Wanted: More Women in Government Leadership
America and Mississippi need more women leaders in government. Why? The main reason we need more women is that women comprise at least half of the best and brightest our country has to offer. To deny ourselves the talent and ability of half the population in a democratic society makes no sense.
High school graduations are happening all over the country, and women comprise many valedictorians and salutatorians. Surely, that pool of young women contains many potential leaders who can help our communities, our states and our nation.
But many will not run for office unless they are asked. Men are more likely to look in the mirror and see a future senator. Research from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University shows that women more often need to be asked to run.
That’s why the Stennis Center for Public Service has partnered with Mississippi University for Women to offer Mississippi N.E.W Leadership, a national bipartisan program established at Rutgers to educate college women about the political process and teach them to become effective leaders. All this week, college women from throughout Mississippi will be at MUW to hear from women leaders in our state about the challenges and rewards of leadership in public service.
The point is not to teach them or anyone else to vote for women because they are women. Many women I know would not vote for either Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton for various reasons. The point is that we need more women candidates from both political parties at the local, state and federal levels to make sure that we as a nation are tapping into our top talent.
Women are underrepresented in America and in Mississippi in the halls of government. The U.S. is 84th on the world rankings of women in government. Women make up only 18.5 percent of our Congress. Not only are we behind our neighbors Mexico and Canada, but we are also behind countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
A record 20 women serve in the U.S. Senate, but that’s only one in five. There are 79 women in the U.S. House of Representatives (out of 435). These numbers represent great progress in the last few decades, but not nearly enough.
Mississippi is one of four states, and the only Southern state, that has never sent a woman to either the U.S. Senate or the U.S. House. The others are Delaware, Iowa and Vermont. Since statehood in 1817, we have had no women governors, no women as speaker of the house, no female congressmen or U.S. senators. We have also been stuck in or near 50th place for decades thanks, among other things, to many poor political decisions. Hmmm. Wonder what we could do differently.
Only 8 of our 52 state senators are women. Only 22 of our 122 state representatives are women. Surprisingly, with these paltry numbers (17.2 percent), Mississippi ranks 39th, but we are only one election away from dropping back into the bottom ten states.
To reiterate, the point is not to increase women just to help women. All men, women and children benefit in a democracy when those who are most capable have a seat at the table where important decisions are made that affect the public. Right now, not enough women have a seat at that table. We have come a long way, but these numbers show that we still have a long way to go.
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News and works at the Stennis Center for Public Service.
High school graduations are happening all over the country, and women comprise many valedictorians and salutatorians. Surely, that pool of young women contains many potential leaders who can help our communities, our states and our nation.
But many will not run for office unless they are asked. Men are more likely to look in the mirror and see a future senator. Research from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University shows that women more often need to be asked to run.
That’s why the Stennis Center for Public Service has partnered with Mississippi University for Women to offer Mississippi N.E.W Leadership, a national bipartisan program established at Rutgers to educate college women about the political process and teach them to become effective leaders. All this week, college women from throughout Mississippi will be at MUW to hear from women leaders in our state about the challenges and rewards of leadership in public service.
The point is not to teach them or anyone else to vote for women because they are women. Many women I know would not vote for either Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton for various reasons. The point is that we need more women candidates from both political parties at the local, state and federal levels to make sure that we as a nation are tapping into our top talent.
Women are underrepresented in America and in Mississippi in the halls of government. The U.S. is 84th on the world rankings of women in government. Women make up only 18.5 percent of our Congress. Not only are we behind our neighbors Mexico and Canada, but we are also behind countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
A record 20 women serve in the U.S. Senate, but that’s only one in five. There are 79 women in the U.S. House of Representatives (out of 435). These numbers represent great progress in the last few decades, but not nearly enough.
Mississippi is one of four states, and the only Southern state, that has never sent a woman to either the U.S. Senate or the U.S. House. The others are Delaware, Iowa and Vermont. Since statehood in 1817, we have had no women governors, no women as speaker of the house, no female congressmen or U.S. senators. We have also been stuck in or near 50th place for decades thanks, among other things, to many poor political decisions. Hmmm. Wonder what we could do differently.
Only 8 of our 52 state senators are women. Only 22 of our 122 state representatives are women. Surprisingly, with these paltry numbers (17.2 percent), Mississippi ranks 39th, but we are only one election away from dropping back into the bottom ten states.
To reiterate, the point is not to increase women just to help women. All men, women and children benefit in a democracy when those who are most capable have a seat at the table where important decisions are made that affect the public. Right now, not enough women have a seat at that table. We have come a long way, but these numbers show that we still have a long way to go.
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News and works at the Stennis Center for Public Service.