'Year of the Woman' Part II on Agenda for 2012

By Colleen Flaherty

WeNews correspondents

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The 2010 elections could bring the first drop in women's congressional numbers in 30 years. Despite that, a bipartisan effort targeting the over-45 set aims to make the next elections, in 2012, a bonanza year for female politicians.

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Invitations at Project's Heart

Walsh says the invitation element at the heart of the 2012 Project is essential for expanding women's numbers in Congress.

Fifty-three percent of women elected to state legislatures had not seriously thought about running until they were asked, she says, compared to 28 percent of men.

When you look at representatives who say running was their own idea those gender figures change places: 43 percent of men compared to 26 percent of the women.

"Women don't get asked as much by party leaders," said Walsh. "If either party wanted more women in office, there would be more women in office."

The year 2012 was chosen to recreate the conditions of 1992, when state district lines were redrawn after the 1990 Census and a historic number of women were brought to office. Women secured 47 seats in the House (up from 28) and seven in the Senate (up from three), bringing women's overall congressional representation from 5.8 percent to 10 percent.

Instead of marking the start of a sustained growth, however, 1992 began a plateau, in which women's representation inched higher, taking 18 years to reach the current level of 17 percent.

"It's been a very slow growth of women in Congress, flat-lining at the state level," said Walsh.

Once women announce their candidacies the project will help them take the next step by connecting them with training and leadership programs, fundraising networks and political support organizations across the political spectrum.

"We don't endorse candidates, we don't give them money. We connect them to available resources," said Walsh.

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Colleen Flaherty is a Women's eNews editorial intern and journalism major at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

For more information:

The 2012 Project:
http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/education_training/2012Project/index.php

Research for the 2012 Project was based on "Poised to Run," a study by the Center for American Women and Politics:
http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/research/reports/PoisedtoRun.pdf

Center for American Women in Politics:
http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/