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Why
Women
Matter
Why
should women run for
office?
Women
elected
officials, both liberal and conservative, show greater support for
equal rights
for women and the protection of reproductive rights than their male
counterparts. Research
has shown that
women officeholders not only introduce and shape policy, they make sure
that
their policies are advanced in the legislature. Women
bring a broader viewpoint to the debate and
are more apt to engage their legislative colleagues on the other side
of the aisle. Increasing
the range of
issues that are being
discussed and diversifying the people who are discussing them, helps
develop
new solutions to the issues that are affecting women
The Status of Elected
Women in Pennsylvania
Currently, Pennsylvania
is ranked
46th in the nation in terms of women’s representation in the
state legislature,
down from 44th after the 2006 election.
Out
of the 253 seats
available in the General Assembly, women hold 10
seats in the Senate and 27 seats in the house, only 14.6 percent. If
female representation in the PA
legislature matched female representation in the state’s
adult population, Pennsylvania
women would
hold 133 seats. Pennsylvania
currently does not have a woman
holding a statewide office and has never elected a woman to Governor.
Why Don’t Women
Run?
Evidence
supports that when women run for elected office, they usually win, but
not
enough women are taking that step into the political arena. The
main reason is that they receive less
encouragement to run for office and are local political leaders are
less likely
to recruit them. Women
are also tend to
focus more of the household obligations and wait until their children
are older
before they make the decision to run.
Many
women feel as if they are not qualified to hold elected office,
evidence shows
that nothing could be farther from the truth.
What Can You Do
- Ask a
woman to run for office!
Click here
to ask a
woman to run for office.
- Donate! Click here
to learn how you can support PWCF and women candidates in Pennsylvania.
- Get
involved!
Click
here
to learn
how you can get more involved in PWCF.
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