Knowledge is Power

Valenti talks about how younger women in particular are underrepresented in participation of politics. I have to say that I am guilty of this. I have never really been concerned for politics and my reasons being are similar to what Valenti points out. One of my biggest reasons is my thinking that the politics do not really concern me. I know that this is from a lack of knowledge about politics and the importance that it holds. I do go out and vote but I admit that I do not research the people who are running or the propositions that are being voted on, etc. In the past couple of elections, I have voted on the major issues but all the other things that I didn’t know about I left blank. I may have done this out of fear of making the wrong choice so I would pick nothing rather than something. I don’t want to make a mistake and vote for something that will affect me negatively so I just don’t vote anything at all. However, after reading Valenti’s points, I realized that not voting is making the wrong decision. I put the power in others hands and end up having no say so at all. Not voting on certain issues is just as bad as voting for the wrong issues so to prevent this, I need to put more effort into learning about what issues candidates stand for and how they will benefit me. I think if there was a way to learn about these issues that was more appealing and made more sense to a younger crowd, more young people would be informed and thus actually become more involved in politics. This then may encourage more women to not only participate in politics but to also be represented in politics. This would make a huge difference in politics as we know it.