Should each of the 50 states that make up the United
States of America
select one male Senator and one female Senator for the US Senate?
If so, the United States Senate would be made up of 50 men and 50
women.
This change could be achieved by an Amendment to the US Constitution
requiring each state to elect (or appoint) one Senator of each sex.
This change would be achieved gradually in the
normal course of electing Senators.
If a particular state has two Senators of the same sex,
at the next election after this Amendment is ratified by 3/4 of the
states,
a Senator of the other sex would be elected.
OUTLINE:
1.
EACH STATE WOULD SELECT ITS BEST MALE AND ITS BEST FEMALE
TO BE UNITED STATES SENATORS.
2. WHY THE US SENATE IS A GOOD PLACE TO ACHIEVE EQUALITY OF THE SEXES.
3.
THE
US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WOULD STILL BE UNBALANCED.
4.
SOME LONG-TIME SENATORS WOULD LOSE THEIR SEATS.
5. BUT NEW OPPORTUNITIES WOULD BE OPENED FOR WOMEN TO BECOME SENATORS.
6. SOME MALE US SENATORS WILL RESIST THIS CHANGE.
7.
PARTY-AFFILIATION WOULD NOT BE AFFECTED.
8.
EVEN BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION IS CHANGED (OR IF IT IS NEVER CHANGED),
PARTIES CAN AGREE TO NOMINATE CANDIDATES TO CREATE A SEX-BALANCED US
SENATE.
9.
SEX-CHANGE CANDIDATES?
10. A SEX-BALANCED SENATE WOULD TAKE WOMAN'S ISSUES MORE SERIOUSLY.
11. A NOTE ON LANGUAGE: SEX-BALANCED
RATHER THAN GENDER-BALANCED.
12. WE WILL HAVE A NEW COUNTRY WHEN HALF OF THE SENATORS ARE WOMAN.
SEX-BALANCED
SENATE
by James Park
The Sex-Balanced Senate Amendment to the US
Constitution might read something like this:
"Each state of the United States shall select one male Senator and one
female Senator."
Equality of the sexes could be most easily achieved
in one half of one branch of government
if the United States Senate were to consist of one Senator of each sex
from each state.
All of the voters of each state would select their best man to be
Senator
and their best woman to be Senator.
And because the Senators are almost always elected in different years
(the only exception being special elections
to fill out the term of a
Senator who resigned, was removed, or died),
it would be known years in advance that the next time a Senator is
elected,
it will be either the year to select a male Senator or a female Senator.
At present a few states (Minnesota being one)
already have
one male Senator and one female Senator.
Nothing would change for these states,
except that the seat held by a male would henceforth be reserved for a
male
and the seat held by the female would always be reserved for a female.
At present most states have two male Senators.
At the next election for a Senator after this Amendment is ratified,
only females would be allowed to run for that seat.
This would mean that one male Senator
would not be eligible to run for
re-election in that election.
But he would be free to run for the male seat the next time that Senate
term expires.
Likewise, two states now have female Senators,
California and Maine.
At the next election after ratification, one of these female Senators
would not be able to run for re-election that year.
The next open Senate seat would be reserved for a male.
But the displaced female Senator would be eligible to run
for the female Senate seat the next time that term expires.
1. EACH STATE WOULD SELECT ITS BEST MALE AND ITS BEST FEMALE
TO BE UNITED STATES SENATORS.
Even the smallest states should be able to find at
least one person of each sex
who could be a good US Senators.
It would be known years in advance which seat is coming up for election.
And all parties that wish to present candidates for the US Senate
would know that they must select either a male or a female for that
seat.
In one election, only male candidates would compete
to be Senator.
In the next election in that state for the US Senate,
only female candidates would compete.
But, of course, all voters in each state would vote
in all elections.
This is NOT a process of females selecting a female Senator
and the male voters selecting a male Senator.
And each Senator would continue to represent ALL of the people of his
or her state.
2.
WHY THE US SENATE IS A GOOD PLACE TO ACHIEVE EQUALITY OF THE SEXES.
