The Revolt of the Republican Women

"This strange foray into gender essentialism perhaps explains why Mike Johnson is so reluctant to share power with his female colleagues. There are currently 33 Republican women in the House, yet there is not one elected female committee chair (one woman has the more ceremonial post of committee gavel). These numbers lend credence to the complaint of soon-retiring Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene that "there's a lot of weak Republican men" who are "afraid" and "always try to marginalize the strong Republican women.""

"An unexpected revolt is brewing in the GOP among women who are hardly adherents of feminism but are still angry about continually bumping against the glass ceiling-and at Johnson for shutting them out. Johnson's alienation of these women is all the odder since he needs their votes. His majority is historically narrow; Republicans hold 220 seats, just two more than the 218 required."

House Speaker Mike Johnson has expressed essentialist views about men and women, including a metaphor comparing men's brains to waffles and women's to spaghetti. Those views coincide with a dearth of female Republican committee chairs: 33 Republican women serve in the House but none hold elected committee chairs, with one woman holding a ceremonial gavel. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and other Republican women complain about marginalization by weak, afraid Republican men. An unexpected revolt is brewing among Republican women who are not feminists but resent a glass ceiling and Johnson's refusal to share power. Johnson's narrow majority makes his estrangement from these women politically risky.

Read at The Nation