Off the Sidelines: Women in Political Office

Did everyone catch the State of the Union last night? It definitely has some buzzy moments, but one thing that caught my attention was a pundit mentioning that this is the most diverse congress the U.S. has ever had. That is true, even though the group looks as homogenous as ever. But what strikes me is that there are only nine (9!) Hispanic women representing us in the House and none in the Senate. I’m happy for the strides we have made, but still have a long way to go.

We’ve spoken about the group Latinas Represent and their push to promote more Latinas into politics. I still encourage anyone who has even had a kernel of thought of possibly running for office–even if that would be years away, to take a look at the group and see what they entail. One of my favorite goals that Latinas Represent encourages is that if you don’t think you would run, then look around you and see if there’s a Latina you could support and tell her–why don’t you run? Because often all candidates need is a little push of encouragement.

I also want to mention another group called, Off the Sidelines. A nonpartisan group started by Senator Kristen Grillibrand to address the lack of women in U.S. government. Off the Sidelines provides resources, mentorship, guidance, and support for women interested in running for office. This is another group worth considering if you’ve ever thought of running.

The issue, however, is that many women don’t think about running for a variety of reasons so many don’t make their way to these groups. We self-impose rigid requirements on ourselves that rules out the idea of running for office, and our communities impose even stricter ideals of who is a viable political candidate. It is tough for women to 1) decide to run 2) find the support to run, and then 3) campaign successful. There are techniques that people can use when campaigning, like political SMS marketing, in order to increase their reach and get their message out to as many people as possible so that they can (hopefully) win as many votes as possible.

Yet, as tough as it is, it is vital to have more women representation because that is how we can change policy that harm us. For example, I think back to a recent Gender Bullying and Workplace Harassment talk I attended, and there was a lead attorney from the EEOC speaking candidly about sexual harassment. One of the main points was that the standard to show sexual harassment is incredibly high. She stated that in a situation where a coworker were to fondle your breast, just one time, that likely wouldn’t rise to the level of harassment. Um, what? She was sympathetic, but explained that the people who make the rules are usually men and those men haven’t experienced being fondled at work. “If you want to change the rules, you need to change the rule makers.”

So what are some issues you wish you could impact? How can you do that politically? Why don’t you run for office?