Warriors or Worrisome: A Look at Minority Women Entering The Political Landscape
Since Representative Patsy Mink of Hawaii won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964, a mere total of 39 women of color have served in the U.S. Congress. Three-quarters, roughly (30) of these women were elected after 1990 with Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois (1993–1999), as the first and only African American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.
A breakdown of these numbers shows that the 1968 election of Shirley Chisholm of New York was followed by 25 African American women. Whereas since the first Hispanic American woman, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida was elected twenty years later to Congress in 1989, six other Hispanic American women have served. And the precedence begun by Congresswoman Mink has vetted only four other women of Asian Pacific American decent through the corridors of the U.S. Legislature.
Julie Turner, second chair of the Ways and Means for The Virginia Democratic Women’s Caucus, contends that part of the reason for such a low number of minority females running for office stems from various Democratic Women’s organizations just not gaining traction with women of color. “(For) those who have worked in the trenches – wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could enhance [the potential minority candidate’s] skills and get her to run?”
Far too often,” Turner vented “a lack of fund raising services, well-sculpted political positions and public speaking skills prevent these women – African American and Latinos – from running. They don’t step up because they think they don’t have [appropriate] skills.”
With this in mind, starting in 2009 (through a scholarship program) Turner said the VDWC began actively canvassing rural and underprivileged areas to locate women of color and other female community activists to bring them into the democratic cactus. “We assess their skills, see what positions will be available in their area and provide the appropriate training needed for them to pursue and win [an office],” Turner said.
Running a successful political campaign – which does not always entail winning –requires money, so a candidate’s message does not vanish into thin air. Now more than ever, a candidate must be skilled in political nuances. Such training can cost up to $20,000 for a single program.
Unfortunately, the oldest Democratic organizations geared toward getting women into political office are less than ten years old and rely on independent fund raising efforts. Statistics show time and again that women are critical to the advancement of democracy. A higher level of female officials have resulted in the creation of more women-friendly policies in the areas of health care, child welfare, domestic violence, child support, unemployment benefits and education, according to research from the Center for Women’s Policy Studies.
Women have a more collaborative and harmonious work style and have a positive impact on public policy. Furthermore, the organization states that the impact of women on the legislative agenda “in a nutshell, is very strong.” “I think that sometimes, as women, we are our worse enemy because we don’t leave that ladder down. We pull it up instead of helping the next woman who comes along”, Turner said. “Instead of closing the door – we must leave it open,” Turner added. “We are so much stronger and we shine brighter when we do this together.”
