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Unwilling to fully abandon my Chicago-area upbringing, I live in Manhattan with my husband, my teddy bear, and a 10 lb. rabbit, but insist on calling...
 
 
 
 

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Electing More Women, Part II: Building the Pipeline

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Buried in Susan Faludi's New York Times sprawling op-ed regarding the anger many women are expressing that Hillary Clinton did not win the Democratic nomination, how women are covered in the press, and the history of the white suffragette movement, there is a crucial paragraph with vital facts about our current political state. Faludi notes:

Today, the United States ranks 22nd among the 30 developed nations in its proportion of female federal lawmakers. The proportion of female state legislators has been stuck in the low 20 percent range for 15 years; women’s share of state elective executive offices has fallen consistently since 2000, and is now under 25 percent. The American political pipeline is 86 percent male.

Let me repeat: "The American political pipeline is 86 percent male." This is critical because presidential candidates generally do not fall from the sky. They are made over the course of legislative careers. If only 14% of the the American political pipeline is female, the best way to increase the chances of a female President in this century are to put more women in the pipeline. Period.

As I mentioned in Monday's post on electing more women, EMILY's List is an organization whose mission is to do just that - support female, Democrat, pro-choice candidates. (Unlike EMILY's List, BlogHer is a non-partisan organization, so please do not read this post as an official BlogHer endorsement of any particular candidate. I'm merely throwing out my opinion here.)

EMILY's List is not the only organization supporting female candidates. The Women's Campaign Forum Foundation is "is dedicated to helping women build the skills and infrastructure they need to become more effective leaders in public life." WCF just launched a new blog, Women & Politics. The White House Project "aims to advance women’s leadership in all communities and sectors—up to the U.S. presidency—by filling the leadership pipeline with a richly diverse, critical mass of women." Marie Wilson, President of the White House Project, told Rebecca Traister in an interview for Salon that:

... in the wake of Hillary's run, "we are in the middle of a revolution. Women are stepping up and taking power." She said her organization, which encourages women to seek elected office, has seen a 61 percent increase in participation in the past year.

The increase in women expressing interest in running for office despite the often horrific, sexist treatment that Hillary Clinton was subjected to during this campaign is encouraging. As I mentioned on Monday, there are already 149 women running for office in 2008. I highlighted some of the pro-choice Democrats running for the House of Representatives already, and now I want to mention four exciting races in three states for the governor's offices and for Senate seats.

In North Carolina, Kay Hagan is running for the Senate. She is running for a seat already held by a woman, making this a zero-sum game if all one cares about is the number of women in office, her opponent, Libby Dole, voted with George W. Bush 92% of the time. If Hagan wins, women who want to see more progressive women in office will be pleased. North Carolina is also looking at electing their first female governor with the candidacy of Bev Perdue. She has a long history of supporting education and health care, and a great track record as a state legislator. If she wins in November, Purdue will be the first woman governor of a southern state since the late, great Ann Richards of Texas.

Further up the eastern seaboard, Jeanne Shaheen, a three-time governor of New Hampshire, is again running against uber-conservative John Sununu. Shaheen narrowly lost to Sununu in 2002, but later GOP operatives plead guilty to jamming Democratic phone lines on operating day. Shaheen's victory would not only increase the female presence in the Senate, but also increase the number of progressive voices, as well as remind people that cheating is wrong. In America's heartland, Jill Long Thompson is running to be the first female governor of Indiana.

Building a pipeline is one critical piece of the female president puzzle. The other is combating the rampant sexist beliefs that are firmly ingrained in the minds of men and women in the United States. Many women at BlogHer have written about the vile misogyny that they faced this election season as supporters of Hillary Clinton or as

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Suzanne 5 pts

I've been thinking about this since I read your comment last night. (OK, I didn't think about while I was sleeping, as evidenced by my dream about a charter school that has a bowling curriculum, but that's another story.) It actually made me think that I'd potentially support a moderate, pro-choice non-Democrat (cannot bring myself to say the R-word - one step at a time here!) like Susan Collins, Olympia Snow, or Christie Todd Whitman for the highest office. I'm not even sure these women parallel Thatcher at all, but it was an interesting revelation. Thanks for always making me think about things in a new way. (Liz Henry often affects me the same way.)

Now about that charter school for bowling...

