Postmaterialism and Post-industrialism: Cultural Influences

Female representation in the United States government has increased dramatically in the last 30 years. The percentage of women in the House of Representative has increased “from 2.3 in 1970 to 12.9 in 2000” (p.1). In the Senate, the percentage has risen from 1.0 to 9.0 during the same time period. As great as these increases may seem, state legislatures however are the most dramatic, rising from a 4.0 percent in 1917 to 22.5 percent in 2000, which is more than a five time increase.

In the article “Postmaterialism and post-industrialism: Cultural influences on female representation in state legislatures”, Camobreco and Barnello set out to explain this remarkable increase of female state legislative representation in the United States and provide evidence from strenuous research. Camobreco and Barnello trie to explain the impact on female representation based on the following factors: electoral strucre, college education, postmaterialism, and post-industrialism.

The electoral structure that is most influential on women representation is multimember legislative districts. Camobreco and Barnello reason that becau

I would like to know if this increasing trend of women representation will continue to rise in the near future. Camobreco and Barnello have proven the escalation but never mentioned how this would influence the future. At what point would the number of women representatives be equal to the number of men? I am also curious if there is evidence of men doing a better job than women in office, or women doing a better job than men. Or is there evidence of who better represents the people and acts upon their interests? These kinds of proof might be able to influence the public on who they will vote for during future elections.

se a multimember legislative district allows more than one representative, electorates are more comfortable in choosing a woman since she will not be the only representative. So therefore a state that has more multimember legislative districts will have more female state legislators than a state with fewer of them”(p.7).

Because of the accurate evidence Camobreco and Barnello use, I do agree with their reasons why women representation is state legislatures has increased so dramatically in the past several decades. What makes me agree with Camobreco and Barnello is mainly from their argument of cultural shifts. It is apparent that today’s society is more accepting toward women in the working world than that of the past. And with that I do believe Camobreco and Barnello’s conclusion is valid. The postmaterialism argument they make is very solid and concrete. It is obvious that wealthy people are more inclined to worry about cultural issues than econ

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