By Jenna Mamorsky

The idea that there will be a woman President is not that far fetched to teenagers today. The reason a woman may be on the ballot in the near future can be attributed to the hard work and sacrifice of several female lawmakers. Even as women have watched their peers in certain countries around the world become Prime Ministers (England, India, the Philippines, to name a few) women in this country still have a long way to go before they become equal partners in our government. One reason American women haven’t caught up is because our governmental system favors incumbents, which has left the world of politics to men mostly. Just look at the Congress: 14 out of 100 senators and 59 out of 435 representatives are women who have to work twice as hard to get half as far.

“I think it’s still a club once they [women] get here [the Congress],” said Representative Christopher Shays (R-Conn). “That’s a club that doesn’t include women as much and it doesn’t include reformers, like myself as much.”

As hard as it is for women to get elected, it’s even harder for women to wield any influence. Shays, who is the Chairman of the National Security Subcommittee in the House and serves on the House Committee on Financial Services, the House Committee on the Budget and the House Select Committee on Homeland Security says that women typically have a harder time getting on to committees because they don’t have mentors - senior senators and representatives who help newcomers get onto important committees. “When you get onto a committee, you have influence over your colleagues directly,” said Shays. “Then you become first among equals among your own peers.” The importance of mentors cannot be overstated. “You reach the top of the mountain by climbing with someone else,” he said. “Men tend to have people they climb with.”

When Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) was first elected to Congress in 1978, she was one of only 16 women in the House and Senate. One of three women in history to have a full term seat on the Senate Finance Committee, Snowe argues that women have to work harder to prove that they can handle leadership roles. She contends that the first obstacle for women entering government is developing the confidence: “Believing in oneself and one’s abilities- specifically a belief in ourselves to survive in a male-dominated institution like the Senate.”

However, she believes that obstacles to women in government can disappear. “When more women run, more women win,” she said. “That’s why it’s crucial that more women run for office at all levels, including the local and state levels which is where the farm team starts,” she said. Additionally, women role models like Secretary of State Madeline Albright and current National Security Advisor Condelessa Rice are also very important to getting more women in politics because they advance the idea that women can do anything if they really want to.

Shays and Snowe agree that women bring different points of view to the table. Women tend to be more sensitive about social issues like education, social security, healthcare and student loans. “When women approach issues,” says Snowe, “they often look at how they will affect their families, their lives and their futures. As more women have had a seat at the table, we’ve seen a greater emphasis on issues like child support enforcement, childcare, breast cancer, clinical trials that finally include women as well as men. I have been privileged to work with many of my male colleagues on these very issues, but there’s no question [these issues] would not have received the attention they did as quickly as they did without more women in Congress.” Shays also credits the women Representatives that he serves with from Connecticut. “I don’t think there is anyone who knows healthcare issues better than Nancy Johnson [R-Conn.],” he said, “and Rosa DeLauro [D-Conn.] is extraordinarily articulate and one of the hardest working members in the House.”

Change doesn’t come easily or overnight. It comes with legislation that recognizes equal pay for equal work, strong women in leadership roles, and a willingness of each generation to commit themselves to making a difference for generations to come. Shays, who has watched his mother buy and run a school, his wife become the Director for the Center for Applied Research in the Peace Corps, knows that his daughter will have an easier time assuming a position of leadership in whatever field she enters because there have been strong women who have paved her way.

“The American public has already accepted, without reservations, female senators, representatives and governors,” says Snowe. And today we appreciate the fact that leadership is not gender based. “[But it’s taken] the willingness of each generation to pressure, politically as well as socially, for [that] change to occur,” said Snowe.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, at the podium during a press conference.