This pattern becomes possible by the unique feature
of our government
that has TWO Senators elected AT LARGE from each state.
US Senators are not elected to represent one geographical half of each
state.
Each Senators represents the WHOLE state.
And under this change to a sex-balanced Senate,
each female Senator would represent her whole state
and each male Senator would represent his whole state.
3.
THE
US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WOULD STILL BE UNBALANCED.
It would not be possible to achieve a sex-balanced
US House of Representatives
because each Representative is elected to serve a particular
geographical area
---the Congressional district.
The parties are free to nominate candidates of either sex
for seats in
the US House of Representatives.
And frequently a female does run against a male.
The voters of that Congressional district are free to vote for either
candidate.
And history shows that we tend to send mostly men
to the US House of
Representatives.
Some other countries select their lawmakers at large
by voting not for specific candidates but for parties,
which have presented lists of candidates.
This permits the parties to select specific proportions of candidates
from each sex.
For example, every third candidate on the party's list could be a
female.
If all parties follow the same pattern,
this will result in almost one-third of the parliament being female.
But it would probably not be fair to say that a
certain geographical area
can only be represented by a male or a female.
Thus in the United States,
we are not likely to have sex-equality in the House of Representatives.
Because each US Senator represents the whole state,
no geographical areas of that state is required
to be represented by a Senator of a particular sex.
The whole state has one male Senator and one female Senator.
It is lucky that the number of Senators is exactly two per state.
Sex-balance would not be possible if each state has three Senators, for
example.
4. SOME LONG-TIME SENATORS WOULD LOSE THEIR SEATS.
When a particular state is represented by two
Senators of the same sex,
one of these people would be replaced by a Senator of the other sex
at the next election for the US Senate in that state.
For example, California has two female US Senators.
These might both be excellent Senators,
but one of them would be replaced by a male at California's next
election for US
Senate.
The two female Senators could run against each other for the female
seat.
This could force the voters of California to choose
the best of these two woman to represent them in the US Senate.
The same would happen for states represented by two
male Senators:
One would not be eligible to run for re-election when his current term
expires.
But he could run for the male seat at the next election for male
Senator.
And the voters (both male and female)
would be forced to select the best male to represent the
whole state.
5. BUT NEW OPPORTUNITIES WOULD BE OPENED FOR WOMEN TO BECOME SENATORS.
Many women have never considered running for the US
Senate
because they know in advance that the famous male candidates would
almost always win,
especially when a male Senator has been known as the permanent Senator
for her state.
But when one seat in the US Senate is designated for a male and one
seat for a female,
then all women from that state have an equal chance of being elected,
even if the candidates have never before been in the public eye before.
Each political party would know in advance that the
Senate seat next being filled
would be either for a man or for a woman.
In the years when the female Senator is being selected,
they might have to search more diligently for the best candidate
because in the past they might have assumed
that a man always had the best chance of being elected.
Each party will put forward its best WOMAN candidate for Senator.
And all females in the state would know many years
in advance
just when that state's female seat the US Senate would next become
available.
At most the lead-time would be six years.
The females who might like to sit in the US Senate
would not have to consider every
election for Senate,
only the elections in which the female Senator will be selected.
(Likewise male candidates for the US Senate
would know in advance which years they would be eligible to run in
their state.)
6. SOME MALE US SENATORS WILL RESIST THIS CHANGE.
There might be some problem getting this Amendment
thru the US Senate,
since it would mean that many male Senators are voting themselves out
of office.
But all candidates for the US Senate could be asked by the voters
whether they support a sex-balanced Senate.
And if they pledge to vote for this change to the US Constitution,
more women will vote for them.
Eventually the US Senate will consist mostly of people who support a
sex-balanced Senate.
The US House of Representatives should not have as
much resistance to a sex-balanced Senate,
since it does not affect their own seats.
Candidates of either sex can still run for each seat in the House.
But the number of men serving in the US Senate will
be reduced to exactly 50,
from whatever number are in office when this Amendment is ratified by
the states.
7. PARTY-AFFILIATION WOULD NOT BE AFFECTED.
This proposal for a sex-balanced Senate
does NOT propose that each party have equal numbers of Senators.
