government working
to address such issues. China may have more barriers for political
representation for women, but it is also most likely to respond to
women’s issues without such representation. While society must
gradually alter its gender stereotypes on its own, implementing
policies and penalties against those who are structurally oppressing
women is also necessary. If the government leads by example,
institutions, businesses, and society may follow.
With the comparative analysis, it can be assumed that neither
political structure nor societal values have a direct impact on how
much women participate in society. China, as a unified one-party

57
state depends more on the way the Party chooses to address the
needs of the people. Electing more women in China would perhaps
not be as effective as it would be in the United States for creating
change in society.
Many factors contribute to the lack of engagement of women
in political leadership roles across the world. A combination of the
cultural values and the inherent hierarchical structure of China’s
political system makes it difficult for women to change the
landscape of participation. While women at the very top leadership
positions may help in producing role models for other women to
achieve the same, the broader participation of women in politics at
the local level is more important and fundamental to how society is
shaped at large. Having a lack of women at the lower tiers of politics
cannot support an increase in women’s representation at the higher
levels. In China specifically, women’s concerns must be more
directly expressed in order for the government to respond to them.
Though China’s censorship and repression of advocacy may hinder
public expressions, China is a rapidly developing society with the
technology for creating spaces for its citizens to collaborate and
deliberate. Given the Party’s invested interest in sustaining its
legitimacy, the people must be heard and the government needs to
react accordingly. With continued pressure on social awareness of
women’s issues and rights, more women are bound to be mobilized
to engage in fields there were previously barriers to. It is only a
matter of time before women will be more actively involved in areas
their physical, mental, and emotional state of beings rely upon.

58
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Swing Like a Girl
Victoria Morgan | University of Southern California
Abstract
Within the professional sports industry, the difference in pay
between men and women is overwhelming and begins to tell a
story of deep seeded discrimination. This paper employs golf as
its main case study as it depicts the overall problem of gender
discrimination in sports and the myths that often surround and
exacerbate the problem. Lastly, in an effort to shed light on
potential remedies, the paper compares the plight of female
golfers to African Americans golfers who faced similar adversity
in the past.
“Sports get a separate section in every major daily newspaper;
they ﬁll stadiums and arenas around the world on a regular basis
as people root, often maniacally, for their home teams… they
occupy hours and hours of weekly commercial radio and
television air time with accompanying astronomical advertising
revenues; and they are increasingly the object of public policy”
(Washington 188).
- Dr. Robert Washington and Dr. David Karen explain the
sociology of sports by mapping out its crucial place in society.
As a microcosm of society, the sports industry and issues
within it should be treated with the utmost attention.
63

Women in Law and Politics Journal.pdf Danielle Mikaelian

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