Recruiting Women for Office: Why Is it Still Necessary? | 100 Years After Women's Suffrage

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for joining us today. My name is Mallory Benedict. I'm a photo editor at National Geographic, and I worked on the suffrage story tied to the anniversary of the centennial anniversary of the suffrage movement that can be seen in the August issue of National Geographic magazine.

Um, I'm joined today to talk with these amazing panelists about why recruitment in 2020 is still necessary to get more women involved in politics and also the importance of having women included at the table when we're talking about politics.

So I'd like to start by introducing everyone. First, we have Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence representing Michigan's 14th district, and she's also the chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues. Um, Ariel Hill Davis is the policy director and a co-founder of Republican Women for Progress. And finally, Christabel Cruz is the director of New Leadership Training at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers.

Um, so thank you all for being here with us today! This is actually a very exciting day to be having this conversation. Um, with some recent news, um, I would love it if we could start by everyone introducing yourselves, saying a little bit more about the work that you do and maybe how you got involved in politics.

Um, Congresswoman, do you want to kick us off?

Yes, I would love to. Thank you so much for inviting me here today! This means so much to me. Um, I want to just give a little snapshot of my journey in politics. I started in politics as a PTA mom who was very involved in the schools and education of my children and kept getting frustrated with that board. I said I wanted that board to do some things. They said, "Well, it's elected." I said, "I want to be on that board." They said, "Well, it's elected." Oh my goodness, I know nothing about politics! And I was encouraged to run. I ran for school board and won by 12 votes, and I want you to hear that: 12 votes! So every vote matters.

And I, um, served eventually as president of the school board. When my children left, I still had that yearning to make a difference. I ran for city council, was the top vote-getter. The message that I want you to hear from that is that I built the base through the schools, through the PTAs, and through the moms. And so when I ran for city council, I was the highest vote-getter, served as president of the city council, and then it came a time when I wanted to run for mayor.

And what's so interesting about that is they had never been a woman or a person of color to ever be the mayor of the city I lived in, so I was in uncharted territory. I ran. It was a hard race, but I beat a 27-year-old white male incumbent. And so what's significant about that? Do not define yourself or limit yourself by your ethnicity, by all those things that people like to put labels on. A mayor is not partisan. It's not a Republican or Democrat; you're just running for the office.

I served 14 years as the mayor of that city and then ran for city council. I lost the first time I ran, so that's something I want you to know. Don't think every race you're going to win! And if you lose, if you still believe in it, do a better job the next time but run again. And I'm in my third term; I just won my primary. And I just want to give some bragging rights: I had a primary, and I got 93% of the vote with someone challenging me!

So I believe in working hard. Public service is honorable. It is not a time for you to get notoriety, cameras, and to become a celebrity. It's a time for you to be humble, to serve, and to protect the people who put their trust in you. Thank you so much!

Thank you, and congratulations to you also. Um, Ariel, do you want to share a little bit about what you do?

Absolutely! Um, Congresswoman, first of all, congratulations on winning your primary—that was such an impressive number! I mean, that's incredible! And I think the lessons that you just kind of imparted through your story are also things that we talk about with, um, with Republican candidates that we work for.

So, um, I'm Ariel Hill Davis, and, um, as Mallory said, I am a co-founder and director of policy for Republican Women for Progress. Um, so we came on the scene after reforming after 2016. We were Republican Women for Hillary initially, um, and really what we pivoted towards was this idea that we think, um, we need better representation and more representation in the Republican Party for women.

Um, and part of what is required to do that is building the infrastructure in the pipeline to do it. Our perspective, as I said in the article with Nat Geo, is that we're about 20 years behind where the Democratic side is, um, and we're building an external structure to support and train Republican women to run for office. Um, you know, my background is really—I come from a moderate Republican family; we talked politics around the dining room table. I came to D.C. right after college, um, and I love public policy. I'm a wonk, I'm a nerd, um, and I really just want to encourage more women across the board—particularly Republican women since we're at such deficit—to really step into, um, leadership roles and run for office, because, you know, we need women's voices, and we need Republican women's voices to come up with good public policy and policy outcomes different from what we're seeing right now.

Yeah, thank you so much for that! Um, Kristabel, do you want to share a little bit? Introduce yourself?

Sure! Um, so first of all, thank you so much for having me here today and, um again, congratulations also to Congresswoman Lawrence—that is huge! Um, and I'm just so honored to be on a panel with all of you. With you both, I think this is going to be really insightful—I'm happy to be here.

I work as the director of the new leadership program at the Center for American Women in Politics, which is a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. The center, or COP as we frequently call it, is the leading source of data and analysis on women in American politics, and we provide data and analysis, but we also transform or try to implement some of that data and analysis into training programs and education programs.

So I work with those programs specifically, especially the new leadership program. So new leadership is a state-based program that gets college women—this includes community college, four-year college women in different states. Right now, we're in 22 states, and the program that I run is in New Jersey. Um, but we get these college women interested in politics and running for office and public leadership in general, and getting political jobs, government jobs, but also in advocacy and learning more about the political process and ways to get involved and be leaders within that field.

