Women in Politics, is it realistic?

Women across the world are starting to become more involved in politics and political parties. However, for centuries, that was not the case. Men are historically known to overall be more involved at higher levels politically, automatically due to the assumption made that men are smarter, stronger, and overall more experienced than women. Women in history have been known to be home makers, and stereotyped as the sensitive gender. For myself, as a college student studying a field composed of mostly men, becoming a strong power is often harder than many think.

Although as a whole nation, times have changed and many countries have become more modernized, the stereotypes regarding women and their power is still prevalent. Growing up in a society dominated by men, it becomes hard to break the stereotypes that were put in place years ago. As a woman, you are described to be sensitive, caring, and most importantly the homemaker, responsible for bearing children and taking care of the house. From the time I was young, I declared that I wanted to be a lawyer, focusing on business law through the international sector. That seemed to be a goal, but never reality when looking at the percentage of women in politics.

For years, I was told that I am not capable of achieving academically in comparison to my male counterparts, and thus not capable of being successful in achieving my goals. As a child, what is constantly drilled into our brains is that we ARE capable of doing anything that we put our minds to, no matter how big or how small. But, what I have found is that, in accordance to that statement, it is actually meant in the terms that anything is possible except when you go away from traditional values.

After deciding to be one to break the stereotype that was set in place by my ancestors, I had found some information that was clearly shocking. In the case of Rwanda, a country demolished by the Rwandan genocide merely 20 years ago, they have one of the highest percentages of women in parliament in comparison to countries around the world. Is that due to the fact that the male population was almost completely wiped out during the genocide, or is it due to women deciding to make a change in politics and break their stereotype?

In the case of Rwanda, women are not restricted on boundaries. They are a pro-woman country, but the women that are in power are not feminists, they consider both sides, male and female as opinions and thus make decisions after analyzing all of the facts given. Many may think, due to the stereotypes that women will only consider basic human nature necessities, rather than focusing on law making policies, a topic that men are very involved in. In fact, it has been proven that a lot of women have the same characteristics of men when it comes to attitude and opinions.

As a young woman working hard to reach my goal, I have achieved much more than anyone thought that I would, yet the journey has just begun. I still compete everyday in classes filled with men, to voice my opinion, and show that I am equal to them academically. Women in politics is not something out of the ordinary, but in order for many to feel comfortable and work hard, such as myself, the stereotype needs to be broken. It needs to be understood that success is not derived from gender, but derived from how hard each person works, and the amount of time that one puts in.