The Political Power of Women

Women -- as voters, candidates, activists, donors, and journalists -- are flexing their political muscle like never before.

By Alexandra Acker Lyons

Julian Castro
Women Have Most of Top Roles in Campaigns for Leading 2020 Democrats
The Wall Street Journal. - Joshua Jamerson
The majority of senior aides and advisers on the top-tier Democratic presidential campaigns are women, and roughly a quarter identified as women of color, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.
Democrats
“They Never Showed Up”: How Democrats Lost the Red-State Fight for Abortion Rights
Vanity Fair - By Amanda Litman
The recent fusillade of anti-abortion bills are the direct result of decades of Republican scheming—and Democratic neglect. “I can assure you that $100,000 in Alabama in 2018 would’ve gone so far,” says
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris Offers Sweeping Plan To Dock Companies That Don't Pay Women Equally
huffpost.com
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Monday unveiled the second major proposal of her presidential campaign: a comprehensive plan designed to punish …
Nevada Senate
In Nevada’s legislature, women outnumber the men — a first in the nation. Carson City may never be the same.
The Washington Post - By Emily Wax-Thibodeaux
CARSON CITY, Nev. — She didn’t plan to say it. Yvanna Cancela, a newly elected Democrat in the Nevada Senate, didn’t want to “sound crass.” But when a Republican colleague defended a century-old law requiring
Poll: Women voters could give women candidates a boost in the Democratic primary
Vox - Li Zhou
There’s a historic number of women running for the Democratic presidential ticket this cycle, and while several are considered top-tier candidates, they still aren’t leading the polls just yet. One key
Judy Chu
5 Asian American Women In Congress On The Advice They Could've Used As Freshmen
Bustle - Clarissa-Jan Lim
There are 17 Asian American and Pacific Islander lawmakers serving in Congress today, according to Pew Research Center numbers. It's a record high, …
Opinion
Female presidential candidates have to overcome the sexism — of other women
The Washington Post - Jay Newton-Small is the founder of MemoryWell and a former Time magazine correspondent. She is the author of "Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works."
There are already six women running for president in 2020, an unprecedented number, and two of them — Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Kamala Harris (Calif.) — routinely poll in the top five among the
Cathy McMorris Rodgers
When You Have 3 Children and Hundreds of Thousands of Constituents
The New York Times
After a historic wave of women was elected in November, voters have made it clear that they want political representatives whose families and life experiences reflect their own.
Opinion
The Next President Should Not Be a Man
The New York Times - By FARHAD MANJOO
According to pollsters and political reporters, a dispiriting dynamic has taken hold of the early stages of the Democratic presidential primary: Voters are discounting female candidates as unelectable.
Paid Leave
Sexism Is Keeping An Important Progressive Policy Off The Front Page
huffpost.com
The U.S. is creeping closer to an actual paid family leave law, perhaps finally catching up to every other industrialized country in offering time …
Opinion
If male candidates want to show they get it, they should get out
The Washington Post - By Suzanna Danuta Walters
Suzanna Danuta Walters is a professor of sociology and director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Northeastern University. In 2013, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg
U.S. Politics
Asked if a Woman Can Win, 2020 Candidates Offer an Easy Answer: ‘I Have’
The New York Times - By ASTEAD W. HERNDON and LISA LERER
CRESTON, Iowa — Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York had a request: Before anyone mocked her claim that she was the Democratic presidential candidate best positioned to take on President Trump, at least
Marianne Williamson
Six Women Running for President - Where's the Media?
thesyndromemag.com
For the first time in herstory there are 6 women running for President, and at least one more may soon join them. You’d think the media would be …
Women of Color
Black Women Are Taking Their Political Power To The Podcast World
The Root - Terrell Jermaine Starr
Why there will be a woman on the 2020 Democratic ticket
brookings.edu - Elaine Kamarck
By Elaine KamarckSo far 19 Democrats have announced, in one way or another, that they are running for the Democratic nomination for president. This …
Ai-jen Poo
Prominent Activists Launch Supermajority To Mobilize Women For 2020 And Beyond
huffpost.com
Cecile Richards, Ai-jen Poo and Alicia Garza are creating an intersectional political organization dedicated to building tangible power for American …
Iowa Politics
Nominate a woman? Some Democratic women aren't so sure
Associated Press - By ALEXANDRA JAFFE, JULIE PACE and HUNTER WOODALL, Associated Press
TIPTON, Iowa (AP) — Iowa voters sent a record number of women to the Legislature during last year's midterms. Women won two of the state's most competitive U.S. House races, and a woman was elected governor
Republican Party
New Census Data Reinforces Urgency of House GOP's Female Recruitment Push
cookpolitical.com - David Wasserman
It turns out the "blue wave" of 2018 was just as much about subtraction as addition: President Trump's best demographic, men without college degrees, …
U.S. Politics
Prominent women of color are putting 2020 candidates on the spot. Warren and Harris shined.
Vox - Li Zhou
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris received standing ovations from the audience at a forum on Wednesday dedicated to women of color — clearly emerging as favored candidates among some in an increasingly
Bernie Sanders
Women on the 2020 campaign trail are being treated more negatively by the media
storybench.org - Alex Frandsen is a fourth-year journalism major and sociology minor. His primary interests include politics, pop culture, and social issues, and he is big into using data to explore them all. Aleszu Bajak is Storybench’s editor. He is also graduate programs manager at Northeastern University’s School of Journalism, where he teaches courses and runs research on digital journalism, data reporting and new media. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, M.I.T. Technology Review and Nature.
Female candidates running for president are consistently being described in the media more negatively than their male counterparts. That’s what we’ve …
Women of Substance
newrepublic.com - Liza Mundy
2020's slate of female presidential candidates is already making history. On a bright Saturday morning in early March, the annual Texas schmoozefest …
In the Democratic Primary, It’s Women Who Win Elections Against Men Who Lose Races
observer.com - John A. Tures
There is no shortage of Democratic candidates for president in 2020, but not all of them have a good track record of elections. In fact, it’s coming …
House freshmen calling out 'archaic sexism' on Capitol Hill
CNN - By Sunlen Serfaty, CNN
(CNN) — New members of Congress are pulling back the curtain on what many see as a pervasive, institutionalized culture of sexism on Capitol Hill, calling out specific incidents of sexism directly to to
An All-Female Ticket for 2020
thenation.com - John Nichols
John NicholsKamala Harris says she would consider a woman for vice president. So does Elizabeth Warren.The post An All-Female Ticket for 2020 …
Female donors organize to back the women running for president
POLITICO - By ELENA SCHNEIDER and MAGGIE SEVERNS
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand founded female donor circles in cities around the country. Now they’re fueling her 2020 run — and rival campaigns. In her first years in the Senate, Kirsten Gillibrand traveled
Biden, Beto & Bernie Are Leading The Polls. Are Women Reluctant To Support Women?
Refinery29 - Natalie Gontcharova
The latest Quinnipiac University National Poll finds the "B" boys at the top: 29% favor Sen. Joe Biden (who has not entered the race, but is expected to), 19% prefer Sen. Bernie Sanders, and 12% pick Rep.
My ideal primary candidate exists; she’s just not running
medium.com
Naava Gabriela EllenbergBlockedUnblockFollowFollowing Apr 2 I was prepared to cast my vote for a woman in the 2020 primaries. In 2016, many women …
House Democratic women flex muscles with formal caucus, plus a political arm
Roll Call - Lindsey McPherson
On Equal Pay Day, new caucus touts expanded leadership team House Democratic women, armed with more numbers and the power of the majority, are getting …