And so we utilize this program as a way to inspire women within each state, but also connect them to the issues in their states and connect them to leaders within that state, including especially women political leaders, so they get to learn from them, meet with them, speak with them. We hold a summer institute each summer. This summer, unfortunately, we were unable to do so; it is a residential program so with what is currently going on, we couldn't, um, with the pins—I think we couldn't have the program this year—but we're looking to come back next year and, uh, stronger and maybe differently and more creatively than ever.

Um, and, uh, it's a program that's free of charge to students, so it's really an opportunity for women of all diverse backgrounds across the state, including non-traditional students—not just young women but women of all ages—to learn more in an environment where we have lots of resources to give. Um, so that's what I do now. Um, my road into politics very briefly was literally just, um, you know, growing up in a household, uh, with parents that were very cared a lot about politics just due to, um, you know, being from the Dominican Republic and dealing with, uh, U.S. colonialism and political history and, um, just getting active and getting involved. And, um, you know, they were community organizing when I was at a young age and I learned a lot from them, and, uh, I just continued on that path. I always had a passion for it, um, and I'm studying, um, to get my PhD in political science now with a focus on women in politics specifically. And that's how I ended up at COP; I'm really happy to be there doing the work that I do.

Wow! Yeah, this is an incredibly inspiring group of people! I'm so honored to be here with you all and learn more about what you do even though we've chatted before. Um, so I'd like to get started by talking about some news from yesterday. You know, I mean, this is happening at such a great time. Kamala Harris just named the, um, running mate to Joe Biden as the vice presidential candidate.

Um, you know, obviously, I probably don't need to tell this group, but how historic it is for a Black and Indian American woman to be put in this position. Um, so I'd like to start with the Congresswoman if you would kind of share your reflections on what this moment means and the significance of this.

This has been, uh, just a really, uh—during the—let's define where we are now—we are in a state of reform, cries from the street for, uh, racial, um, awareness to eliminate discrimination. This reform that the streets are crying for is a result of George Floyd, and then to have a vice president who is the nominee for the first time in the history of this republic, of this country—a woman of color to stand next to him as the vice president of the United States—for me, being a Black woman is generational pride, knowing the journey of my people to be here as a Black woman myself, feeling validated, saying, you know, yes, I've had some tremendous success in my life, but this is just so symbolic of an opportunity for the country to come together. That everyone needs a seat at a table; we're all in this together. Um, you know the saying, we may have come on different boats, but we’re all in the same house now.

Uh, she's the daughter of immigrants, and that is a powerful statement as well! So I'm very excited. I endorse Kamala Harris for president. I thought it was remarkable that in that sea of candidates for president there stood this Black woman who was qualified, who had the strength, and the tenacity to stand up and say, I want to sit in a seat that has never been held by a woman—never! You know, and I feel that I'm qualified to do that, and I was intrigued by that and supported her.

Um, if I could just give a quick overview of what we have now in Congress—there's 105 women on the U.S. House of Representatives, and I'm so glad Ariel is here because the Republican Party has not pulled their share of the weight. It's really sad. We, unfortunately, sit on different sides of the House floor, and you look over on the Republican side; it's a sea of white men. I think it is only like 13 Republican women currently, and I know some of them personally. I serve with them in the women's caucus, and we represent all the women in Congress—some tremendous women—but I can tell you they still tell me stories of having to break through the conversation to have a seat at the table because it is truly a man's world on that side of the aisle.

I'm so excited that the diversity that came in this year through the women—the first Native Americans, the um, the Muslim women—the um, women who came in from different ethnic groups—most of our diversity is coming from the women, and that says something about minority women. We have to fight so hard. I mean, it is not easy being a woman, but you put an ethnic label on us, and some of the cultural, just sexism that's built into our culture for us to stand up and fight—we're no joke! And, uh, it's just been really exciting. There are 105 women; 48 of those are women of color, which makes 46% of the women in Congress women of color. That's very powerful and worth noting.

And just, you know, put on the heels of that, that we're gonna have our first—I know the Republicans don't want her to win, but I say to have the first vice president of the United States to be a woman and to be a woman of color is just, to me, speaks volumes of where we are as a country!

Yeah, absolutely! That was so powerful and so well put. Thank you so much! Um, it’s certainly a historic moment and makes me feel a little bit emotional, especially to hear you talk about it.

Um, so thank you! And to kind of add on to the numbers that you were sharing, uh, from actually from COP today, I got a, a, an email alert that we have a lot to celebrate today. Um, in addition to Kamala Harris being named the VP candidate according to COP, yeah, we have 183 Democratic women have secured nominations for the House, and Republicans have also set a new record with 78 GOP women running for nominations in the House or with nominations for the House so far.

So with that said, women have set a new record this year for the overall major party House nominees with 261 women nominees so far! So that's about 30 more than in 2018, which was a benchmark year for women in Congress. So this is very exciting! I have chills; this is so exciting right now!

And so, Kristabel, do you want to start kind of, like, what is the significance of this right now?

