The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.

Considering the number of women running for office at the national level, this could be a big election year for women. Pundits are already asking if 2012 is “The Year of the Women”.  The Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) reports women currently running for office at the national level include:

Senate:

• 34 women are considered candidates in 23 states
• 7 are incumbents
• 14 are running for open seats
• 13 are challengers

House of Representatives:

• 68 incumbents are expected to run for re-election
• 70 women are running in 45 districts with seats open
• 101 are running as challengers

Although women represent just over fifty-one percent of this country’s population, we are severely underrepresented in our government. As Linda Anselmi pointed out, women are only 16% of federal office holders in this country. The numbers listed above are still nowhere near fifty-one percent, especially factoring in that a number of these women are running against each other.

Some of the greatest steps toward empowering women and improving our lives have come from women in politics. Lately, however, women have been notably absent from a lot of important meetings in Washington, including meetings on the economy and the debt ceiling. Given how much of our nation’s purchasing power and control over family finances belong to women, that’s unacceptable. The women below proved long ago that women deserve a place at the meeting table on all issues, especially economics.

Martha Wright Griffiths (D-MI) was a representative who worked to have sex discrimination added to the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). She was responsible for the full Congress hearing the Equal Rights Amendment, securing the final votes necessary for its passage by Congress (it still needs to be ratified by three states). She was the first woman to serve on the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Deborah D. Pryce (R-OH) authored the Child Abuse Enforcement and Prevention Act (1999), the Afghan Women and Children Relief Act (2001), and the Patient Navigator, Outreach, and Chronic Disease Prevention Act (2005). She served on the Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs Committee and Government Operations Committee until leaving for the Rules Committee. She went on to become a fourth-ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, where she Chaired the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology. Her bio at Women in Congress informs us she wrote “key provisions of laws to modernize the nation’s financial services industry and sponsored legislation to protect consumers’ personal and financial information.”

Bella Abzug (D-NY) authored or co-authored the following: Title IX, the Freedom of Information Act, and the first law to ban discriminating against women trying to obtain credit in their own names. Her campaign slogan was

“A woman’s place is in the House – the House of Representatives!”

Representatives Griffiths, Pryce, and Abzug are only three of the many women who have positively impacted the lives of millions of women in this country. They are women who served on committees and/or wrote legislation directly affecting our nation’s economy for the better.

It is crucial to get involved in the effort to have greater representation for women. Find out who is running and what they stand for. Find a Political Action Committee (PAC) and get involved. A report at CAWP shows that every year since 1986 more women have cast votes than men, but only sixty percent of us are heading to the polls. Encourage women to get to the voting booths or mail in their ballots; let’s see how much higher than a sixty percent voter turnout we can get. Contact your current elected officials and ask what they are doing for women. Remind them that, as Optixmom said, “Every Issue is a Woman’s Issue” (emphasis added). Tell them that what is good for women is good for everyone. Demand better representation at the table in these meetings. Above all, VOTE!

The Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics is one resource for learning about women running for election at every level. Also included on the CAWP home page is a link to a national and state-by-state contact list of Women’s Political Action Committees (PACs) and Donor Networks. Another resource to consider is Project Vote Smart. This website provides information on all individuals currently in office at all levels, from Presidential down to local. It includes biographies, issue positions, and voting records. You can also find information on campaign finances, as well as interest group ratings.

Having a lower number of women in Congress is certainly no excuse for the lack of representation in key meetings. But imagine what those meetings could look like if the percentage of women in positions of leadership more closely matched the actual percentage of female constituents!

Here is a classic Bella Abzug moment from the Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University:

Classic story of women making a difference:
At a 1983 CAWP National Forum for Women State Legislators, Congresswoman Bella Abzug was a featured speaker.

Strolling through the hotel courtyard, she found American Express filming Forum participants in mock commercials using the company’s signature question, “Do you know me?”

Abzug sat down and created her own unforgettable “Do you know me” ad.