On being raised to “help”

This chart comes from an investigative report done by the Oregonian about nepotism in the legislature.  Apparently, Oregon is fairly unique in allowing our political leaders to hire family members as aides. However, I took this picture for another reason.

Look at the column of “Relation.” Only three of these aides are men: one son, one father and one husband.  Twenty of them (87%) are women: wives, daughters, daughter-in-laws.

When I see this list, I see all the girls who society encourages to be “helpful” and “caring.”  What would things look like if instead, they were raised to be leaders?  Would the spread be more even, on both sides, legislators and aides?  And how different would society look, if that were the case?

4 thoughts on “On being raised to “help””

  1. So true! We are raised to be helpers. And we often don’t see that help as leadership of running for office. Very astute observation.

    I also just did the Nerdfighter census. Not in love with the fact that I am in the penultimate age bracket. 😐

    1. Oooo! The Nerdfighter census. I’ll have to do that too. I’m sure the age bracket will keep creeping up as the Nerdfighters get older.

  2. Is there any indication of what an aide does? Is it just a “fluff” job? It is pretty striking to see how many of the legislators are men vs. how many of the aides are women.

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