Women and Politics

This post was submitted by Jamie Bence, one of WCF’s Summer 2009 Fellows.

Here’s a job opportunity with plenty of openings, even in the ailing economy: Women are needed to run for office.

In Iowa, the Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge has made news in recent days with her calls for more women to enter public service.  She has asked women to serve locally and get involved in their communities (as many of WCF’s newly endorsed candidates are doing).

“I’ve always believed that when women are part of a discussion, the discussion is better,” Judge told the Quad City Times.

In Boston, women are taking a stand against male-dominated city and state politics.  They are fighting hard against the stereotype than women must “man up,” or be tough-as-nails to be successful in public life, instead taking the approach which feels best for them:

Women don’t have to look like Farrah Fawcett to get elected and they don’t have to look like Roseanne either. I support candidates who can make a difference, who are qualified for the job and whom I agree with on the issues.

Only one women (Ayanna Pressley) is currently running for Boston City Council, and one of America’s oldest cities has yet to have even one female mayor!

In the burgeoning city of Omaha, things aren’t much better.  When Jean Stothert was recently elected to the city council, she broke a 12 year streak of all-male members, becoming just the sixth woman to serve since the council was chartered.

Across the country, the GOP is facing a serious crisis in its number of women in state legislatures.  Some within the party have expressed concern that this gap will cause a serious lapse of women on the national party stage, since state legislatures are where they typically are trained.  Out of 50 states, there are just six female governors as of this week.  And Congress is just 17% female.

Clearly, gender parity in public office is not an isolated issue.  It is not limited to federal candidates, any geographic area or political party.

Do you or does someone you know need a little inspiration?  Check out She Should Run, WCF’s award-winning program which encourages women to run for office.

One of the big stories this week has been around anti-choice conservatives blocking confirmation of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). She has over 20 years of experience and has been elected in Kansas four times - yet once again, anti-choice dogma is getting in the way of progress. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delayed the vote yesterday.

WCF PAC endorsed candidate Jennifer Brunner spoke up in support of Sebelius today:

“We must ask ourselves-why is her nomination being stalled? She is an expert on health policy, a strong advocate for health care reform and has a proven track record of increasing access to affordable care. She has a solid record of supporting common-sense prevention policies that help keep families healthy. And she has an impressive record of supporting a woman’s right to choose.”

Take action here to tell the Senate to confirm Sebelius by April 30th.

And to paraphrase John Stewart responding to the GOP’s recent objections over, oh, just about everything: you’re not in power anymore. It’s not supposed to feel good. This is what happens when we have pro-choice leadership.

Speaking of pro-choice victories - the FDA approved over-the-counter Plan B access to 17 year-olds. This is a big step in the fight to put science and women’s health before politics.

Amidst the Plan B and Sebelius chatter, we also learned that Ellen Moran decided to step down from her White House Communications Director position. Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post wrote an interesting article about what this means, and doesn’t mean.

And to leave you on a high note before the weekend, check out Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks about reproductive rights in her congressional testimony yesterday. As TAPPED, The American Prospect’s blog says: this is what a feminist secretary of state looks like. Love it.