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Women and Politics
THE WOMEN'S VOTE

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THE ISSUE

Can women be adequately represented by a man? Can men be represented by a woman? If gender is irrelevant, why aren't there more women in political office? Women are already more likely to vote than men. Why don't women vote for women? Should we be working to get more men voting?

FACTS AND STATS:

  • The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote, was ratified on August 25, 1920.
  • The "gender gap" refers to differences between women and men in political attitudes and voting choices. Although the gender gap has historical roots, political differences between women and men have increased in scope and shown greater persistence in recent years. (Center for the American Woman and Politics)
  • In 1992, the women's vote provided the margin of victory for Democratic candidates Mike Lowry (Governor - WA) and Barbara Boxer (Senator - CA).
  • The women's vote is powerful. In every presidential election since 1980, the proportion of eligible women who voted has exceeded the proportion of eligible men. The number of female voters has exceeded the number of male voters in every presidential election since 1964.
  • Women make up half of the population, but only 10% of Congress: 55 of the 540 members of 104th Congress are women. Of those women, eleven are African-American, three are Latina, and one is Asian-American.

    QUOTES FROM THE SHOW:
    "I want women to get excited about the plurality that they are. Women are the majority of voters in every state of the United States. I want them to celebrate that fact, but to celebrate it by doing, by voting in '96." -- Irene Natividad, Chair, The Women's Vote Project

    "The voters are looking at the candidates; vice-a-versa, the candidates are also looking at the voters. And that's what's so good about the Women's Vote Project...there is a concerted effort to look at the issues that are of concern to women." -- Anita Perez Ferguson, National Women's Political Caucus

    "Take a lesson from Marion Barry here, who basically won because of a ward that nobody ever targeted before...the poorest ward in Washington, D.C. And by God, he was the one candidate who went over there and courted those voters." -- Karen DeWitt, The New York Times

    RESOURCES:
    National Women's Political Caucus at (202) 785-1100.

    Center for the American Woman and Politics. Eagleton Institute of Politics. Rutgers University. New Brunswick, NJ 08901. (908) 828-2210.

    The American Association of University Women

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