It took close to a century from the Seneca Falls convention to have women around the US participate in political life to vote and be elected. The Women in both the state and the senate at the state house have been active to have the voice of the women heard. I have met with several of the women currently serving at the State house. All of them strike by their commitment to doing their best for the people in their communities.
State Representative Alice Wolf, a former Kennedy School Alumnus, whom I interviewed spoke about the main pathways for women to come to politics. It is important as she says that women get involved with their communities. It is now her 37th year in politics and when she was making her first steps into politics, women used to start by getting involved at the school boards. Over time, things have evolved, the school boards is not the only pathway for women getting into politics. Her advice to the future generation of women ebbing their way into politics is to take up an issue that they feel very strongly for and do the best we can.
Of the different challenges that women face, the different women I have had the chance to interact with speak of a variety of challenges. The first one is raising money. It is always difficult they say to be taken seriously as they start raising money or when they make their first steps into public life. However many of the women cite agencies and foundations such as Barbara Lee foundation and Emily’s List that have assisted women in raising funding for their campaigns at the local level. Secondly, women with children often have to answer the question of ‘who will take care of your children?’. The third biggest challenge is motivating women to stand for an elective office. A son and a daughter raised by the same care, under the same roof, will think of engaging into politics in a whole different way. More often than not, the son will feel a sense of entitlement and will readily be willing to get into politics while the daughter will have to be nudged and pushed to think about politics.
It is therefore not surprising that although we are now closing in to the second century away from the convention and we are still far from perfect proportional gender representation and there are only about 25 percent and in the upcoming elections, this number is likely to go down as several women holding elected office have decided not to present themselves again.
As a result we women getting into politics have a long path ahead and of course it is a huge opportunity ahead for my Oval Office Cohort.
Inauguration of Senate Women's room...
Not So long ago!
Photos courtesy: Jessica Leitz- Women's Caucus
