Hair, Hemlines and Husbands: Time to Shift the Focus

Women have made significant progress in the political arena, but we still have work to do.

Ilana Goldman, President of Women's Campaign Forum, notes: "From community organizing to the legislative process to the nomination and confirmation of judges, it is clear that we need women involved now more than ever. While we are delighted that a record number of women will be serving in federal and state government in 2007, there is still a long way to go."

"With 16 women in the U.S. Senate, 71 women in the U.S. House, nine women governors, and 1,732 women serving in state legislatures in January, we have only scratched the surface. Even with these successes, women currently hold fewer than 25% of all elected offices in the U.S. ... Despite the tremendous class of women who ran in 2006, the overall numbers of women running for office are still alarmingly low."

Gloria Feldt of WomensENews.org reported earlier this week that "while women are heads of state in countries as disparate as Liberia, Chile, and Germany, and their numbers are increasing globally, America ranks 67th in percentage of female congress members, behind Pakistan, Liberia, and Mexico."

Enough media coverage of what labels our women leaders are wearing, how much leg is showing, which celebrity stylists cut their hair, or armchair analyses of their marriages.

It's time to laser in on the important issues:

● Getting more women into office
● Demanding to hear from more women experts in the news media as policy shapers and leading voices of authority on critical issues
● Collectively, as women, opening our wallets

So let's talk strategy. What are the best ways for us to achieve these objectives?

One of the biggest and most powerful things we can do is to simply ask women to run.

A key research finding is that, for many women in public office, it never even occurred to them to run until somebody else said, "Hey, you're such an incredible leader, have you ever considered running for office? Would you ever consider it? I really see you in this role." Clearly, being asked to run has powerful leverage on women's willingness to put themselves out there.

WCF'S Goldman argues, "That's really our biggest problem--women are equally effective as men at running for office, but we're just not getting out there and running to the same degree." Why not? "Think about how many boys and girls grow up being told, 'You can be a senator.' Maybe today more girls are being told this, but boys do definitely internalize that more.'"

There's more from the research on why women do or don't run for office.

There's a perception about resume--women believe that one needs to be a lawyer, a multi-millionaire business owner. But what about the doctor, the educator, the nurse, the P.T.A. president?--it's not clicking in women's brains that they have impressive transferable skills that will lead to success on the campaign trail.

Back to being asked to run. Visitors to the Women's Campaign Forum website are asked to nominate women they think would be great candidates. Goldman's mission? "Tell us [WCF] what her name is and we will reach out to her. We will get her to come to a training and we will talk to her and work with her about what ways she can become active in public life."

WCF also provides education to train hard fact skills, including being a more effective fund raiser, a more effective public speaker, and strategizing in terms of how you think about presenting your policy positions.

As Golman points out, "There really is some degree of science that has been developed in terms of how to be effective. Women need to understand this." Why?

Women are much less likely to put themselves out there unless they enter into the process feeling that they know exactly what they're going to be doing and what's going to be involved. Once they get a lay of the land, they have the epiphany, "Yes. I can write that kind of appeal letter. Yes, I can ask for that money. Yes I can read that poll." Gaining that understanding and that competency makes women more willing to run--and that's precisely WCF's mission.

The bottom line objective that will get more women into office? It's simple--we need to get women started.

There are many great organizations that are working on different issues relevant to women's leadership. WCF's focus is on getting women off into their first steps in public life, whether that's as an activist or in an appointed position, a volunteer staff person.

Goldman explains: "Most importantly, we help candidates--it's very hard to do this. We don't have enough women out there asking women to run; we don't have enough training to help women build the skills they need to be successful on the campaign trail. We make endorsements to help our candidates be successful, but we really try to be the people, not that are going to do the $15 million independent expenditure in the last week of the race. Instead, we try to come in at the very earliest stage when no one yet is taking your calls to help you build the name, and credibility, and the infrastructure that lets later-stage groups and investors feel competent to go out for you.

Demand to hear from women in the news media as policy shapers and leading voices of authority.

SheSource.org reports that:
● On the influential Sunday morning political talk shows, women represent only 14% of guest appearances ("Who's Talking?" The White House Project, 2005.)

● On the three main U.S. broadcast networks, 87 percent of expert sound bytes are provided by men. (Women, Men and Media and The Freedom Forum Media Studies Center, 1998)

● Despite their growing ranks as experts in fields ranging from national security and military spending to technology and health care, women continue to be drastically underrepresented in the news media as policy shapers and leading voices of authority on critical issues. We've heard from journalists that say the main reason they do not quote women as experts on a range of topics is simply because they do not know how to find them.

SheSource.org closes the gender gap in news coverage by making it easy for journalists to connect with women experts on topics of interest. With a few quick clicks, journalists can find women experts in a variety of fields across the country.

There's one additional critical initiative that we need to focus on: Women need to give.

Women make up a fraction of political donations and there's a huge fallout in terms of how successful women candidates can be, in terms of public policy positions that get attention. In an age when women enjoy increasing income power, increasing access to wealth, increasing access over spending--it's really time for women to start taking this piece of their civic action and putting their checkbooks behind the causes they believe in.

Nancy Lafferty-Wellott, founder and CEO of Habits & Habitats, reports these stats:

● Women control 83% of all household spending.
● 80% of checks written in the U.S. are signed by women.
● 78% of women agree that they seek fulfillment on their own terms.
● 75% of all mothers are in the paid labor force.

That's a lot of fire power.

There's more.

Women vote more than men; we volunteer more; and depending on how you look at it, we're certainly strong philanthropic givers.

But--and here's a huge problem--we women have yet to make the connection between the causes we care about and our political financial giving.

It's time for a collective shift in our thinking about our ability to shape policy, whether we pull out our check books, or step up to run for office, or shake up the media.

To recap, here are three action items you can do now to further the initiative to get more women into office and into policy making roles:

1. Go online right now and nominate a great woman that you know. Think about it--every one of us knows a woman that, when we think of her, we realize, "Wow, she could run the world." (I just thought of someone else.) Or consider running yourself; think about it--do you have skills and talents that could transfer to running for office, or that should compel you to accept an appointment, or that would make you an effective volunteer in a political campaign? If so, step up. The world deserves to hear from you.

2. Pull out your checkbook and give to the political causes and candidates that you care about. And then write another check next week, next month, next quarter. Repeat. Give.

3. Contact major media outlets and demand to hear women authorities in the media. Make their jobs easier: recomend sources like SheSource.org. Start an e-mail and phone campaign today insisting on this change.

It's time.

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A Personal Invitation From WCF President Ilana Goldman:

Join Women's Campaign Fund for the Annual Parties of Your Choice: CELEBRATING THE PIPELINE. New York City, March 12, 2007. This is a rare opportunity to meet incredible candidates and talk politics with esteemed special guests, all in the backdrop of magnificent homes and fine cuisine. The evening will begin with a cocktail reception from 6:00 - 7:30 P.M. featuring a special performance by Sarah Jones, Tony Award Winning playwright, actor and poet, Bridge & Tunnel, a tribute to the state and local leaders who make up the pipeline, and an exclusive exhibit at Christie's, 20 Rockefeller Center, New York, NY. At 7:30 P.M., proceed to the Party of Your Choice. Click here for information and tickets.