Sure! I can start. Um, I just want to first send a shout-out over to our data team at COP who worked so hard to get those numbers out today and yesterday. Um, just to especially to Chelsea Hill, our Inspiration Services Manager, and Dr. Kelly Ditmar, one of our scholars who just did incredible work. These people stay up on election night and count these numbers personally and individually, and do such great work getting it out there on time, because they recognize the importance of tracking and analyzing and understanding those numbers.

These records that are being set are huge, and I think for us to understand and interpret what is currently happening in terms of women running for office, especially also thinking about the numbers—the increase in Republican women running for office, which I know Ariel will probably talk about. Um, this is part of responding, I think, to the current moment and what is currently going on—just really wanting folks in office who are willing to change the status quo, um, and do things differently but also work within a system that they have been participating in.

As Congresswoman Lawrence said, you know, she got involved in politics, you know, as a PTA mom, and that is the story of so many other women who got involved in politics. The research has shown that women often get involved because they're interested in solving issues; they're interested in representing their communities. It's not as much about accolades or merit, although that's fine too, but that they are interested in getting things done.

And at a time in which we need things done and we've seen in the last few years how, um, how downhill things can go, I think women are interested in solving some of these issues and getting to the front and getting their hands dirty and getting that work done, and that's, I think, what we're seeing.

I think what we're also seeing is the important work of organizations, um, like the one I work for, but also organizations that specifically work on recruitment. Um, so organizations like Ariel's organization, Republican Women, and also organizations across the board that work specifically to recruit women. I think especially after 2016 we saw these organizations growing more and really going into turbo mode on raising funds for women, on finding and recruiting women candidates, um, on supporting incumbents that they felt, you know, women incumbents and that they felt, um, you know, were supportive of women's issues and, um, really just just seeing, um, communities come together around candidates like this, right?

Um, so voters, uh, you know, folks who run organizations and support women specifically, and then also the candidates themselves are interested in just getting things done, um, and we know women are really great at that!

So Ariel, what do you make of these these numbers for your party?

Um, well, a couple things. Um, first of all, I'm very excited about Kamala being, um, Joe Biden's VP pick. I think it is far past time that our government looks more like our country does, um, and I'm very excited about that.

Um, on a personal level, um, in terms of the Republican side and the numbers, I think we are so excited to see as many women kind of getting into the game on our side this cycle. Um, I think in no small measure on the Republican side we've taken inspiration from the blue wave that happened in 2018 and how many powerful women on the Democratic side came out.

And I think they serve as both an inspiration for, I think, Republican women, and then also I think it spurred Republicans to say we are so excited to see all these women, but they also don't speak necessarily to how we would approach policy, um, policy issues.

Um, so it's both wanting to join them, and I think taking kind of strength in and seeing what's possible on the Democratic side, um, and then also having that desire to be better represented in our own party—um, that's really kind of pushed a lot of the numbers.

Of course, we have a lot of different organizations that also came out of, um, of 2016, quite frankly, on both sides, um, that were interested in elevating women and investing in women, um, politically a little bit more so. So, um, you know, Republican Women for Progress, we partner with a lot of other organizations and some PACs that are that have kind of come out and started supporting female candidates a little bit more.

Uh, the one thing I would say on the Republican side, which is—and not to be a downer on this because I love seeing as many women as we have right now in the field—but a lot of the women that we are actually looking at who've made it through the primaries are not going to win. And I don't think it's necessary to win on your first run. So, like, I am a big supporter of you run once; you're gonna learn so many lessons, get ready to run again if you don't win. So I by no means think that that is a negative overall, but I do think that something the Republican side, um, is particularly prone to is, uh, we set up candidates sometimes to run off a glass cliff.

Um, so at least in our work at Republican Women for Progress, I can think of two candidates off the top of my head that initially were going to run in far more competitive races that they had a much better chance in, and they were encouraged very strongly to switch into fields that were going to be more difficult for them.

Um, and the candidates that then are running in these more competitive races are kind of the hand-picked men from the party. So I would say we have a lot of work to do, um, but I think I'm so proud of all of the Republican women who have decided to, you know, use their voices and lean into this idea that they also deserve a voice, um, and a seat at the table, um, and they don't feel like they're being well represented where we are.

So, um, again, I think we gotta build that ground swell but, um, it does make me a little sad that we're looking at these big numbers, and on our side it's still going to be a small gain most likely, but, um, our job is then to support all of those women on, you know, after the race is run!

Um, you know, one thing that we try to do with all of our candidates that we work with and that we're in touch with, um, if they lose the race, I mean, if they win, give them a call and congratulate them, but you know who really needs the call? It's the women that have not won their race. And we tried to call and reach out and thank them for what they did and encourage them to like think about what they're going to do the next round.

So, um, yeah, that's kind of where we are as we look at the numbers for this cycle!

That's really helpful to know, um, and to get that insight. And to piggyback off of that, Ariel, I mean why do you think the numbers are so much lower for Republican women? What are the challenges or specific hurdles that more conservative women are facing when they're considering or haven't even thought of running for office?

