What happens when the white guys are back in charge [View all]

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(CNN)Another day, another team photo of the GOP celebrating together in a white-male photo shoot, as they prepare to strip away rights of women and protections for the most vulnerable. And another blunt reminder of why 1. political representation matters, and 2. few women in the room means the concerns of women get left out.

This time around, the man party was in celebration of House Republicans pushing through a health care bill they threw together in an effort to save face, without bothering to allow the Congressional Budget Office to fully evaluate its costs and impact and lay them before the American people -- much less the legislative body, some of whom admit not reading the bill.

It turns out that the people who will see their health coverage change for the worse -- women, the poor, the old and the non-white -- weren't really seen in the photo (although lots of the men in the picture are older, they cancel out that vulnerability by being mainly rich). In one version of the picture, there appear to be two women hidden behind men in the image; in another larger group shot, there are several women at the edges of a densely packed man group of dozens.

Here are the striking numbers: There are 238 members of the House Republican conference, and just 21 of them are women (that's less than 9%). As for Democrats in the House, 62 of the 193 members are women (that's 32%).

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/05/opinions/health-care-photo-white-men-filipovic/index.html