I got involved with our county Dems a few years ago. We’re a rural county, pretty red, but just outside a progressive college town. I’m 35, married, mom of three kids. Typically at any party function I’m the only person under age 50 in the room and I handle anything that involves The Internets. Or I find the other four people under age 50 and we consume alcohol. I like to call our meetings inaction, in action. But I love it! I really do. This year I’m going to be a delegate to our state convention. It might feel like nerding out at adult student council sometimes but I’ve met some really motivated, inspiring people who share my vision for the future. They spend both their careers and their free time raising concerns for the issues and supporting candidates that move them. They make their communities stronger. They fight.
What motivated me to get involved again, long after my college canvassing days, was my realization that another decade had gone by and we hadn’t made much progress in electing lawmakers that share the life experiences of those they represent. In that decade, I’d experienced having two babies while working full time. I’d looked around and I’d seen how being white and middle class with every educational opportunity and tons of family and community support had allowed me the privilege of spare time to work on some political committees. I felt it was time for women to have more power.
From the local to the global level, women’s leadership and political participation are restricted. Women are underrepresented as voters, as well as in leading positions, whether in elected office, the civil service, the private sector or academia. This occurs despite their proven abilities as leaders and agents of change, and their right to participate equally in democratic governance.
Women face several obstacles to participating in political life. Structural barriers through discriminatory laws and institutions still limit women’s options to run for office.
- See more at: www.unwomen.org/...
Recently the power white men hold in our culture, our government and our economy was illustrated by the NYT piece The Faces of American Power — and as I peered over the list of (mostly) men who decide or influence the books that get published, the laws that get passed and the news stories that are reported on I was thinking of the Sanders-Warren refrain, “rigged.” To me it seems clear the rigged system we are all suffering under is Patriarchy and though it might be called socialism, democracy or communism it is always men who retain the power.
When my fellow liberals wonder how I can support Hillary even though she is demonized for accessing what her detractors see as a traditional, male route to power I ask what other route there was? Her detractors think she shouldn’t compromise herself with the corporate ties that male politicians have relied on for two hundred years or amass the wealth that elite men secure their power with. I don’t find that fair. I’m supporting her not just because I believe in her goals and her abilities but also because I know her candidacy will make it easier for more women to run for office.
This brings me to the other side of being a vocal young-ish woman in a meeting full of fired up Dems. The endless man-splaining on current events I’m completely apprised of. The constant, “why don’t we have more young people?” without ever reaching out to young people. The way all the men sit around while the women get the food ready...and then the women clean it up. The man-splaining around political action, advising me on what is important to me and how I should go about getting it.
I’m told things in our county party have vastly improved in the last ten years as more women have joined and served in leadership and I believe it, but the reason women are under-represented in government is that many men don’t make space for women in their politics and I see it locally every time we meet...then it is echoed with absurd Hill Hate on social media, when I watch the news and see men dissecting Hillary’s debate stage personality, when I read the liberal news and find the same loud male opinions day after day, when I read progressive Bernie’s top staffers, who he obviously considers the top minds in the political biz, are all men.
It is hard to accept but the numbers clearly show that many liberal men don’t respect female knowledge, experience or leadership. When they begin to we will have more candidates, party officials, campaign staffers, reporters and pundits from all walks of life.
There is a lot of work to be done. I don’t think the answer is a revolution to change the system. I think the answer is including women in it. I’m so encouraged that a lot of new progressives have been taking political action with Bernie’s campaign. I know there are also many lifelong grassroots fighters with Bernie and they have my respect too. I hope some people re-consider their feelings for the Democratic Party and join their local Dem groups as we working to change our state houses. We could use new voices and we need 2020.