Um, I see a lot of it as being an issue. Um, Republicans are very fond of saying that we don't play identity politics, right? Um, I think the problem with that is that when you look around and 90-plus percent of the party is made up of one particular demographics, that becomes your de facto identity.

Um, but the problem I think when approaching the issue then of how to run as a woman is how do you kind of lean into your experience if you don't come from a boardroom? If you don't come from a business background as a woman? If you are not allowed to talk about your experiences as a woman without being accused of playing identity politics or, you know, the woman card so to speak?

Um, so I think one of the challenges that we have is really convincing women on our side like you are going to commit problems from a different position than your male counterparts, and that is a strength! And that diversity can give you such better insight into some of the problems that we're facing as a country, I think particularly right now where we are lacking empathetic leadership on our side.

Women naturally are more attuned to that, I think. Um, and so I see just like a huge need for it and a desire for that, actually on our side, um and I think we have to figure out how to pivot for women and convince them that they have the skills and convince them that they can do the job.

Um, and I think that that cuts both ways. Um, the identity politics is very specifically as it relates to Republicans, but, um, women—the first thing that women ask usually when they are asked to run for office, and women do need to be asked to run for office most of the time—the first thing they ask is, "What is this going to do to my friends and family?" For men, the first thing that they ask is, "Can I win this race?"

And so I think that you got to figure out how to support women in making what they think is going to be the best decision for themselves. They can make it confidently and that it's not going to negatively impact the other relationships they have in their life that they're balancing.

Uh, I would like to weigh in on that. Um, when I counsel women who are contemplating and I'm encouraging them to run for office, there are a couple things you need to do. Every person wants to run off has to develop a team. You have to have a field director; you need a person to raise funds; you need a campaign manager. And for a woman, I said you need a dedicated child care person on your team because politics is not fair; it's not easy!

It is—you become literally, this is how crazy politics— you put a bull's-eye on your back and say, "Come at me!" And how you handle that bull's-eye is really how you become effective. And my children—I started in politics and school board; I was fortunate because the events I had to go to were school-oriented, so I was able to take my children.

But as I, you know, moved up in politics, the meetings and the events I went to were not kid-friendly. So it's my daughter's track meet. You know, how do I juggle going, you know, her saying, "Mom, you're not there for me!" and me fulfilling my oath of office to be at a meeting? So it is, um, I don't like to sugarcoat anything. This is not an easy life, but is it worth it? Is the rewards of helping people being part of, you know, this democracy that we enjoy in this country absolutely worth it?

But it is not easy. I was fortunate that when I got into the really demanding parts of politics, my children had graduated from school. So, you know, at that point, they don't even want to be seen with you! So, um, it worked out. The other thing I wanted to mention is the power of why we're seeing so many women.

So when I ran for office, when I did my research, 60% of the voters in the 14th district in Michigan, which is 700,000 people, 60% were women. I want you to think about that! And the statistic is across the country; the highest number of voters in America are women.

So if women actually put themselves out there and relate to other women, we can win! Nobody wants to take a man out. I mean, I have endorsed and supported men, but I am excited when I have the opportunity—Kamala Harris—to have a woman sit in a seat that normally isn't held by men.

Um, this is the 100th year—the 100th year! And August is the month where we as women—and I hate to use this term—were given the legal right to vote.

Now, just like I have a story as an African American being oppressed in this country, there were decades and centuries of women being oppressed in the political system. And so when we talk about the games that men play, some of it is so ingrained, you know? That the term we use is unconscious bias. The unconscious bias a man will be better in politics because, you know, it's the men who are the political strength of this country. Well, the reality is we were building those men because women historically have been the foundation and the base for building an infrastructure for a campaign for a man.

And after we got the right to vote, that's when you saw the numbers of women start to increase. And then 2016 was just amazing! And it seems like my Republicans—I had a couple of the Republican women say, "What do you do? How did you do this?" And developing organizations like I was supported by Emily's List. Emily's List is a phenomenal institution that raises money, supports, teaches women how to win political offices.

And I, and I'mma yield back with this one statement: One of the lifelines or the mother milk of politics is raising money. What are we taught as women? You don’t ask anyone for money; you don’t beg for money. Well, donald gunn is a politician—you beg, you ask, you plead, you get the money because you cannot run successfully for an office without money. I don't like it; I wish we would put a cap on how much money you can raise in America because I think it is so out of control and it just has too much influence on our political system.

But the reality today is that you have to raise money, and for women, I know culturally I was told—my grandmother taught me, you do the hard work, you do the work and you’ll be recognized. Well, that's not a reality. You gotta learn how to brag on yourself. You gotta stand in front of a camera and say, "I am the best! Vote for me! I'm better than anything you've ever seen, and I'm gonna change the world, and this is what I have done!"

And I've done this! And someone told me yesterday I was brilliant. The men do it every day, but women we're just not trained to do that! And so it's a new day!

Um, you know, Shirley Chisholm—I stand on her shoulder. She was the first Black woman elected to Congress, and I hope that my shoulders stay strong. I'm working on it so that I can have generations of women stand on my shoulders to run in the future!

