Is 2006 Another 'Year of the Woman'?

[Demeter]

Is 2006 Another 'Year of the Woman'?

By Allison Fine, TomPaine.com

Posted on November 6, 2006, Printed on November 6, 2006

http://www.alternet.org/story/43927/


Given the ongoing barriers to women running for and winning federal elections, what makes the Year of the Woman 2.0, different from the 1.0 version 14 years ago? Support for women candidates has increased dramatically in scope and volume over the past 10 years. Candidates can get high-quality training, networks of donors and mentors through organizations like Emily's List at the national level and Emerge America! at the local and state level. But something else is going on as well. The advent of the Connected Age and social media are providing women with opportunity and advantage that gives Year of the Woman 2.0 a new dimension.



Three characteristics of social media benefit women candidates especially. According to the Pew Internet and American Project, women are avid e-mail users:....Women are more likely than men to use e-mail to write to friends and family about a variety of topics: sharing news and worries, planning events, forwarding jokes and funny stories . . . And women include a wider range of topics and activities in their personal e-mails....Combine the way that women use e-mail with the fact that -- according to the 2002 National Study on the Changing Workforce -- women's combined work and life responsibilities take up a greater percentage of their overall day than that of men and the use of social media to provide easy and fast ways to participate in the political system becomes critically important to their involvement. Social media allow for participation by women volunteers in the time and space of the volunteers' choosing. Midlife women -- those who are more likely to vote for women candidates -- are often juggling careers, marriages, children and, with any room left, hobbies and volunteer efforts. Squeezing in political volunteering would not be possible if it demanded going to a campaign headquarters to stuff envelopes or make calls. However, participating online a few minutes a day, maybe at midnight or 6 in the morning, is possible....Much has been made of the possibility of powering elections by small-dollar online contributions. Not as much attention has been paid to using social media to decrease campaign costs. According to Susan J. Carroll, a senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, "there is no doubt that fundraising is a psychological deterrent for women. Women are unlikely to be hooked into big money networks, and a lot of women don't want to ask for money for themselves."

Patty Berg, a member of California's state assembly, has overcome this fundraising issue by billing her website as "Patty Berg's Paperless Campaign." Patty has decided to forgo expensive mailers and yard signs in favor of a campaign that operates primarily online through friend-to-friend e-mails. Supporters are invited to join a two-way conversation about the election, blog about their ideas, fill out a survey of issue priorities and e-mail Berg their comments and questions. Berg is an incumbent, so her path is automatically easier. Nonetheless, she is making a statement for her own campaign as well as forging a new pathway for other cash-strapped but friend-rich challengers.

Finally, social media enhances and supports what many women do a lot of in their daily lives -- which is to reach out to our social networks and connect with other women. The Connected Age requires a new mindset, a shucking of the layers of mistrust, closed doors and secretiveness. Participating in open, growing social networks is the pathway to knowledge and strong, resilient relationships. Who has been doing this on land, for centuries, but women? Women can move their connectedness online and organize and mobilize countless of women for causes that reflect what we most value in life, developing trusting relationships.
.....

Social media enables political outsiders -- male and female -- to level the political playing field. An increased number of competitive races where incumbents are tested and challenged by outsiders -- regardless of gender -- is a good thing for our democracy. But the promise of providing greater access for women candidates, more volunteer opportunities that fit into the busy lives of working women with children and issues of good government that resonate with women candidates and supporters can only be a net gain for women.

Allison Fine is the author of Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age.


View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/43927/

[rodeodance]

1. maybe

[Dob Bole]

2. One more overlooked tidbit: On Wednesday, the most powerful person in our government will be a woman

provided that Nancy Pelosi is the next Speaker of the House.