November 18, 2014

CAWP NEWS & NOTES

A newsletter to keep you informed about all things women and politics from the Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University

103 and Still Counting for 2015...

Two elections involving women candidates remain undecided: the U.S. Senate race in Louisiana, where Senator Mary Landrieu faces a runoff on December 6 against Congressman Bill Cassidy, and the House race in Arizona, where challenger Martha McSally is leading Congressman Ron Barber in a contest that has gone into recount. But with all other races decided, see CAWP's updated post-election press release.

In Fact, We're Already at 100

Alma Adams (D-NC)

With the swearing-in last week of special election winner Alma Adams (D-NC), we already have 100 women in Congress, hitting three figures for the first time ever. That's 20 women in the Senate (16D, 4R) and 80 in the House (61D, 19R) for the remainder of 2014. Details are in CAWP's updated Women in Congress fact sheet. The arrival of Rep. Adams, who is African American, also boosts the number of women of color in Congress to 31; see our updated Women of Color in Elective Office fact sheet.

A First for NJ - and a Farewell

Bonnie Watson Coleman
(D-NJ)

Bonnie Watson Coleman will be the first African American woman in New Jersey's congressional delegation - not to mention the first woman in New Jersey's congressional delegation since the 2003 retirement of trailblazer Marge Roukema. Roukema, who served from 1981-2003, was among a small contingent of moderate Northeastern Republican women who worked across the aisle to promote important legislation for women and families, most notably the Family and Medical Leave Act. Read nj.com's take on Watson Coleman and on Roukema.

Marge Roukema (R-NJ)

"I didn't really want to be stereotyped as the woman legislator...I wanted to deal with things like banking and finance. But I learned very quickly that if the women like me in Congress were not going to attend to some of these family concerns, whether it was jobs or children, pension equality or whatever, then they weren't ever going to be attended to. So I quickly shed those biases that I had and said, 'Well, nobody else is going to do it: I'm going to do it.'"

Congresswoman Marge Roukema (R-NJ)

September 19, 1929 - November 12, 2014

Kids Should Know

So many impressive women have been elected to the U.S. House and Senate, but do young people know their stories? Can girls imagine themselves following in those footsteps? Teach a Girl to Lead™ offers lessons for kids from K-college about women in Congress. Tell a teacher!

So These 100+ Women Walked into a Congress...

A variety of takes on the election results for women:

From CAWP's own footnotes¹ blog

From Senator Patty Murray on KING5 in Washington

From Washington Post TV

From Gail Collins in The New York Times

From The New York Times

From The Washington Post

Too Old to Lead?

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi had a ready response, reported by CBS News, when asked whether she might want to step down from leadership and let someone younger take over.

Like We've Been Saying...

Nicola Gutgold in the Allentown Morning Call says girls need to see political women as role models. (That's why we've created Teach a Girl to Lead™!)

Jeannette Rankin's State Gets Another Woman Leader

The state that brought you the first woman in Congress now brings you a female Senate president, according to Helena's Independent Record.

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Center for American Women and Politics

Eagleton Institute of Politics

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