Yeah, that's, it's so inspiring! And I'm also really glad that you brought up the idea of, uh, getting involved politically as a mother because I think that's probably an additional hurdle that a lot of people don't think about and might not affect men quite as much as it does women.

Um, and you know, to another point that you said, uh, Christabel, when when we were talking to you for this story, you said something that I really loved. You said, "The more government and politics represents the makeup of the country, the more likely people will participate and see traditional politics as an avenue for them." Can you speak a little bit more about that? I know that a lot of your research focuses on Latino women as well. Um, what's the correlation there?

Sure! Um, thank you for posing that question. I think it's important for us to think about when we're seeing these record numbers, um, this year. Um, one thing that it is important to note is we're still seeing a minority of women as candidates. We're seeing an increase in all candidates, right? And so women are still in the minority of candidates, um, this year.

And that is the thing that I think has been, um, the most difficult in getting more women to run for office is it's sort of the not that you can't be what you can't see. I don't love that statement, but basically if you're not seeing women in office as often or you're seeing, you know, the results of women going through elections and having them, you know, really just be treated unequally throughout the election process, often what happens is you might feel as though, I don't feel this is an effective method for getting things done.

Or why would I put myself through something like that, right? Or things along those lines. Um, and so my research, which is on Latinas in local office in New York City, um, I look at why how Latinas make the decision to run or not run for office. Um, and it's just something that I've been curious about, about women and women of color generally because we just have—we have these areas that are especially in local office that are majority minority.

Um, and so people often vote co-ethnically; like they will vote for someone of their same race, but we're still seeing these really large gender disparities within these spaces. Um, and part of it is recruitment, right? And so that's what we're talking about, right, is people aren't thinking of women as candidates or they're just—and so their network of recruitment is not reflective of that.

If you're a cisgendered straight white male, your network is likely going to have a lot of cisgender straight white men in it, um, and you're gonna think that's what a politician looks like, right? If you google a politician, that's often what people see. And that's sort of what I think a lot of organizations and folks in office are trying to change now.

Um, but, so first of all, the recruiters are not doing the recruiting. Um, part of it also is because they just don't think women are likely to win. Um, and, uh, or they, if they do run women, um, you know, as Ariel pointed out earlier, they'll be in seats that they likely will not win.

Um, you know, so they'll be running as challengers in seats that aren't likely to yield, um, an election result that's positive or favorable for them. Um, and so what ends up happening is a lot of women who are politically involved are active—a lot of the women that I have been interviewing, um, they a lot of them say I'm not gonna run for office because I feel as though either there's a lot of corruption in my local government, you know, which does happen at times, um or I feel as though this is—I don't want to put myself through that process in order to get elected, um when I could, you know, make change in all these other avenues.

And so what they're not seeing is, um, they're not getting to know or see the work of folks like Congresswoman Lawrence often at—or Congresswoman Lawrence's— or folks in office in different capacities. They're not getting to know the people who are in office, um because they feel as though they don't represent them or they don't look like them, right?

And so that's why it's so effective when you see someone like Congresswoman Lawrence or you see someone like Kamala Harris in office or running for office or in the positions that they're in, or just as candidates, because that signals to someone else, this is a possibility for me, right? This is a possible avenue for me to get things done that I want to get done, um or this is a possible thing that I could win, I could run and I could win and I could make effective change.

Um, and so I think part of it is is just folks either not getting recruited because they're not there, um, or folks not running because they're not there. So if they're not seeing themselves, they're not going to have that impetus, um, you know, to run.

Um, and I think that's a huge thing. Um, for folks across the board, but I think especially for women of color, I think one of the reasons that we're seeing an increase in women candidates as we've seen through COP data like now a large portion of that increase in women candidates is women of color, and one of the reasons for that is because of all these wonderful firsts that we've seen among women of color in office, in, you know, in the federal government, state government, and local government over the last, um, couple years, but especially on the national stage, right?

Seeing, you know, for instance Kamala Harris being the first South Asian woman and the second Black woman elected to the Senate, right? And so those, those things are exciting, and they will then motivate, um other people, um who come from a background like Kamala Harris's to see themselves as potential senators.

And for the folks who are—most importantly for the folks who are gatekeeping and recruiting for them to see them as potential candidates as well and folks that can and should and are likely to win when they do run!

Yeah, I think that's a great point. I mean how sometimes you don't know to consider yourself for something unless you see someone else do it first, and so this opens up a whole bunch of possibilities for people.

Um, Ariel, I'm wondering if you can kind of talk about what—how does recruitment actually work? Because as Rachel Hartigan and I heard from our reporting in the story, um, multiple people said, you know, there are not a bunch of men's groups out there catered just towards recruiting men, but there are tons of women's groups like yours and like Congresswoman Lawrence mentioned, Emily's List.

So how does that actually work for you?

Yeah, um, recruitment is one of those interesting things, especially our organization is based in D.C. and we have some great reach and touches and states. Um, but I think really what it comes down to is what we've found, um, particularly with women, and I think it makes a lot of sense to start from the training standpoint, and you use that as kind of your pipeline and touches for who is interested in running and who is taking the initiative to figure out what it would mean to run.

