By Brandi Dunn

Women and the vote

Political science professor urges young women to vote, study political issues

By: Emily Guevara

Posted: 10/29/04

As a child, Nikki Van Hightower was aware of differences in the treatment of men and women. When the women's movement took off in the 1970s, she understood what it was about.

It wasn't until she was working on her doctorate at New York University that she realized she cared greatly about gender issues and decided to get involved in the movement.

Van Hightower, a political science professor at Texas A&M and interim director of women's studies in the Department of Political Science, urged women to study the issues that affect them and vote in line with their interests in order to affect policy changes.

"About 38 million women - mostly young and single and people who have a lot at stake in the election - did not vote in the year 2000," Van Hightower said. "Because women are not equitably represented, of course, their voices are not heard as much in the policy-making process, and so knowing who we're voting for, as women, is very important."

Van Hightower was the keynote speaker at the fourth seminar in the "Diversity and Democracy" series Thursday in the Sterling C. Evans Library.

Van Hightower outlined the historical exclusion of women in the government and their present-day underrepresentation.

She cited role expectations, family obligations and the finances needed to run for office as some of the reasons for the lack of women in office.

Though women are underrepresented in government, Van Hightower said, that as voting citizens they have a significant impact.

"Since the mid-1980s, women have had a higher rate of turnout than men," she said. "In the 2000 presidential election, women voted at a 3.1 percent greater proportion than men. That means that they're important because candidates are paying a lot of attention to that vote."

Van Hightower said the issues that historically affect who women vote for reflect a difference in policy preferences from men.

These issues include the use of force to solve problems and reproductive health care, among others.

"For women these issues are so important that they are likely to be the voting issues," Van Hightower said.

Women tend to have more reservations about using force internationally, Van Hightower said.

"Women are less likely to think that the world is safer from terrorism now than it was before 9-11," Van Hightower said.

She said that, on the whole, women have more reservations about the United States' involvement in Iraq.

On the home front, women have stronger support for gun control and are less supportive of the death penalty, Van Hightower said.

Reproductive health care is a critically important issue for women, Van Hightower said.

"Women pay about 68 percent more than men ... for health care," Van Hightower said, "mainly due to contraceptive services."

Van Hightower said reproductive choice and the control of sexually transmitted diseases hold significant consequences for women both physically and beyond.

Following Van Hightower's lecture, audience members asked questions of four panelists including Van Hightower.

One audience member asked if the media's lack of coverage of women's issues was problematic for women getting politically involved.

Van Hightower said that although finding in-depth information in the media is a problem for all issues, not simply women's, public radio, television and Internet sites provide excellent information.

Panelist Wanda Watson, director of recruitment and special programs for the A&M College of Medicine, said women are doing a disservice to themselves if they do not seek information for themselves.

"Regardless of what the media is doing, regardless of the reproductive rights issues - educate yourself," Watson said.

Jenny Cavin, a recreation, park and tourism services graduate student, said she appreciated Van Hightower's perspective, but wanted more information on where the individual candidates stand on women's issues.

"I was actually hoping to hear a little bit more specifics," Cavin said. "What each party believed."

Library associate Corbet Perkins said he liked that Van Hightower encouraged not only research of the issues, but also involvement, which is the only thing that will bring about change.

"We need involvement to get to where we need to be," Perkins said.

The Race and Ethnic Studies Institute will present a post-election panel seminar at 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 18 in Evans Library 204E. For more information, contact Judy at (979) 845-0966.