March 1, 2017
NEWS & NOTES
A newsletter to keep you informed about all things women and politics from the Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University.
Help us encourage women leaders in public office to participate in Teach a Girl to LeadTM
To celebrate Women's History Month, CAWP has just shipped this year's Teach a Girl to Lead TM book, 
If I Were President, to almost 2,000 women elected officials across America! For the second year, Teach a Girl to LeadTM reached out to every woman state legislator, member of Congress and governor across 50 states and asked them to visit a local elementary school, read the provided book, and then donate it to the school library. Last year, hundreds of elected women participated. This year we're building on that momentum. Kids can't be what they can't see. Let's make sure they see women in public office in the classroom.
We've launched a Thunderclap to spread the word.  If enough supporters sign on, it will send out a message from all of us at the same time on March 1, to mark the beginning of Women's History Month.  Click here to lend your voice and raise awareness about Teach a Girl to LeadTM! Thanks so much for your help.
Experience Evening Joy
MSNBC's Joy Reid, host of AM Joy , delivers this year's Senator Wynona Lipman Lecture, Truth and Consequences: What We Know and Why it Matters. The program is Tuesday, April 4 at 7:00 pm in Trayes Hall, Douglass Campus Center, New Brunswick. It's free and open to the public, but RSVP is required; you can register here.
Listen to Lopate
 
CAWP director Debbie Walsh discussed women's political participation with WNYC's Leonard Lopate, along with Andrea Dew Steele, founder of Emerge America. Listen to the show here.  
 
Women in Election 2016: Winning Requires Running
 
CAWP scholar Kelly Dittmar takes a "Closer Look" at Election 2016 and finds that "there appears to be no consistent gender disparity in candidate win rates; the real gender disparities exist in the proportions of women and men running at each phase of the electoral process. These conclusions are consistent across party, though the dearth of women candidates is particularly acute in the Republican party." Read her full analysis here .
 
Please help us continue our important work!
  
More Motivated Women
The media continue to report on women, motivated by Election 2016, who are gearing up to run themselves. Marie Claire  has a general look at the topic, while The Seattle Times  focuses on women of color and The Boston Globe  highlights  Massachusetts women.
 
Great Political Women, Past and Present
KCUR public radio  in Kansas reports comments from former Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-KS), while the Women's Media Center  offers a feature on the late Dorothy Height, best known as the longtime leader of the National Council of Negro Women, but also someone who "wore many hats." And Elle is highlighting women who have run and won; this week, it's Illinois comptroller Susana Mendoza.
How Fast Can You Read this Article?
A psychologist and an economist, writing in The New York Times , describe research examining why women resist competition. They found that women like to compete -- not against others, but against themselves and their own past performance. Might this finding speak to the prospects for women as potential candidates?

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