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The League of Women Voters of California

50/50 by 2020

Every major political or social movement needs a slogan. The suffragists, foremothers of the League of Women Voters, had a slogan that energized them: VOTES FOR WOMEN. Those three powerful words stated their clear goal, a goal they achieved when the 19th Amendment was ratified on August 26, 1920. Implicit in the right to vote was the expectation-as yet unfulfilled -- of women's political equality.

I propose to you that we finish the work begun by the suffragists; that we use our votes to elect women to office until we reach the point where we are fully represented as 50% of Congress and 50% of State Legislatures; that we set the year 2020, the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, as our target date for complete success. And that we rally around a slogan that states our goal clearly: "50/50 by 2020."

Why is political equality important? Because without it, all the laws that are enacted, all the decisions on how money is spent, are made with minimal consideration of women's views.

Winning the right to vote did not assure political equality. What it did was give women the right to run for office and the means to achieve equality. We're not there yet. We won't "be" there until we are equally represented in Congress, state legislatures and local legislative bodies. We won't 'be' there until we have an equal hand in MAKING the laws, not just in lobbying for laws that men make. Why is political equality important? Because without it, all the laws that are enacted, all the decisions on how money is spent, are made with minimal consideration of women's views.

Right now men hold 88% of the seats in Congress and 78% of the seats in state legislatures. What's missing in legislatures now is women's perspective. It's a perspective that must be taken into full account if we are to have a truly representative government. In every presidential election since 1980, the gender gap has shown how differently men and women view the candidates. We also view issues differently. Women who hold elective office are not clones of their male counterparts.

A study of the 103rd Congress, which includes those women elected in what we called The Year of the Woman, was done by the Center for Women and Politics at Rutgers. The conclusion was that when voters sent a record number of women to Congress, Congress changed. "With their voices, their views, and their votes, women members ... had a significant impact on public policies..." Before bills got to the floor, women "acted to shape the content of legislation, to build support for bills and to create a political climate in which their demands for change could not be ignored." They were more likely to look at legislation with the needs of women, children and families in mind. Researchers identified a number of high-profile votes on issues where women members of Congress voted differently from male colleagues of their own parties, on issues like Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances, the Brady Bill, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and reauthorizing the National Institutes of Health.

The League's task in embracing 50/50 by 2020 is:

• to raise public awareness of the importance of equal representation for women (I'd like to see a 50/50 button on all elected women and ask them to wear it on Women's Equality Day, August 26, 1999.) to help young women see themselves as future leaders through programs like "Running & Winning";

• to persuade older women that they don't have to lick stamps and walk precincts forever; that their party owes them a chance to be candidates, too.

• to persuade individual voters to search their ballots for women whose views they share, even if it means crossing party lines when voting.

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