by H. Fields Grenee
Statistically, a woman has to be asked seven different times to run for a political office before she will seriously consider throwing her hat into the ring – seven different times.
When the average women pursues a political office; be it a local school board, county elected position, statewide or national office – they tend to do so after there children are grown. Whereas men, because they have assistance with family obligations, tend to just wake up one morning and decide they are ready.
“When women have to be asked multiple times to run for a position, it takes on the equivalent of being drafted,” stated Malia Cohen, an African American candidate for the District 10, San Francisco Board of Supervisors; a position similar to a county board and regional aldermanic member. “Women do not self select to run for office whereas men do. We still have challenges with breaking into the old boy network,” said Cohen, who as a single female is bucking the trend by applying for her first office while still in her early thirties.
Hopefully groups like Emerge California (part of Emerge America) and its affiliates are sculpting more diversity into the existing political landscape. Emerge California; a political training program from which Cohen graduated, is nationally recognized for its commitment to honing the skills of Democratic women to pursue and achieve political office.
Founded in 2002, Emerge California is among the oldest female-specific political training programs in the country (including those funded by the DNP). It also represents the only successfully duplicated training model nationwide. By focusing on a long term investment in its graduates, Emerge California’s seven month training program develops applicants’ political and media skills, expands their knowledge of local issues, connects them with mentors, and provides them with savvy fund-raising experience.
As a single woman who has never run for office, Cohen feels the Emerge California training program provided her candidacy with creditability. “(Emerge) laid the foundation for a solid base to fundraise from and provided a network of politically savvy, engaged women to brainstorm and structure ideas,” Cohen explained.
Despite Emerge America’s advances during the past eight years, the perception that men have more credibility then women when running for a political office still exists. A belief that often leads to campaign contributors holding back funding based on the bias – if she is here, then who’s taking care of her children – a thought that bears no consideration when men run for office. The breath of this unspoken bias now really lays siege when you contemplate the staggeringly low number of minority women who have achieved a national political office.
