Women and Politics

This post was submitted by WCF Fellow, Stephanie Glover.

On September 10 WCF held its fifth annual Hail to the Chiefs event celebrating female chiefs of staff. The program was an amazing success with over 300 people honoring 25 chiefs currently serving a member of Congress. With their busy schedules, it was great to see 17 of those women in attendance. The program offered opportunities for WCF members to meet and congratulate these chiefs of staff for their hard work and commitment to public service. Honoring and celebrating these women is especially important because according to WCF research, the number of female chiefs of staff has been stagnant for the last three years:

In the past three years there has been no significant increase in the percentage of House Members with a female Chief of Staff: Less than one-third of House Members’ Chiefs of Staff are women.

Of the female House incumbents, there has been an increase in those employing female Chiefs of Staff.  In 2007, about thirty-five percent of all female House Members employed a female Chief of Staff.  Today, about forty-six percent of female House Members employ a female Chief of Staff.

In every year over the past three years, of the over-three-hundred male incumbents in the House, only about one-third has employed a female Chief of Staff.

In the past three years, the percent of male Senators employing a female Chief of Staff has dropped almost five percent: less than twenty percent of male Senators currently employ a female Chief of Staff.

In the past three years, the percent of Senators’ Chiefs of Staff who are women has actually decreased.

Held at the Sewall-Belmont House, home of the National Women’s Party, the venue highlighted women’s past political struggles while the celebration looked toward the future role of women in politics. As the program neared the end, WCF fellows approached guests for nominations for WCF’s She Should Run program and this great group of attendees suggested 57 names for potential candidates—those nominees will soon be learning all about how and why they should run for office.

Additionally, Jan Lipsen received the “WCF Jan Lipsen Award” for her pioneering work in Congress as one of the first professional women on staff. Rick Diegel was also honored with the “WCF Shattered Glass Award” for his tireless work to elect more women as former IBEW Political Director and WCF Board Member.

Feel free to check out more of our photos from this great program.