Who run for office? Girls.
How Trump's presidency is inspiring women to enter politics
That smug, can't-catch-me grin. Those wee flailing hands, attempting to punctuate facts that don't exist. That whiny voice huffing, "The biggest. Ever. Believe me." I've long thought it true, but now statistics prove it: There's something about Donald Trump standing at the presidential podium that makes women want to run.
They're not running away from politics, though; they're sprinting towards it — in vast, pissed-off, let's-do-this numbers. Attendance was 66 percent higher than usual at Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics "Ready to Run" workshop in March, an event for women interested in seeking office. People were even being turned away. Last year, EMILY's List, a group that helps pro-choice Democratic women get elected, talked to 900 women who wanted to run during the 2016 election cycle; this year they've heard from 11,000.
"After this election cycle, I think a lot of women were just like, 'You know, it's enough. I need to find a way to get involved and make my political voice heard,'" says Maimuna Syed, executive director of Emerge California, a national organization that identifies, encourages, and trains women to run for office — and get elected. Trainees undergo 70 hours of in-depth candidate coaching from public speaking to fundraising, networking, cultural competency, and ethical leadership. Their list of alumnae makes you want to scrap your life and start over as a warrior princess. Recently, the Golden State branch graduated its largest class: 57 women, which was nearly double the typical class size.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The U.S. ranks 96th in the world (behind China and Pakistan, mind you) for percentage of women in elected office. Women make up less than one fifth of our Congress. Studies blame that low number on the fact that women here are less likely to be recruited or encouraged to run, are still responsible for the majority of childcare in their families, and, most significantly, tend to believe they aren't experienced enough.
"I never felt like politics was accessible as a minority immigrant woman — a Muslim woman — like it was somewhere I could fit in," says Syed. "I think a lot of women feel this way, like they're not visible."
Syed planned to go to med school after college but got an internship with Hillary Clinton in 2007. She spent the following years in the labor movement, directing massive unions before returning to Clinton's campaign for the 2016 election. Like many women, the stunning loss spurred her to action. How could such a qualified woman not be elected, she thought? Why aren't qualified women being elected to every office?
"In California, women only make up 22 percent of the legislature, and yet we're 52 percent of the voting population!" she said. "That gap is what I decided to focus my effort on. Not just to have gender parity, but to stress the issues that elected women are going to advocate on behalf of."
Not only is it crucial to have people at the decision-making table who will actually be affected by those decisions (hello, roomful of old white men deciding the fate of women's reproductive rights!), Syed says, but women are often a different kind of politician — the kind we need more of right now.
"Women tend to be problem solvers, and in that sense are more willing to compromise on issues," she says. They say, "'Explain how this affects you,' and 'What can we do to fix the problem?' rather than just making unilateral decisions."
Syed hopes that Emerge's next few cohorts will produce a fierce, fearless class of female leaders who no longer feel restricted by "the social implications that women have been facing for generations: not having their voices heard, and feeling like they have to be the smartest, loudest, most articulate voice, and yet simultaneously the most rational person, in order to succeed in politics."
If Trump has done nothing else for our country, at least he's disabused us of that notion.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Starshine Roshell is a veteran journalist and award-winning columnist whose work has appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post and Westways magazine. She is the author of Keep Your Skirt On, Wife on the Edge and Broad Assumptions.
-
Magazine solutions - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine printables - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
By The Week US Published
-
Why ghost guns are so easy to make — and so dangerous
The Explainer Untraceable, DIY firearms are a growing public health and safety hazard
By David Faris Published
-
US election: who the billionaires are backing
The Explainer More have endorsed Kamala Harris than Donald Trump, but among the 'ultra-rich' the split is more even
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
US election: where things stand with one week to go
The Explainer Harris' lead in the polls has been narrowing in Trump's favour, but her campaign remains 'cautiously optimistic'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Trump okay?
Today's Big Question Former president's mental fitness and alleged cognitive decline firmly back in the spotlight after 'bizarre' town hall event
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The life and times of Kamala Harris
The Explainer The vice-president is narrowly leading the race to become the next US president. How did she get to where she is now?
By The Week UK Published
-
Will 'weirdly civil' VP debate move dial in US election?
Today's Big Question 'Diametrically opposed' candidates showed 'a lot of commonality' on some issues, but offered competing visions for America's future and democracy
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
1 of 6 'Trump Train' drivers liable in Biden bus blockade
Speed Read Only one of the accused was found liable in the case concerning the deliberate slowing of a 2020 Biden campaign bus
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published