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  • - Female representation.

  • We've been hearing a lot about it this past year.

  • Like Tide Pods and the undeniable chemistry

  • in A Star is Born.

  • No, not Gaga and Bradley Cooper.

  • I'm talking about Sam Elliot and his own mustache.

  • (smooching)

  • Where were we?

  • But why is female representation in America important?

  • This is Desi Lydic Womansplains.

  • (upbeat music)

  • Now the reason we've been hearing so much

  • about female representation is the 2018 midterms.

  • A record number of women won seats in Congress,

  • which is great.

  • But remember that's only 24% of Congress,

  • and women make up 51% of the population.

  • So the vast majority of policymakers

  • have never even experienced ovulation or childbirth,

  • or catcalling, except Ted Cruz,

  • he's definitely been catcalled.

  • Except it's usually people shouting "smile less."

  • I feel for you, buddy.

  • And representation is important.

  • Research shows that when women are in politics,

  • it's more likely women's rights will advance

  • in areas like pay equity, healthcare, family leave.

  • Those are like the Hemsworth brothers of policy.

  • (thunder crashes)

  • Plus women are better at getting stuff done for everyone,

  • because we tend to be more bipartisan.

  • Even I was bipartisan for a brief time in college.

  • Me and my roommate Abby.

  • Sometimes I wonder which way she went.

  • It was a time to experiment.

  • You were just waiting for me to finally come around

  • But to understand why we're only at 24% representation,

  • we need to take a look back at our history.

  • When America was founded, all of our leaders were men.

  • The signing of the Declaration of Independence

  • was a serious sausage fest, which by the way

  • is why we eat so many hot dogs on the Fourth of July.

  • What a patriot.

  • The first step in female representation

  • was fighting for the right to vote,

  • which began in 1848 at the first women's rights convention.

  • A group of abolitionists led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton

  • and Lucretia Mott wrote the Declaration of Sentiments,

  • which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence,

  • making it not only the beginning of women's suffrage,

  • but also the first all-female reboot.

  • Thankfully, Twitter trolls hadn't been invented yet.

  • And those women didn't just talk about representation,

  • they fought to make it happen.

  • In 1872, Susan B. Anthony was arrested and tried

  • for even attempting to vote.

  • Susan B. was the Cardi B. of her time.

  • You couldn't fuck with her even if you wanted to.

  • And their struggle ultimately paid off.

  • In 1920, America ratified the 19th Amendment,

  • granting women the right to vote.

  • Which meant it was time to party!

  • Except it was Prohibition, so we couldn't

  • properly celebrate for another 13 years.

  • The entire 20th century was full of firsts

  • for women in government.

  • The first female representative and senator,

  • The first major party presidential candidate,

  • the first black woman in Congress,

  • the first lady space princess,

  • and the first female vice presidential candidate.

  • We were proving that women belong in powerful jobs,

  • and also bullshit ceremonial jobs, like vice president.

  • Then, after the 1992 election,

  • the number of women in Congress jumped all the way up to 54

  • in what became known as the Year of the Woman.

  • Though for me, 1992 was the year of the hammer pant.

  • I think I pulled it off.

  • Since then, we've broken even more barriers,

  • including the first woman speaker of the house

  • and first woman to be a major party's nominee for president.

  • I forget how that election ended.

  • No!

  • Let's just move on.

  • And even after all the progress we've made,

  • the US is still only ranked 79th in female representation

  • out of 193 countries.

  • Which, coincidentally, is the same ranking

  • I had at my high school dive meet.

  • (screaming)

  • Still stings.

  • But organizations like Emily's List and She Should Run

  • are working to fix that by encouraging women

  • to enter political races.

  • Visit supermajority.com/cc to join the movement

  • for gender equity, and for more on female represenation

  • around the world, be sure to watch

  • Desi Lydic Abroad, Monday, May, 13th, on Comedy Central.

  • ♪ I'm a bad girl, I'm a bad girl

  • ♪ I'm a bad girl, I'm a bad girl

- Female representation.

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