Who do you want to nominate for public office? According to the Women's Campaign Forum, women are as likely as men to get elected, however fewer of them actually run for office. According to them, we need to ask women to run for office.
So who would you ask? You can nominate someone by visiting sheshouldrun.org. I can guess at why women don't run for office as often. We've been raised in a culture where men are politicians who have good women behind them. We are afraid of what might happen once we are in the spotlight -- will every indiscretion in life be brought to the forefront? Will our competitors try to ruin us? Who will look after our kids while we're fighting for legislation in congress or parliament?
More importantly: who will support us? Success in politics isn't all about passion and platform. It takes money and support. And women know that their greatest supporters are other women. So if we want to see gender balance in our elected offices, we have to say "hey you - I want you to run for office and I will support you!"
Be brave. Be bold. Be willing to throw your support 100% behind a pro-choice female candidate and bring balance into your government. Right now, half the population of the United States of America is female, yet only 16% of congress is women.
ShouldSheRun.org wants 1,000 qualified pro-choice female candidates. There are plenty of voters - men and women alike - who will say "oh I won't vote for her just because she's a woman - she needs to stand for what I stand for" and yet, we vote for men every election who we disagree with because they are the best of the worst on the ballot. How many times have you looked at someone's platform and said "well, it's about half right, which is more than the other guy, so I guess I'll vote for him" or worse, voted for the least worse of two parties and ignored the candidate's platform all together?
Why not make one of your criteria for voting "female"? What harm would there be? What good could come from it?
In Canada, the New Democrat Party (NDP... the far left) pledged to bring more women into power by asking them. They recognize there are more barriers, but just by opening the playing field for a moment instead of waiting for us to bust down the barriers on our own, they are showing the willingness to actually create change, not just tolerate it.
I truly can not imagine what the impact will be when (optimistic of me, I know) half my government representatives are women. Sadly, I can't imagine it because we've never been there. I suspect that rather than being the minority in a house filled with men, and having to fight tooth and nail for everything, they will have support and be able to debate and actually accomplish something.
And having to prove themselves as worthy, which they will, over and over again, might prove beneficial. Right now, our politicians (I'm in Canada, by the way), take for granted that they are where they are too often, and they accomplish nothing other than wasting tax dollars.
Ok, maybe I'm hoping too much for a government made up 50% of women, but I'm willing to take a chance, vote them in, and see what happens. |
Trudi Evans |
| About the author: |
| Trudi Evans is the publisher of As We Are Magazine and an active member of the board of directors for the Eating Disorders Action Group. Her interests range from politics and writing to environmentalism and mixed-berry cobblers. She resides in Nova Scotia with her spouse Rob, their son Sam, and Sam’s cat Hero. |
|
|
|
