Over the years, the constitution of the Texas Senate and state legislative chamber has always been discriminative against certain groups, especially women, nonwhites, non-English speakers, the young, people with low educational achievements, and the young (Ura & Astudillo, 2021). Statistics indicate that this problem has been dominant for the last 50 years despite strategies to achieve equality in the state legislature since the early 1970s (Brown & Lemi, 2020). Arguably, the Texas example is a historical state of discrimination in terms of race and ethnicity, gender, language, education level, and age is a major social problem in most states, which need adequate attention.
Even though laws allow women to contest for state representative chambers and senates freely, few seats go to women during each state election. In the 86th legislative session, men dominated the entire legislature, with only a few seats going to women (Ura & Astudillo, 2021). Even though women make over 50% of the total population in Texas, only 22% of the state legislatures are females (Brown & Lemi, 2020). During debates between the two houses, female representatives and senators are often face discrimination such as receiving abusive physical attributes and hecklings. Consequently, female misrepresentation leads to the problem of actual verbal abuse during debates.
In the same manner, ethnic inequality remains a significant problem in both houses in Texas. Statistics indicate that misrepresentation of nonwhites has remained a problem since the 1970s, despite having efforts to close this gap over the period. Texas has far more whites than nonwhites (Brown & Lemi, 2020). For instance, in 2021, over 60% of the legislatures in both houses were whites, yet white people make about 41% of the total population in Texas (Ura & Astudillo, 2021).
The Republican Party is unequal in ethnic and racial representation, with only 5% of the total 100 legislatures being nonwhites (Ura & Astudillo, 2021). The same problem also applies to the Democratic Party, with about 80% of its legislatures being whites (Ura & Astudillo, 2021). Consequently, racial inequality in the state legislature is a problem that requires adequate attention to achieve equal representation in the diverse population in the future.
Furthermore, the qualification requirements and associated history contribute to the unequal representation problem in the Texas legislature. For instance, education level and occupation hinder certain groups from full political participation and representation (Calcagno, Marsella & Zhou, 2021). Even though it is not a formal constitutional requirement for election in the state legislature, nearly all members have a college degree, with the majority having a bachelor’s degree and above. Moreover, most of these graduates were lawyers, while the minority had such qualifications as health professionals, teachers, engineers, and others (Brown & Lemi, 2020). Consequently, this tradition discourages people with lower levels of education from contesting for elective posts, which eventually result in poor representation of the majority of people who have no college certificates.
In addition, religious affiliation is a significant issue that hinders equal representation of the diverse groups in the Texan population. Even though the state Constitution recognizes the separation of church and state and prohibits religious discrimination, a person’s beliefs play an essential role in the probability of winning state elections. Christians are overrepresented in the state, with majority legislatures elected because they have Christian backgrounds (Brown & Lemi, 2020). Even within the Christian faith, there is a high level of inequality because the majority of the elected representatives are Catholics and Presbyterians. In essence, it appears that a person’s religious affiliation can favour or hinder their probability of winning a set in the state legislature.
Based on this evidence, one can see that Texas is an example of the American states that have an inherent problem of inequality in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, political affiliation, religion, and education level. Unlike in the past, this kind of inequality is not due to laws or policies prohibiting equal representation. Instead, it is due to the traditional and historical aspects of the state that remain biased. For example, many voters would prefer a candidate who is an educated white male from a Christian background.
References
Brown, N. E., & Lemi, D. C. (2020). ” Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”: Black women Candidates and the Democratic Party. BUL Rev., 100, 1613.
Calcagno, P., Marsella, A., & Zhou, Y. (2021). Income inequality and party alternation: State-level evidence from the United States. Web.
Ura, A., & Astudillo, C. (2021). In 2021, white men are still overrepresented in the Texas Legislature. The Texas Tribune. Web.