Um, so we are partnered with the Yale Campaign School, and we have done now two different Republican-only or like Republican women specific campaign trainings. Um, and we have also found that for Republican women there is a discomfort and an assumption that they don't belong in non-partisan spaces.

Um, and we are trying to break down that belief because I—it's— they’re nonpartisan for a reason! Um, but I think for Republican women it can feel like they're going to be very exposed, um, and maybe the only conservative in the room.

Um, so we use our training as really kind of where our pipeline is starting. Um, and this year it was great—we pivoted, and we did it all virtually, which actually I think allowed for a greater number of women to participate, um particularly along like socio-economic lines, right? Like if you don't have to pay to come to D.C. for a weekend for this training, the virtual component I think gave us such greater access.

Um, and then really we rely on our different people who have contacted us, um, throughout the years. Um, we have different state chapters that were active in 2016 when we were doing some work as Republican Women for Hillary. Um, you know, as we've changed and evolved, we still are very active and in touch.

Um, and then what you do is you just like get your hands on them in terms of your database and you check in with them and you encourage them. Um, we have our Women to Watch list that we rolled out in 2018; we have that again this year.

Um, and what I actually think is pretty cool that we do is, um, listen: by the time that you're running for federal office, like sure, we are super supportive; we'd love to support you, but actually it's women on the state and local level that are actually where we're way more focused because that is our eventual pipeline.

Um, and I think something the Congresswoman pointed out in terms of choosing to run and the infrastructure that you need, um, we very much are motivated towards becoming kind of the Emily’s List on the right, um, which was created as a separate structure outside of the party structure to support female candidates.

Um, but part of that is giving women the tools, not just by training, but the infrastructure in terms of who do you talk to to get a good field organizer, who can we put you in touch with that can help with comms.

Um, you know, this is a brave new world for a lot of candidates, particularly at the lower levels in terms of state and local. Um, and really how do we encourage them that first time, and then how do we promote them?

Um, because I think that's the other thing: there is a very big assumption I think in our media and what we see which is in order to be a female politician, you're gonna be a Democrat, right? Like numbers are so small on the Republican side, and so part of our job is also increasing the footprint so that women can think, "Oh yeah, I can run for that office!" and like here's this group that's doing this, I have questions!

Um, and all four of our founders are pretty much on call all the time—like my phone is never by my side. We give pep talks; we get on the phone with candidates; we connect them with different consultants and different people that we think can be helpful. We phone bank for them and that to me is like we are so far behind!

So recruitment really is like starting with like who's out there, who wants to get in touch, and then we just gotta keep our hands on up and move forward and build from there!

Absolutely! Women helping women is so critical!

Um, so we have a great question from the folks watching this right now, and the question is: What role can voters play in supporting the recruitment of more women to public office? And I'll just open that up to whoever might want to answer that.

For a woman to support women, it comes down to a couple of things: Volunteering for their campaigns! Volunteer to be that child care support! You can get in politics; you can get called into a meeting that wasn't on your calendar, wasn't important, was, I'm sorry, wasn't even considered, and it's extremely important, and you have the kids!

And, you know, if you can't get involved, um, saying running a campaign, say you know what? I'm here anytime you need me. You need me to feed them, to babysit, to do whatever I need to do. And I just want to throw this—this is really a sexist comment, but it's true—um, I remember I was in a heated campaign, and I was running against a man, and he had children like I did, but he never had—I never saw him schlupping the kids with him or having the kids sit in the corner because you know what? He had a wife!

And if I wanted to entertain someone or whatever, normally it wasn't at my home because I didn't—I wasn't there to cook and prepare the house for the dinner. The wife was there! And I looked at him one day, and he said something to me. I said, you know what, the only reason why you feel confident is because you got a wife taking care of everything for you.

You know, if I had a wife, I would be just as confident as you are! Um, but the reality is, is that you can volunteer to help on a campaign. You can give money. Sometimes the only thing you do, I can write a check. Don't think a $25 check isn't significant! If that's the best you can do, that is a tremendous help to a campaign!

I have a senior citizen who every month sends me ten dollars. She said, you know, I'm on a fixed income; this is the best I can do. I said I am just so grateful that you included me in your budget!

And that she supports me! The other thing is voting! It is so powerful that when you—I never say vote for someone because they are a woman or because of their color, but when you see a woman who was qualified, and I've heard women say, "Gosh, she's so good! I wish she could win." Well, doggone it, she could win if you voted for her!

And if you got more women to vote for her, pick up your phone and call people. She is dynamic! We should vote for her! And women, because we're so social, we have all of these networks that we just don't pay attention to.

If you're a soccer mom, that is a base for you to talk to the soccer moms, for them to come on board and be supportive. Like for me, it was the PTA! And I'm talking to the other parents—you know, like I want to make a difference; can you support me? You know, we're on bowling clubs, knitting clubs, reading books, uh, reading clubs—there are so many social events!

