Gender equality in US Politics (#304, Topic P)

Today is said to be a big day in US politics. It is the first day of the 104th congress, but, more importantly, it is the first day when Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from CA and formerly the House Minority Leader, assumes the role of Speaker of the House -- the first time when a woman assumes this role in USA's 200+ years of history. For a country that incessantly talks about other countries' deficiencies in gender equality, it is indeed good to see that this, finally, is being practiced in USA. So, as an observer of democracy, let us first say: It is about time. Let us also ask a question: Why does it take so long? The media reports that the new Speaker's and her party's first order of business is to introduce a package of rule changes that, according to today's Washington Post, "ban gifts and trips from lobbyists, restrict privately funded junkets and begin to sever the cozy relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers that scandalized the last Congress." Other rule changes, according to WP, are to "combat many of the strong-arm tactics that Republicans used to leave House Democrats virtually irrelevant when the GOP was in control." So, this is the way democracy is -- or, at least, was -- practiced in USA. WP also cites other interesting practices I never knew before: (1) votes were "held open indefinitely while leaders twist arms to win the outcome they want," and (2) lawmakers were not "notified before final legislative negotiations between the House and Senate." The proposed rule changes would require "those negotiations ... be held in public, and once they were complete, changes could not be slipped into legislative agreements in the dead of the night." Arm twisting. Secret negotiations. Dead-of-the-night changes. So, this is democracy in action in USA. Shortly after Pelosi knew she would be the new Speaker, in early November 2006, she smartly remarked: It takes a woman to clean the House. Again, let us say, Indeed, it is about time.