A brief reaction to visiting the Capitol

Journalism is a profession I still tentatively may or may not pursue. I used to view journalism as a combination of talking to people, getting the inside scoop of stories of interest, and taking creative liberties to write my articles. I now see the more serious, heavy, political side to journalism. The journalists in the first room we entered behaved in an extremely business-like, diligent manner and were extremely focused on their work assignments. The person who gave the tour knew everything about politics, from the amendments the representatives referenced to the identities of the representatives to all the budgeting and political issues they mentioned. I now know that this work is heavy-duty and takes a lot of memorization and hard work--not just socializing and creativity. I think I would like to write about topics that interest me, such as issues related to teens or to psychology, without going into political journalism. I would like to major in English but not government.

Seeing Congress in session was eye opening because I viewed the government as a faraway, abstract part of our country, when, really, it's going on right here, right now! Right in the Capitol building, bills were in the process of passing, and history
was in the making. However, it somewhat disappointed me that this history includes a mule museum, rather, than, say, solving world hunger. Couldn't this excess money go to people who are poor, sick, or homeless? Or is it much more complicated than that (it probably is)?

The most striking thing to me, which stuck out particularly because I just finished a course in Women and Leadership, was that the journalists, politicians, and historical figures (in the statues) we saw were predominantly male. I found this especially flagrant when we walked into the press gallery and saw a majority of male reporters, compared to the disproportionate number of females in this journalism class. So, what I'm wandering is, if so many girls start out at the bottom, why do so few women make it to the top? It only took a look into Congress and at the statues of states' top two figures to see a possible source of this problem. If women look into politics and history, they rarely see their gender represented, so they feel discouraged, as if it is practically impossible to attain positions of power. This is why women need more representation in history and politics. A recent study by journalist and former politician Jennifer Lawless shows that people are as likely to vote for women as they are for men, but much fewer women run for office because they don't believe they will be elected. Seeing this type of representation in Congress and in the Capitol made this issue a reality for me, and I am interested in looking more deeply into it and trying to overcome this prejudices and stereotypes in my own life and future.