At present, the US Senate is divided by party about 60/40 in favor of
the Democrats.
It cannot be predicted how this might change in a sex-balanced Senate.
The next election for US Senate after ratification
would have mostly female candidates.
And these candidates would come from all parties:
Female Democrats, female Republications, female Greens, female
independents, etc.
would all be running against one another.
The voters (of all parties and all sexes) will select their next female
Senator.
8. EVEN BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION IS CHANGED (OR IF IT IS NEVER CHANGED),
PARTIES CAN AGREE TO NOMINATE CANDIDATES TO CREATE A SEX-BALANCED US
SENATE.
Even before any such Amendment is adopted,
the political parties of each state can decide to implement this policy
immediately.
If they have two male Senators,
the next time there is an election for US Senator,
they can agree to present only female candidates.
And that will informally become known as the woman's Senate seat from
that state.
Public opinion will enforce this decision even before the US
Constitution is changed.
Any party that nominates a candidate of the 'wrong' sex
will have less chance of winning that election.
The people of each state will already be thinking in terms of
this being their seat in the Senate reserved for a man or for a woman.
9. SEX-CHANGE CANDIDATES?
Yes, reserving one Senate seat from each state for a
female
will occasionally encourage a former male who has had a sex-change
operation
to run for that Senate seat as a female.
The same situation arises in sporting events reserved for one sex:
If a man really has become a woman,
she can compete with other women tennis players.
However, the voters will probably know about the
sex-change,
which could affect enough votes to elect one of the born-women
rather than a man who changed into a woman.
But any candidate who is legally of the specified sex
can run for the US Senate seat that is reserved for a person of that
sex.
Females who have changed their sex to male
could also run for the US Senate seats reserved for men.
10. A SEX-BALANCED SENATE WOULD TAKE WOMAN'S ISSUES MORE SERIOUSLY.
Sometimes the concerns especially important to women
are ignored by a male-dominated Senate.
For example, a sex-balanced Senate would never reverse reproductive
freedom.
Women know that all people should control their own bodies.
Government should never tell women when and how to reproduce---or not
reproduce.
Military expenditures would be more closely examined
when half of the Senators are women.
Federal funding for education of children will increase.
Sex-discrimination legislation would have a much better chance of
passing the Senate. And
laws having negative impacts on women would not pass a sex-balanced
Senate. Women's
rights would be protected in every piece of legislation passed
by the Senate.
Individual rights as opposed to the powers of the government would be
enhanced.
Patriarchal assumptions in every form of legislation would be
challenged.
11. A NOTE ON LANGUAGE: SEX-BALANCED
RATHER THAN GENDER-BALANCED.
Some discussion of this proposal will use the word
"gender"
to refer to the fact that some Senators will be male and some female.
But the word "gender" refers to the masculinity or femininity of persons.
We will not select Senators according to their gender-personalities,
how 'masculine' or 'feminine' they are.
Rather without separating them according to their personalities,
each state will select one MALE Senator and one FEMALE Senator.
One Senate seat from each state will be reserved for a MAN.
And one Senate seat from each state will be reserved for a WOMAN.
All voters within each state will be able to vote for the best WOMAN
to fill the WOMAN'S Senate seat when the WOMAN'S Senate seat is up for
election.
And all voters within that state will be able to vote for the best MAN
to fill the MAN'S Senate seat when the MAN'S Senate seat is up for
election.
12. WE WILL HAVE A NEW COUNTRY WHEN HALF OF THE SENATORS ARE WOMAN.
There is no predicting just how far-reaching such a
change might be.
When women occupy 50 seats in the United States Senate,
no matter what parties and political philosophies they represent,
they will be shaping a new country out of the United State of America.
What old, patriarchal assumptions will fall?
AUTHOR:
James Park is an independent existential philosopher.
He has long considered himself a feminist.
He believes in the freedom of woman (and men)
to create themselves free of all cultural assumptions.
Much more can be learned about him on his website, An Existential
Philosopher's Museum,
which now have more than 1,000 'rooms'.