Dawn Langan Teele
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO, the United States became the eighteenth country to give white women the right to vote, an accomplishment that many Americans today look back on with pride. Yet within that club of early enfranchisers, the United States is one of only a few that has never elected a woman to its highest political office. Iceland and Norway have even elected women prime ministers more than once—Iceland in 1980 and 2017, and Norway in 1981 and 2013.
Indeed, as Jennifer Piscopo points out, the United States is far from being a leader when it comes to women holding elected offices, and I agree with her that women’s representation is the battle of this century. However, as a scholar of gender and politics, I am wary of overfocusing on the status of women in high executive offices and legislatures. The battle for women’s representation will be won or lost in our homes.