Your church! Where you can tell someone, you know, I really believe in this, and I want to run for this. Support me! So women, we have so many ways, and remember—we're the largest voting bloc in America!

I love that answer! I think the other thing that I am always very clear, especially when talking to younger women, is, um, look around, and if you—I am a firm believer that you step into your own voice in your own power; nobody can tell your story, and nobody has your perspective quite like you do.

But if you don't think you can run for office or you are not interested in running for office, look around your network because guaranteed there is a woman in your network that should be encouraged to run for office!

Like give that person a call, encourage them, and then, you know, once they make that decision, as the Congresswoman said, you know, support them! And that could be taking their kids, it could be writing them a check—it can come in all different ways!

But truly, I think you know once they're in the race, you gotta push them into the race! And then once they're there, you gotta help support them!

Um, and then the other thing I just would like to pick up on Congresswoman, to your point about women talking in our networks—something I think on the Republican side that we are trying to combat socially is this sense for women that talking about politics isn't nice!

Right? Like I don't—it's so—it can be so unpleasant! I don't want to be ugly; I don't want to disagree! But politics touches everybody's lives, right? Like it is interwoven into our day-to-day lives in ways that we don't even begin to comprehend.

And it is okay to have opinions about that, and it is okay to talk about that! Um, and I think that's this other thing as we try to encourage women to see politics as more of our domain, we have to get comfortable with the fact that there is nothing that says that being feminine and being a woman is not compatible with politics!

Um, I, I love both of those answers! Um, and I want to expand on two points that I think were made by both of you which I think were great.

Um, so the network idea is is huge, right? So first telling women to run for office, right? And showing—and that was part of, you know, answering that earlier question about, um, you know, people participating because they're seeing, um a difference. I think that's a big thing.

And so just making sure that we're using our networks to celebrate, to call out things and celebrate also, um what women do once they're in office because women in office do make a huge difference, and this is substantively, you know, represented across the board and completely, um, you know, certified data that that women do make a difference once they're in office and it doesn't matter that they're there!

Um, and so using our networks to share that news, right? Share the wins of women! Show, um, just what what women are actually doing once they're in office, right? So looking at the great work, let's say that Congresswoman Lawrence is doing and celebrating, you know, bills that she voted on that you think are important that other people should know about, um and showing, you know, the work that she put into that.

Really celebrating those wins are huge! Um, in terms of networks too, I think this is, um, one of the areas where we can learn a lot historically from women of color specifically.

Um, and so thinking a lot about, you know, the beauty shop politics of the 1960s, right, during the civil rights era, the role that Black women continue to play in the Democratic Party and recruiting, networking, putting out foot traffic, um, doing the work on the ground to really get people talking about politics and motivated to go out there.

My mother—my grandmother is about to be 90 this year, and she to this day walks herself to the polling place, and also then the day of calls everyone and tells them she will break their legs if they do not go and vote! And that's, as an immigrant, she really just celebrates her right to vote, and so to her, it's just so important to get involved in.

So just those networks, I think we can learn so much from women of color there because we're celebrating this 100th anniversary or centennial of suffrage. But for women of color, these rights to vote, um, didn't really implement themselves in so many ways until later.

And so—and that's partially due to these tighter networks, um, and then I'm just calling out! Um, so we talked about that positive side of celebrating the wins but also calling out underrepresentation. So if you're looking at a local election, right, and you get a local newspaper and you're noticing that women candidates are not getting as much play, um, in that local paper or sometimes they're completely excluded from stories about candidates or or local elections, you can write a letter!

You can call! And they will likely start making those changes, and that's just like sort of a small thing you could do within your local network or community to make that difference and encourage more folks to run.

And then in terms of recruitment too, two huge things you can do is first you can support orgs that recruit women to run. So for anyone out there that wants to support the work, let's say that Ariel's doing or any of these other organizations, um, either through time or money, I think about organizations like Higher Heights that work specifically to get Black women elected or Lupe—Latinas United for Political Empowerment.

Organizations that do just such great work, um specifically to recruit women of color, um and just women who are underrepresented generally would just be great places to start giving your time and attention and they could use any help they can get usually, um even if you cannot donate financially.

And the other place would be then your local political party. Um, so I would say consider running maybe for county committee like a local party that's a local party office that you can hold as a as a citizen, a resident in your area—you don't need a lot of votes for it—you really just need a certain amount of signatures!

Often these seats are, you know, empty, um or you know filled through surreptitious means, uh, so as we've seen in New York City, we've dealt with that.

Um, but that's also a huge thing because then you get to help decide who your local political party recruits, um and endorses as the candidate in your local election.

And as we saw through the Congresswoman's story, often through local politics and as Ariel's mentioning—that's how we end up with candidates at these higher levels!

Um, but yeah, I mean even if we're looking back at 2016 or 2018, a lot of the work that was done was just from on the ground work, um and that's how a lot of these candidates were able to win their primaries, and that's what we're seeing again in 2020!

So put yourself out there and find ways to support, um parties, orgs, and then just recruit within your network!

