(photo: Yotophoto.com)
Many of us have questions about the role of women in the recent election. A news article from Courant.com answered several issues about which I had been curious. Here are a few items: Women are no longer convinced that Republicans can keep us safe. The high level of Republican corruption moved women the other way. And the votes of single women really made a difference because of their perception that important domestic needs went unmet because of the cost of the war. To quote further from the article, (Soccer moms)
became anti-war moms. . . The number of women will increase, too. The Senate will add two women, Democrats Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Claire McCaskill of Missouri, for a total of 16 - 11 Democrats and five Republicans. The House will have about 70 women, and about two-thirds are expected to be Democrats. . . Democratic pollster Celinda Lake maintained Monday that women made the difference in three key Senate races that gave the party its 51-49 majority.
In Virginia, novelist James Webb beat incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen by 10 points among women, while Allen topped Webb by 10 points among men. There were also "gender gaps" in Missouri and in Montana, where Democrat Jon Tester beat incumbent GOP Sen. Conrad Burns.
All three new Democrats, though, are considered moderate to conservative.
If there is a clear Election Day message from women, independent analysts said, it's that they want Congress to stop the partisan warfare, show some concern for constituents and act.
Women will likely take leadership positions in both houses of congress. Hartford Courant (11/14/06) "Women's Voices Carried"
Women were a key reason that Democrats will control Congress next year - and their message was that lawmakers should stop bickering and deal with the Iraq war and economic issues, analysts said Monday. . .There's another storyline involving women from last week's results: The election moved more women than ever into positions to assume significant power in Washington. . .
They include several California women: Rep. Nancy Pelosi for House Speaker, Sen. Diane Feinstein for Chair of the Rules Committee, Sen. Barbara Boxer for Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro for co-chair of the Dem's Steering and Policy Committee. The House Rules Committee will probably be chaired by Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.
More on the Pelosi story: On 11/13/06, there was a interesting Washington Post story about soon-to-be House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, by Jonathan Weisman. Quoting from it,
The unexpected move signaled the sizable value Pelosi gives to personal loyalty and personality preferences. Hoyer competed with her in 2001 for the post of House minority whip, while Murtha managed her winning campaign. Pelosi has also all but decided she will not name the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) to chair that panel next year, a decision pregnant with personal animus.Pelosi had been outspoken about her frustration with Murtha's declaration that he would challenge Hoyer, currently the House minority whip, for the majority leader post long before Democrats had secured the majority. Many believed she would remain on the sidelines, just as Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) did earlier this year when three Republicans vied for the post of House majority leader.
But in her first real decision as the incoming speaker, Pelosi said she was swayed by Murtha's early stance for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Her letter of endorsement yesterday made clear that she sees Iraq as the central issue of the next Congress and that she believes a decorated Marine combat veteran at the helm of the House caucus would provide Democrats ammunition in their fight against congressional Republicans and President Bush on the issue.
From C-SPAN: I have linked to a video of an excellent informative presentation by the Nat'l Council of Women's Organizations on Women in Politics. Details: National Council of Women's Organizations releases a poll on the voting patterns of women and on women candidates. Speakers include: Denise Baer, Strategic Research Concepts, President; Kim Gandy, National Organization for Women, President; and others. 11/13/2006: WASHINGTON, DC: 1 hr. 4 min.
New York Times' Maureen Dowd at her best: MoDo pulled no punches, as usual, in her (11/11/06) piece entitled, "Drapes of Wrath." To quote,
This will be known as the year macho politics failed — mainly because it was macho politics by marshmallow men. Voters were sick of phony swaggering, blustering and bellicosity, absent competency and accountability. They were ready to trade in the deadbeat Daddy party for the sheltering Mommy party.
All the conservative sneering about a fem-lib from San Francisco who was measuring the drapes for the speaker’s office didn’t work. Americans wanted new drapes, and an Armani granny with a whip in charge.
A recent study found that the testosterone of American men has been dropping for 20 years, but in Republican Washington, it was running amok, and not in a good way. Men who had refused to go to an untenable war themselves were now refusing to find an end to another untenable war that they had recklessly started.
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My “dreams and dreaming” post today at Good Second Mondays is about searching.
2 comments:
great post - i wonder if you think nancy pelosi will run up against difficulty/sexism as the first woman speaker...
Thanks. Yes, I feel confident that she will. Much of it will be done unconsciously, however, as so many people do not understand why something is "sexist." It is subtle and pervasive.
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