{"id":1306,"date":"2017-08-28T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T12:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/annelitwin.com\/?p=1306"},"modified":"2017-08-28T08:00:21","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T12:00:21","slug":"good-news-women-getting-involved-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/good-news-women-getting-involved-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Good News: Women Are Getting Involved in Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tHere is a piece of good news for all of us: women\u2019s involvement in politics is skyrocketing.\u00a0 The ways to get involved are endless, including petitioning Congress, attending meetings and rallies for causes you support, holding elected officials accountable for their votes, registering voters, and running for office.\u00a0 Running for office can include running for school board, town council, state legislature, governor, or US Congress.\u00a0 Gail Collins<\/a> of the New York Times<\/em> writes that \u201cgroups that help prepare women to run for office are reporting an unprecedented number of website visits, training-school sign-ups and meeting attendance.\u201d\nWhy is it good news for all of us that women are preparing to run for office?\u00a0 Studies show that women, as a group, are better at working with others.\u00a0 Collins points out that female senators in Washington have regular bipartisan dinners, while I have observed that the men, even those in the same party, cannot work together or agree.\u00a0 In the recent past, women senators were able to work together, across the aisle, to move stalled legislation forward.\nBrittany Bronson<\/a> of the New York Times<\/em> mentions the state of Nevada as a case study of the positive impact for everyone when women are well represented in legislative bodies. Bronson explains that with women making up 39.7 percent of Nevada\u2019s lawmakers, the state ranks second only to Vermont in women\u2019s representation in state politics. This translates to a focus on issues important to women that are usually ignored by male legislators, such as family-friendly policies in the workplace, the gender wage gap, and the \u201cpink tax\u201d\u2014the extra amount women are charged for feminine hygiene products. The female legislators of Nevada have also sponsored legislation supporting the Equal Rights Amendment and eliminating copays for contraception.\nCollins notes that if more women get into office, \u201cit\u2019ll be about time.\u201d\u00a0 She explains:\n\n\n