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As some of you may be aware, the gender imbalance in Congress is pretty overwhelming. There are 82 male senators and 18 female senators, for whatever reason. So I have a hypothetical question for you guys: Suppose that every state were constitutionally mandated to have one male senator and one female senator, so that women were guaranteed equal representation. How (if at all) do you think it would change the type of legislation that was passed? Would it change the way that the Senate approaches issues, or do you think female senators vote pretty much the same way male senators of similar ideologies do? Would there be any subtle gender differences in negotiating style that would affect the final composition of legislation?
I'm intrigued by this idea because some countries actually reserve a certain number of seats in the legislature for each gender. I'm not really interested in a philosophical debate over whether it's "democratic" to limit who people can vote for...I'm more interested in what the practical outcome would be of such a policy. What do you think?
I'm intrigued by this idea because some countries actually reserve a certain number of seats in the legislature for each gender. I'm not really interested in a philosophical debate over whether it's "democratic" to limit who people can vote for...I'm more interested in what the practical outcome would be of such a policy. What do you think?
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