Blog 1

How have women gained access political power? How does female political power function?

            It is difficult for me to imagine entering the world of American politics. I never wanted to be a politician and I never saw politics as an option for me. I imagine I would be a lot more inclined towards politics if my gender were still prohibited from partaking in it.  Women are no longer exiled from the political sphere and there are many females who hold positions of power. In the contemporary, people are more or less raised for political figure-hood. Female political figures are tools the oppressive system, which can be seen from how women first gained access to political power during the 1800’s.

            Women’s initiation into the world of politics began with the highly influential Rebecca Felton (Feimster, Southern Horrors, 125). She became a figurehead as a supporter of lynching the ‘black rapist’ with the “lynch a thousand a week” address she gave in 1897 (Feimster, Southern Horrors, 126). After her speech, the media quoted and misquoted her as a means to perpetuate support for lynching. Rebecca gained political power even though she was woman because she got on board with a movement that supported white southern male ideologies. Rebecca was a wife of a politician, she had class and respectability on her side, and she happened to been fairly non-offensive to the agenda of the white southern male majority. The dominant power gives power to those it oppresses only when it becomes absolutely necessary in order for them to abet a continuance of their oppression. If women needed a leader, the southern white men would support the least offensive leader they could find who had merit enough. The dominant group does not have to relinquish control as long as they lead the oppressed to believe that they are relinquishing some control.

            You hear about people getting into Ivy League schools based on a legacy clause instead of merit. The legacy clause allows applicants with alumni relatives to have increased chances of acceptance. This is a tool for grooming future powerful people. Access to education, quality education especially, leads to more powerful positions. The dominant forces at bay do not provide access to those they do not think will serve their purposes. The 67^th congress honored Rebecca Felton, a campaigner for lynching, the same year they turned down the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill (Feimster, Southern Horrors, 230). They satisfied white women’s push against social constraints by giving them a figurehead, a role model of a white woman who penetrated the male-dominated field of political power. As a role model, she happened to have views that aligned with white southern men, modeling that women who enter into politics have to agree with the views of the governing group.

            Women of the political sphere today still serve the role as a tool of the dominant group. Throughout history we see “First African American woman elected to senate” and right next to it “only African American woman elected to senate.” “First female Senator of Georgia,” “Only female Senator of Georgia,” “First openly gay woman in senate,” it goes on and on. First interracial president! We’ll see how the next 20 elections go. It seems as though access is granted to certain social groups, but the access is limited to those the system chooses and grooms to represent the oppressed social group as if to say, “See, it isn’t just white men! Your kind is here to!” Access is granted when the oppressor realizes they can’t ignore the problem.

            But I can’t chalk political access as just the device of the oppressor. The oppressor is serving a purpose in providing representation. If there were not a fight against injustice, there would be no reason to subdue it. There has been lasting social change and will continue to be change. As with all change, there are those for it and those against it. When the 67^th congress gave Rebecca Felton an inch, she took a foot; she turned away from anti-lynching and moved onto women’s suffrage (Feimster, Southern Horrors). When people call for change, there is no safe way to subdue them; the action of subduing creates a crack in the system for the change to slip through. There are always those who cannot be subdued, they are the ones who push change further down the crack. When someone who cannot be subdued becomes the tool for subduing it has the opposite effect, it invigorates the movement, creates such a passion in people that history makes a giant leap.

            The first woman gained access to political power because she was too powerful to oppress, but subservient enough to infiltrate the male-dominated world of politics. Her representation as a white female political figure served to subdue the white women who were obedient to the rule of men, while simultaneously invigorating those who were unwilling to let go of the idea of equality and independence. Women in the political sphere represent the whole gender, this representation serves to subdue some women from entering into politics, serves to inspire others to pursue it, and does a mixture of those two things when combined with societal constructions. I'd say I'm subdued from entering the world of politics, and I'm fine with slipping into the cracks.