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne-reisman ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

Denise 10 pts moderator

I love Thatcher and I would love an American version. Sigh. Alas, I've been waiting for it for my whole life, I don't think I'm ever going to see it.

sniff.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

Candelaria Silva 5 pts

I was in a social justice leadership program, LEADBoston, two years ago when the then candidate, now governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, came to talk to us.  The whole class day was devoted to politics.  At the end of the day, we were asked if any of us would run for political office. Outof a grop of about 35 people, only 2 people said they would - one a woman and one a man.

In discussing why the low interest, the cost of running a campaign and fear of media scrutiny were the top two reasons mentioned.

Despite that, I do think that more women will run and that eventually (sooner than later) we'll have a female president.  For me, it's more important that the candidate be progressive than that it be a woman.  An American Margaret Thatcher wouldn't work for me.

 blog.candelariasilva.com

Good and plenty!

Southerngirl 5 pts

I am a chemist and at my last company they gave us 2hrs a month to go and volunteer in the local schools.  The thing is that kids like science when they are young even in high school but shy away from it when it is time for college.  So the idea is we get them early and let them see that were are real people in this business and they know they can do it too.  We may have to start looking at politics in the same way.

We groom our kids for a lot of things but politics is not one of them.  If we truly want this then we have got to get them early.  Start a project with school aged kids where they see the benefits and the path they need to take.  Hell, I am almost 40 and cannot tell you the best way to get into politics.  My 12 year old wanted to know if he could be a delegate as he saw a 12 year old precint captian in Iwoa.  I had to look it up on the internet as I had no clue. But he is now adding Obama images to his my space page.  I think he may end up in politics as this election has him going.  He is more engaged and excited than I have ever seen him.  He says he wants a biography. But it is too early to tell for the girl as she is interested only because her biggest brother is into this and he is the next best thing to sliced bread in her eyes.

Michelle

The Anonymous Source 5 pts

Gender issues have been so avoided in this election. In his piece on politics and sexism, Bob Herbert, of the New York Times, suggested in January, 2008, that misogyny is so prevalent, we don't even bother to acknowledge it any more:

"If there was ever a story that deserved more coverage by the news media, it’s the dark persistence of misogyny in America. Sexism in its myriad destructive forms permeates nearly every aspect of American life. For many men, it’s the true national pastime, much bigger than baseball or football.

"Little attention is being paid to the toll that misogyny takes on society in general, and women and girls in particular.

"Its forms are limitless. ...

 "The fundamental problem in all of this is that women and girls are dehumanized, opening the floodgates to every kind of mistreatment. “Once you dehumanize somebody, everything else is possible,” said Taina Bien-Aimé, executive director of the women’s advocacy group Equality Now. ...

 "If you don’t think this is an issue worthy of a presidential campaign, consider the scandalous way that women are treated in the military and the fact that the winner of this election will become the commander in chief.

"The sexual mistreatment of women in the military is widespread. ...To what extent are the candidates of either party concerned about these matters? Do they have any sense of how extensive and debilitating the mistreatment of women and girls really is?"

"We’ve become so used to the disrespectful, degrading, contemptuous and even violent treatment of women that we hardly notice it. Staggering amounts of violence are unleashed against women and girls every day. Fashionable ads in mainstream publications play off of that violence, exploiting themes of death and dismemberment, female submissiveness and child pornography.

"If we’ve opened the door to the issue of sexism in the presidential campaign, then let’s have at it. It’s a big and important issue that deserves much more than lip service. "  

The Democratic Party was in denial about how it took blacks for granted for so long. The Obamamentum has been able to eclipse that. Yes, he is husband to a powerful--some would say more qualified to be president herself--woman, and the father of two daughters. But unless an Obama Administration can turn national standard of wage parity, flexible hours for all Americans, improved health and childcare options, and truly allow women to proliferate into positions of political power everywhere--the next supreme court justice MUST be a woman, for example--I suspect that more and more women are going to question the Democratic party as well.  

I cannot help but wonder if a Republican woman will take the White House first.  And I cannot deny--should the circumstances prove beneficial to this country, and my own daughters--that I might be one of the voters to help make that happen. 

Suzanne 5 pts

I'm with you - I'd like to see more women in office, but I'd vote for a progressive. I'm cracking up over the idea of an American Margaret Thatcher, though.

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne-reisman ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Oth ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

Suzanne 5 pts

I think you are right that cultivating an interest in the political system at a young age is critical. Your son sounds awesome! I can't wait to vote for him in a few decades, and hopefully his sister, too.

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne-reisman ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )