Stokley 1

Imani Stokley

English 104

The Gendered Field of Political Science

Everyone has heard the question What do you wanna be when you grow up? Teachers

would ask you this, your parents, other kids; and what was your answer? As a young girl when

people asked me that question Id always enthusiastically say I wanna be a lawyer! That had

always been and still is my dream that I plan on one day fulfilling. When deciding on what I

wanted to major in, I struggled. I knew I needed to pick something that would help me in a

career path of law but I also wanted a major that I would actually enjoy. If I had to spend four

years learning about it I thought it was best to make sure it was something that actually interested

me. I knew that being a women in the field of law would be difficult because its such a gendered

field. However, I knew that I wouldnt let that stand in my way. I couldnt decide if I wanted to

major in English, criminal justice, pre-law, economics, or political science. All of these were

majors that would help me in a career path as a lawyer but I couldnt choose which one would

be best for me. I loved the idea of politics, debates, public speaking, and being given an outlet to

express my opinions on important issues going on in the world. So finally after lots of thinking, I

decided on political science as my major.

Political Science is a very broad term that covers many things. When you google search

the term political science the definition that comes up is: the branch of knowledge that deals

with systems of government; the analysis of political activity and behavior. Most people have

no idea what that definition means or how they can make sense of it. Political Science is known

as the Master Science, because there arent too many topics that cant somehow be tied into
 Stokley 2

politics or the idea of political ideologies. Because of these reasons trying to find a specific topic

that interested me was difficult. There are many issues that I could talk about such as social

justices, mass incarceration, or even how race and ethnicity impact politics. The choices were

endless.

Nonetheless, I decided that the issue that I was most passionate about was gender politics,

specifically focusing on why the study of political science seems to be gendered and molded

to not include women as much as it does men. I feel like the political world gives women just

enough opportunity to make us feel included but never enough for it to be equal. Politics is a

place that those in power dont want women to occupy. Some men in politics feel like they are

superior to women because the study of political science is male-biased.

My argument is supported and further explained in the journal article Far from Ideal: The

Gender Politics of Political Science by Sue Tolleson-Rinehart and Susan J. Carroll. From as far

back as the 1960s women have not been included in the study of political science. It wasnt until

the contemporary womens movement that women finally started making a breakthrough in the

field.

The contemporary women's movement erupted in the 1960s, and by 1969, political

science was beginning to feel the effects of feminism outside and within the discipline.

Women entered political science in much larger numbers in the 1960s; the number of

doctorates awarded to women in 1967 and 1968 alone reversed the decline begun in the

1950s and brought political science's proportion of women with Ph.D.'s closer to that of

other fields(Tolleson-Rinehart and Carroll 4 and 5).

My argument about women not being given the same opportunities as men in political science

studies was also supported by the article. It said

 Stokley 3

Women have made progress at the entry level of the discipline as well, earning larger

proportions of Ph.D.'s than in the past. They earned 37% of political science doctorates in

2000, 33% in 2001, and 42% in 2002. Women are now as likely as men to be hired at

major research institutions. Despite that progress, however, women still constitute less

than one-fourth of all political science faculty across the country, and they are

concentrated in the lower ranks(Tolleson-Rinehart and Carroll 6).

From this one quote you can quickly see that although progress has been made in regards to how

many women are allowed in the field; there is still the problem of being given equal treatment in

those jobs. A woman could have the same credentials as a man and be given a lower ranking job

simply because she is a woman, not because he was better qualified. Men are allowed and have

been allowed for a long time to dominate the political science work field.

Some might ask why dont the women speak up? or why dont the women demand

better job opportunities? The answer to this is because they are scared of repercussions. The

effects of this culture are difficult to document because women may not speak out about gender-

related difficulties for fear of sanctions(Tolleson-Rinehart and Carroll 6). Women are in a way

targeted so they dont say anything about the injustices being done to them in the workplace.

Being a woman who is also African-American puts two targets on my back. Not only are women

not wanted in politics but black women are especially not wanted. Women of color are

especially underrepresented on political science faculties (Tolleson-Rinehart and Carroll 6).

How can women be expected to speak up in a workplace where they are underrepresented and

unwanted? How can black women be expected to succeed in the world of politics when both

being a woman and being black hinders them?

 Stokley 4

A great person who critiqued the ideas of modern feminism and shed light on some of its

ideas is Dr. Valethia Watkins-Beatty. Beatty defined feminism as "the study of gender as

pathology, the study of pathological models of gender (Beatty N.p.). Beatty wanted us to look

beyond just the ideology of feminism and see that its not all about the separation between

genders. Can you analyze male-domination sexism without feminism? ... Those who cannot

make that separation, then that tells you something about that analytical framework ... Our

gender stories are not interchangeable (Beatty N.p.) Beatty makes the point that while things

may be imbalanced due to gender differences, focusing on feminism only further perpetuates that

idea. Maybe you can make the argument that although politics is a gendered field, is feminism

really the blame for that? Beatty combats the ideas of Tolleson-Rinehart and Carroll by arguing

that some of the ideas of feminism does not allow women to feel included because theyre

literally separating themselves. Women are fighting to get what they want by doing the opposite.

I dont know whether I agree with Beatty in this regard, however, she does raise a controversial

opinion.

I knew that politics was a gendered field and that it was field that showed many biases

towards females, but I didnt know to what extent until researching and reading this article.

Though the status of women in the political professions is improving and has come a long way

overtime, there is still a lot of work to be done before we achieve full equality. I dont know if

we'll ever have a work space in political science that is not gendered or biased but it is a hope of

mine that it does. I would like to graduate with my degree in political science, go to law school,

and get a job where I dont have to worry about not being given the same opportunities as my

male colleagues.
 Stokley 5

Works Cited

"Realities We Otherwise Would Never Know / Beyond Ideology." The Liberator

Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

 Stokley 6

"The Status of Women in Political Science: Female Participation in the Professoriate and

the Study of Women and Politics in the Discipline." Apsanet.org. N.p., June 2001. Web. 28 Sept.

2016.

Tolleson-Rinehart, Sue, and Susan J. Carroll. "Far from Ideal: The Gender Politics of

Political Science." American Political Science Review 100.04 (2006): 507-12. Jstor.org. Web. 27

Sept. 2016.