A few weeks ago, the Pennsylvania Woman’s Campaign Fund announced a new partnership with She Should Run and the Woman’s Campaign Fund (formally, Woman’s Campaign Forum). To celebrate this new union, current PWCF Board President, Jennifer Reiner, Past President Martha Harris and I traveled to Washington, DC for the She Should Run kick-off event.

The evening reception began with a welcome by She Should Run President and CEO, Siobhan “Sam” Bennett. She was followed by remarks from leading feminist such as Feminist Majority Foundation President, Eleanor Smeal and NOW President, Terri O’Neill. Their energy and passion for improving government by empowering progressive women to win elections ignited a fervent dialogue about advancing woman’s public leadership.

This event was a great way for us to support our friends working on the national level and make connections and build momentum for our own campaign training coming up in January of 2012. We look forward to working with She Should Run to bring more women into political leadership in November 2012.

For more information about She Should Run visit their website at http://sheshouldrun.org/.

Contact PWCF  at info@pwcf.com for more information about our Campaign School, slated for January 26-29, 2012.

• Circle Elections Day (November 8th) on your calendar so you don’t forget to vote
• Host a screening of Iron Jawed Angels
• Make a donation to the Pennsylvania Woman’s Campaign Fund and help us get women elected to the PA legislature
• Decide to run for office and save the new date for our upcoming campaign school – January 27-30, 2012.

For someone who wants to run for office in the future, the Running in High Heels event at Shippensburg University last week was an awesome time.  The four panelist speakers were very helpful and receptive to the audiences comments and questions, and I enjoyed my time there.  Until last week, I didn’t realize that there was a group out there that supported women who wanted to work in government related positions.  PWCF makes me feel a lot more confident in achieving my future aspirations because I know now that I have a support system.

I learned some helpful tips that I will definitely consider for my future, such as volunteering may end up in a job opportunity, or putting yourself out there and networking can take you places where you never thought you would reach.  The panelists were strong women already in government-related positions, and it was refreshing to see women of different backgrounds from different places come together and have the same ideas.

I always knew that men outnumbered women in government positions, but I didn’t realize by how much.  PWCF is an inspirational group that teaches women that they can do it, and they are not alone.  I look forward to attending more PWCF events, meeting new people, and expanding my outlook on politics and life.

Kulsum Soonasra is a Kutztown University student majoring in Secondary Education with a concentration in English.  She is completing her junior year interning at PAR, and  graduates in May 2012.

Find out how you can help! Meet up for drinks and networking, and learn about opportunities to volunteer with the Pennsylvania Women’s Campaign Fund! PWCF “Friend-Raiser Happy Hour”

When: Wednesday April 6, 2011

From: 5:30-7:30 pm

Where: Ceoltas Irish Pub 2nd Street, Harrisburg PA

Bring a friend and have that friend bring a friend.

Together we can empower women to succeed in Pennsylvania Politics!

• Women hold 88, or 16.4%, of the 535 seats in the 112th US Congress
• Women of Color constitute 4.5% of the total 535 members of Congress
• 0 Women of Color serve  in the US Senate (Only 1 women of color has served in the US Senate, Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL).  An African American elected in 1992)
• Only 6 states have women governors
• PA has 10 out of 50 women senators and 32 out of 203 women representatives
• 16.6 % of the PA state legislatures is women, that is among the lowest in the country.

The simple fact is, we need more women representing us in federal, state and local government.

The Pennsylvania Women’s Campaign Fund and Shippensburg University’s Women’s Center and Department of Political Science are sponsoring a program to take a closer look at what it takes for women to succeed in politics. We will examine the important and challenging role women are playing in our local and state government.

Join us on Thursday, March 31 at 7:00 pm in Grove Hall 202, Shippensburg University for Running in High Heels, What it takes for Women to Succeed in Politics. We will be screening parts of a documentary and engaging the audience in a discussion with a panel of politically active women. Bring your cell phone, so you can participate in our poll everywhere surveys.

This program is kicking off a series of events sponsored by PWCF that will culminate with a four-day campaign training in October. Look for more details about The Winning Edge Campaign Training on our website.

Learn how to get your voice heard and make a difference in your community!

*statistic used in this blog were found at Politics www.CAWP.rutgers.edu

With the 2012 elections in mind, several groups are gearing up to recruit and train women candidates after a mixed showing in 2010.

The 2010 census means districts for the U.S. House of Representatives and for state legislatures are being redrawn, creating the potential for more open seats, more competitive races, and possibly more women in office.

Will women be able to capitalize on this opportunity? We certainly hope so, and aim to give women who are considering a run the training and tools they need to succeed in a system that isn’t particularly catered to them.

This October, PWCF will be hosting our Winning Edge Campaign Training. Throughout the year, we are partnering with local, statewide and national groups like the Women’s Campaign Forum and She Should Run to strengthen networks of support for potential candidates.

Want to learn more? Sign up for our mailing list, follow us on twitter, share this email or link with a friend, stop by one of our events (details on our March 31 “Running in High Heels” event at Shippensburg University coming soon!) or happy hours this spring.

Let’s make 2012 the year.

The issue is not that women can’t match up in competitive races, but the odds, and the system, are designed against them.  The system of politics (which the Patriot did refer to) and the design of our legislature create a tremendous barrier to entry for women.   So why does this matter?  What do we have to lose with a legislature that is 83% male?  We can’t help but think that the reform debate going on this month in the House Rules committee could have been more civil and would have been if there was a better balance of women not only in the legislature, but in the leadership.

Once commenter to the editorial claims that “women are not underrepresented….Women are equally represented – by those they helped to elect.”

What do you think?

The article was a response to a comment from Eva Rodreguez at the Washington Post that stated that it’s not important that Kagan is a woman.

“Yes, Kagan was the first woman to serve as dean of Harvard Law School. Yes, she broke the glass ceiling to become the first female solicitor general of the United States. So what? Would anyone on the panel have praised a white, male nominee for being a great role model for young men? I seriously doubt it.”

Though we have made strides in the past, we are not remotely close to have equal representation.  What do you think?  Is it important that Kagan is a woman and do you feel we need more women on the bench??