May 24, 2016
NEWS & NOTES
A newsletter to keep you informed about all things women and politics from the Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University.

The nominee is a she
It's official: for the first time, a woman is a major party's presumptive presidential nominee. Amy Chozick's New York Times piece describes Hillary Clinton's path to this moment (and includes video of Clinton's victory speech). Clinton's historic accomplishment is set in context on CAWP's fact sheet, Women Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates: A Selected List . And to follow this historic election through a gender lens - not just because there's a woman candidate, but because gender is at play throughout the process - visit Presidential Gender Watch 2016 and follow PGW on Facebook and Twitter .

Sign up and speak up - but do it now!
Public speaking - it's the #1 essential leadership skill! Want to deliver your message more powerfully and identify your own authentic style? Then sign up today - while space is still available -- for Public Speaking: Effective Presentation and Communications with presenter Karla Jackson-Brewer, who'll share secrets of verbal and nonverbal communication that will help you capture and maintain your audience's interest. She'll also give you practice tips and specific strategies for dealing with speech anxiety. 

Tis the season - for NEW Leadership™
As CAWP kicks off NEW Leadership™ New Jersey this week, our partner programs around the country are doing their part to educate college students about how and why to get political. Thanks to support from the Women's Funding Alliance, Washington State University just completed its first program after a hiatus of several years with resounding success. Keynoter State Senator Linda Evans Parlette exhorted the students to find their places in leadership, and they met remarkable women in Spokane, including Council Member Candace Mumm, one of four women who make up a majority of the City Council, and Judge Aimee Maurer, who talked about streamlining criminal justice processes and encouraging racial equity. For a student action project focusing on education reform, five students made up a press corps interrogating advocates, complete with "microphones" from their media outlets. 
Spring is a time of renewal, bringing new challenges and opportunities for women's leadership. Please renew your support of CAWP's work with a gift of $25 or more.
She paved the way
The Nation reminds us of Shirley Chisholm's pioneering presidential bid in 1972 and how it set the course for a new kind of politics, including this year's campaign.
 
This year's mom-voters
Seems like a different set of moms is targeted in every presidential year. This year, according to an analysis by Professor Melissa Deckman on Presidential Gender Watch 2016, it's "security moms," reprising the 2004 Bush playbook.

Republican women's dilemma
What to do if you're a loyal Republican woman troubled by your party's presumptive presidential nominee? Michelle Cottle discusses the problem in The Atlantic.

Outrages galore
In an opinion piece on NOLA (the New Orleans Times Picayune online) Jarvis DeBerry laments the "frat house culture" evident in the Louisiana state legislature, which ranks 45 th out of the 50 states for its proportion of women.  Andrea Dew Steele, in a blog post in HuffPost Politics, questions the demonization of political women, using the example of Congresswoman and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Mother Jones tells us that even women on the US Supreme Court experience frequent interruptions from their male colleagues. And Pakistani women turned to social media, using #trybeatingmelightly  to express their fury at a proposal to make wife-beating legal, as reported in Mashable.

Meet the expert - CAWP's Susan Carroll
NJ Spotlight focuses on CAWP senior scholar Susan Carroll, a professor of political science at Rutgers and one of the nation's foremost experts on women's political participation.  
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