THE VALUE OF SUPPORTING FEMALE CANDIDATES

You’ve heard the numbers. Despite being more than half the population, women still comprise only 19.4% of Congress, according to a 2017 Pew Research Survey. What does that mean? It means we don’t have enough seats at the table to express our views on key issues like healthcare, guns, education, environment, and voting rights.

WITHOUT DIVERSITY OF LEADERSHIP, WE LACK DIVERSITY OF THOUGHT. AND WE LACK POWER.

You’ve heard this too: “So I should be supporting her just because she’s a woman?”  Nope. Supporting female candidates does not mean casting an automatic vote just because they're women. In fact, that’s detrimental to actually making progress. It does mean taking the time to get to know her platform, understand why she’s running, and hearing her story and her motivations.

We are battling a system already stacked against women through sheer numbers. We are trying to achieve representation while being underrepresented. We are working to get the US from being 76th in the world in equal representation of gender in political ambition to be more competitive. We are fighting for our voices to be heard.

Amplify your voice. The organizations below are some of the many who provide training, expertise and contacts for women considering running for office, and also for women who want to support other women candidates and / or work on a campaign, or become a community organizer or community activist.

SHE SHOULD RUN

Dedicated to dramatically increasing the number of women in public leadership by eliminating barriers to success. Their goal is to acheive gender parity among America's elected officials by the year 2030.  That involves galvinating women to fill  250,000 of the nation's roughly 500,000 elected positions.  

WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN SCHOOL - YALE UNIVERSITY

The Women’s Campaign School at Yale has one mission: increase the number and influence of women in elected and appointed office in the United States and around the globe. It is a nonpartisan, issue-neutral political campaign-training program, with a five-day workshop, first held in 1994. Kirsten Gillibrand was an attendee.

VOTE RUN LEAD

Trains female candidates specifically for local and state-level offices.  It is a training powerhouse for women looking to run for local and state office. 

HIGHER HEIGHTS

Founded in 2011 to harness the power of black women as voters, organizers, and candidates.  Investing in a strategy to expand and support the Black women’s leadership pipeline at all levels and strengthen their civic participation leading up to and beyond Election Day.

EMILY'S LIST

A PAC supporting Democratic pro-choice female candidates since 1985.  Join the fight for women's healthcares, equal pay, paid leave and other issues affecting women andd families in our country

WOMEN ORGANIZE MICHIGAN

Women Organize Michigan organizes local Michigan summits dedicated to addressing progressive causes that matter most to women and which are accessible, inclusive and supportive to all. Each speaker will have an ask that is something tangible you can do to help the causes you care about.