Mark Parent
Opinions Editor

If you’ve been paying any attention to the news over the last couple of weeks, I’m sure you’re aware of the latest installment of Lord of the Flies…sorry, I mean the Republican search for the next speaker of the House of Representatives.

The disorder in the lower chamber of Congress is, frankly, stunning. By showing an unwillingness to coalesce around a single willing politician, the Republican caucus will be unable to negotiate with the president and Senate Democrats from a position of strength in the debates over the debt ceiling and continuing resolution to fund the government.

With a strong republican speaker, the House could have pressed the issue on spending cuts, entitlement reform and increased defense spending; and maybe, just maybe, they could have gotten something out of it.

Nevertheless, this common sense approach is too easy for the Republicans in the House, especially the Freedom Caucus.

However, I’m really not all that frustrated by the speakership fiasco. Instead, I’m just saddened by the entire process. And, to be honest, there’s one aspect of the leadership battle that’s simply boggled my mind: the lack of women in House Republican leadership.

Now, it should be noted: the Republicans in the House are not exceptional to the Republican Party as a whole; in fact, the entire party is lacking in leadership diversity.

Let’s take a quick look at Republican leaders in Congress. In the Senate, the top three Republicans are Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota. In the House, the top three Republicans are John Boehner of Ohio (for now), Kevin McCarthy of California, and Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

The lone woman in any leadership position is House GOP Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington.

Just a few weeks ago, Rodgers toyed with the idea of running for House Majority Leader — a contest that is no longer in progress due to Kevin McCarthy’s decision to forego a run for speaker. Yet, Rodgers had to drop out of the race before it had even formed.

Rodgers simply couldn’t receive enough support in the early stages of the contest in order to compete with current House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and Georgia Congressman Tom Price. So, the Republicans chose to shut out a woman from a critical leadership position in favor of two inarticulate old white guys — oh, and Steve Scalise was embroiled in scandal last year, because he gave a speech at an event hosted by a David Duke-founded group in 2002.

Of course, it would be extremely unfair to lambast the Republicans in Congress over just one leadership election. But, sadly, that’s not the case.

Let’s take a look at committee chairmanships, which are, essentially, extensions of leadership that play critical roles in policymaking.

In the Senate, there are a total of 16 standing committees and a woman, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, chairs only one of them, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

And in the House, there are a total of 20 standing committees and, again, a woman chairs only one of them. To make matters worse, the committee with a female chair, the Committee on House Administration, is one of the weakest committees in the legislature.

This is simply unacceptable. Then again, the fault is the Republicans alone. Currently, there are only 22 Republican women in the House and only four in the Senate.

At first glance, this may seem to be about politics. After all, the Republicans have moved further to the right in the last few years. But, as Derek Willis of The New York Times points out, female Republican candidates have proven to be just as ideologically conservative as their male counterparts in recent elections.

Now, it would be unfair to single out congressional Republicans for their lack of diversity; especially since there are a total of 25 Republican governors and only three are women.

And among the 17 Republican presidential candidates from earlier this summer, there was only one woman, Carly Fiorina. This, of course, is nothing to celebrate, because Fiorina has never been elected to any position at any level.

At this point, one can only ask a simple question: why?

To be honest, I have no idea why Republican women have such a difficult time breaking into high-profile positions.

I can, however, claim that it’s not intentional. Republicans do value and cherish women, and they consistently play a vital role in grassroots organizing and policy development.

With that being said, the perception of diminishing diversity in GOP ranks is absolutely terrible. If the stereotype of the Republican Party is a bunch of old and out-of-touch white men, then they sure are living up to it.

In order to remedy this situation, Republicans have to start encouraging women to run for office at all levels of government. Furthermore, they should maximize the potential of current female members. That means committee chairmanships and leadership positions should be held by a greater number of women; it would also help if these women were visible and made more frequent appearances on the Sunday talk-show circuit.

By simply implementing these steps, Republicans in Congress and in the 50 states can showcase the diversity of the party and repel the phony anti-women attacks levied by liberal hacks.

After all, the Republicans are the real party of the disenfranchised. Remember, it was the Republicans that led both the abolition and women’s suffrage movements.

It’s time for Republicans to return to their roots and promote the interests of women in their own party.