[ti:How Women Leaders Govern Differently] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]A record number of women currently serve in the United States Congress. [00:06.36]They hold 23.5 percent of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. [00:16.48]And 26 out of the 100 members of the Senate are women. [00:24.08]However, the U.S. government still has a smaller percentage of female lawmakers than many other countries, [00:32.04]including Mexico, Tunisia, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. [00:38.16]The Inter-Parliamentary Union tried to rate 193 countries [00:43.96]by the number of women they have serving in national government positions. [00:50.84]The United States finished in 76th place in the study. [00:57.72]The numbers are a little higher on the state government level; [01:02.12]in 2019, about 29 percent of state legislators were women. [01:09.48]Two female members of the U.S. Senate -- Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts [01:19.12]– are among the candidates seeking to win the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. [01:26.56]Some observers say the two are likely to be judged more critically than men during their efforts to become commander in chief. [01:38.08]"Women are expected to be twice as good," says Amanda Hunter. [01:43.64]She is director of research and communications for the Barbara Lee Family Foundation. [01:50.44]The organization aims to make sure women are equally represented in U.S. politics. [01:58.40]Women who are in office often change the nature of the political debate. [02:04.48]Former U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp says women in elected office [02:10.52]often work on issues that are most important to families -- like paid family leave and security for retirees. [02:20.36]They also take up issues like domestic violence and sexual abuse. [02:26.68]Heitkamp added, "I think there are a whole lot of things that are in the public...dialogue right now [02:33.84]that would not be in that public dialogue if women weren't on the podium and on that stage." [02:41.48]Heitkamp, a Democrat from North Dakota, served in the Senate from 2013 to 2019. [02:50.12]During that time, she attended many dinners with female lawmakers from both major political parties. [02:58.88]They worked together, for example, to avoid a federal government shutdown in 2013. [03:06.96]"A lot of women got into politics not -- I don't mean to generalize on men -- but not because they thought it was their destiny [03:16.80]or they thought that the world couldn't survive without them," Heitkamp said. [03:22.68]"Voters tend to believe that women are motivated not by power and ego, [03:28.80]but women are motivated because they want to see a change in the world." [03:34.84]A 2015 study found that female senators worked with each other more often, [03:41.68]were more likely to work with members of other parties and were more active legislatively than male senators. [03:52.24]Right now, the country needs more female leaders, says Michael Steele of Maryland. [03:58.80]He was the first African American to chair the Republican National Committee. [04:05.72]"Women tackle problems differently than men do," Steele noted. "Our politics have gotten hot. [04:13.44]Oftentimes, the cooler head is going to be the woman who comes to the table... [04:19.12]and says, ‘You all need to grow up and start to bring things back to a rational point.'" [04:25.56]I'm Ashley Thompson. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM