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The League of Women Voters in Chester County, PA |
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WOMENS EQUALITY DAY 2009
As we celebrate Women’s Equality Day on August 26 we ask ourselves how do women learn to be political leaders.
The first women elected to serve as Head of State (President or Prime Minister) in the 20th Century was Sirimavo Bandaranaike, elected Prime minister of Sri Lanka in 1960. Since 1960 only 70 women have served as an elected Head of State of a nation.
How did these 70 women achieve these high positions in a field dominated by men? Several succeeded their husbands (Corazon Aquino, Isabel Peron) or father (Indira Gandhi). Others were elected because of their own political contributions. (Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkle are examples) No female citizen of the United States is on this list because no woman has ever been elected President of the United States!
What efforts are being made to encourage our young women to consider public office as a career choice? Are talented women in this country being trained to run for public office? Who supports them? How can they learn the depth of the issues that are inherent in the office they might seek? Where is a leadership ladder for our women that is already in place for our men?
For 89 years since it’s formation in 1920, the League of Women Voters has helped to prepare women for public service. Many of our members have held public office in the past and do so now. Other organizations have worked toward this goal. Here in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy is a nonpartisan center devoted to “encouraging women’s leadership through education, empowerment and action”. (see www.pcwpp.org.) Using training sessions and educational programs in applied politics, Chatham University’s Winning Edge Campaign School sponsored by the Pennsylvania Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy, offers a one-day course in running for office or working on needed campaign skills.
The Pennsylvania Women’s Campaign Fund, the only state-chartered political action committee working to elect women to the Pennsylvania General Assembly regardless of political affiliation is offering the same course in Philadelphia, September 11-13, 2009.( see www.pwcf.com/winningedge.html )
Over the next 30 years, who will be the first women to rise to the level of our state Supreme Court or Governor of Pennsylvania or the first President of the United States? Perhaps this dream will become a reality through the efforts of the organizations mentioned in this article and others like them that are already in place to educate, encourage and support women who have the ability and commitment to hold public office.
Pat Horrocks
Jean Goerth
Co-Presidents, League of Women Voters of Chester County
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