Kelly Dittmar
JENNIFER PISCOPO DEFINES a pervasive problem in U.S. politics: women’s full inclusion in political power is stunted by their persistent underrepresentation as officeholders. She suggests that the solution must encompass positive action that promotes systemic, structural change—instead of putting the onus on women to remedy their own marginalization. She is right. But how can we respond to this call to action?
As Piscopo notes, it is difficult to imagine viable, realistic strategies for structural change to the U.S. electoral process. Gender quotas “aren’t directly translatable to the United States ”, and “one quirk of the U.S. political system is that political parties do not control ballot access.” But this is not just a quirk; this is a significant challenge to the types of electoral reforms that have been implemented globally in party-centered systems to promote gender parity. The weakening of party influence in the U.S. system of party primaries only exacerbates this challenge; not only do parties have minimal say in who runs for nomination, but they have ceded the decision on who wins to voters in (mostly) winner-takes-all elections. Parties’ unwillingness to “play” in primary elections—whether through endorsements or financial support—removes another potential site for the type of positive action Piscopo proposes. Of course, there is no legal reason parties could not intervene at this stage to support women, but there is also no way to punish parties that do not.