Congress may get fewer women
Monday, 25 October 2010
A record-breaking number of women put their names forward for the US Congress this year, but the number of women elected is expected to fall for the first time since 1978. Why?
A total of 291 women threw their hat in the ring to become congressional candidates for the Democratic or Republican parties in 2010 - 47 more than the previous record, set in 1992.
The rise was due to a sharp increase in the number of Republican contenders, two years after Sarah Palin became the first woman on the party's presidential ticket. Not for nothing has 2010 been called the Year of the Republican Woman.
Some of these Republican women have been among this election's most visible faces, including ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, wrestling impresario Linda McMahon, and Tea Party favourite Christine O'Donnell, all running for the Senate in California, Connecticut and Delaware respectively.
Altogether 128 Republican women sought to become their party's candidate for the House of Representatives or the Senate - roughly twice as many as in 2008. But then two-thirds of them fell at the first hurdle.
In fact, in the Year of the Republican Women, fewer Republican women won their primaries and made it through to the general election than in 2004.
On the Democratic side, meanwhile, the number of women candidates running and winning primaries in 2010 has been marginally lower than in 2006 and 2008.
A total of 291 women threw their hat in the ring to become congressional candidates for the Democratic or Republican parties in 2010 - 47 more than the previous record, set in 1992.
The rise was due to a sharp increase in the number of Republican contenders, two years after Sarah Palin became the first woman on the party's presidential ticket. Not for nothing has 2010 been called the Year of the Republican Woman.
Some of these Republican women have been among this election's most visible faces, including ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, wrestling impresario Linda McMahon, and Tea Party favourite Christine O'Donnell, all running for the Senate in California, Connecticut and Delaware respectively.
Altogether 128 Republican women sought to become their party's candidate for the House of Representatives or the Senate - roughly twice as many as in 2008. But then two-thirds of them fell at the first hurdle.
In fact, in the Year of the Republican Women, fewer Republican women won their primaries and made it through to the general election than in 2004.
On the Democratic side, meanwhile, the number of women candidates running and winning primaries in 2010 has been marginally lower than in 2006 and 2008.