Um, I'd like to—you know, we're about to run out of time here, but something, you know, we've been talking about recruitment and getting to that what seems like kind of the starting line. So you're there—you made it, Congresswoman Lawrence!

What about inclusion? After you've been elected, how can we be better at being more inclusive and incorporating the viewpoints once people are actually elected?

So I will tell you that is your challenge! Once you make it through the hurdle of being elected, then it's—you’re in the room where it happens! And you know it's just like Shirley Chisholm said, if they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair and just sit there!

Um, pull it up and get to work! There's often—and I know the Republican women must deal with this because sometimes on committees and other things they are the only woman in the room.

I've had Republican women say they have to struggle to be heard because they're talking, or they'll bring up a nation—we only hear that! And so there's all kind of sexism that you have to work through on the Democratic and Republican side.

Let me give you an example of maternal mortality, which is a huge issue for us in the Women's Caucus in America. We are the highest nut—we have the highest number of women dying in childbirth than any other developed country! And then to add insult to injury, the largest number within those numbers are Black women!

And so when you—that has never even been on the radar on the table, and it's something that we as a country should find appalling! Childbirth is not something new! Childbirth—and we'll see underdeveloped countries, their numbers are dropping!

And so, um, I'm going to get a little controversial here. The latest talk about reproductive health is about birth control. How dare a government talk about the ability for me to have access to birth control when they can go get a vasectomy whenever they want? They can go get Viagra? No one's talking about that!

But the fact that we can manage our lives—this is not talking about pro-life or pro-choice; this is about me as a woman determining the right time for me to give birth so that I can manage my education, my career.

And you know what? A man can get a vasectomy and say, I don't want to have kids! A woman should be able to do that—if she doesn't want to have kids, it's her right!

And so it always seems to be a different conversation when it's the rights of women, and often we get into these like dismissive moments in politics where they don't want to hear what we have to say. So the battle continues, um, and that comes from that inner strength and that—we can't teach that; it has to be learned.

Is that that in your belly when someone says we don't want to talk about that, and you turn around and say, we will talk about that today! I am your equal! I'm bringing this to the table, and I want a discussion today!

Um, I wasn't there when I first started! You know, I was kind of, you know, I wasn't used to being told to be quiet! And I was like, whoa! You know, maybe I should stop talking! You know, because no one came to my defense.

And like, um, it had been mentioned, we have to call it out, and you know, I have—when I was in private industry, I would be at a meeting, and a woman would present something like, yeah, yeah, then a man would come right around say the same thing. Everybody would go, oh, that's a great idea!

And I would say, excuse me! She just came up with that! That's her idea! And I do think it's a great idea; we should give her credit for it! Sometimes we just have to stand up for each other and first of all stand up for ourselves!

I just would like to add too. I think the Congresswoman made wonderful points. Um, I think it's something that makes me very sad on the Republican side that we have so few women, that they really are not able to be an effective voting block one way or the other.

Um, and this is kind of like how the sausage gets made, but it means that they are not—there're not enough of them to actually dictate some of the direction of the party because they just don't have the numbers yet!

Um, and so it does lead to, um, not only bad policy, I think, but also a minimizing of women, although we also see that women are trotted out on the Republican side to account for and answer for the bad behavior of our male counterparts, which I think is utterly unacceptable!

Um, and so I think like this all goes into how do we amplify—I think this—you amplify other women that are in the room. We also know that women once they are elected work better together. Women, you know, across the aisle, once they are in office—um, they offer bipartisan legislation, bicameral legislation; like they are collaborative in a way that I don't think men always are.

Um, and so I think this really to me is like the long-term push—you get more women in office, I think you will see different outcomes across the board because you will have different perspectives and you will have women encouraging other people to also listen to the women's voices in the room.

Um, so yeah, I think I think it starts with having to get more women elected before you can actually be effective particularly on our side—because we just—we are not big enough for them to listen to, to be frank.

I just want to bring up a point that was disturbing to me, and I think it was just referenced that the colleague-to-colleague discussion man to a woman that was inappropriate. But when I talked to some of my Republican women, oh, it's just boy talk—it's just the way they talk; I don't take it seriously!

Oh my word! My blood was boiling! And that's just not on the Republican side! You know, it's like when Donald Trump said those awful things on about grabbing a woman's anatomy and the way he was talking—his wife said, oh, it's just boy talk. It's just locker room talk; it's not a big deal!

And the MeToo movement and everything else is happening has really, you know, put a line in the sand: This is no longer acceptable! It's not funny, it's not—you're not a little boy anymore. You're a grown man in a work environment with women, and the conversation must be respectful and dignified.

If you want to talk that way to your companion who's a woman, or you feel like you want to talk away in your privacy, but it's not acceptable! And men are very nervous right now because they have had years and years of a culture where it was okay to say, "Hey baby!" you know, or be quiet, little girl, and go home.

It was acceptable that that was our culture. And now with the pushback, some of the men are uncomfortable, and then some of the women are just saying it's okay! You know, leave them alone, they're—they're you know. I’m not offended, you know.

And I had to tell one woman, well, I'm offended for you! If you're not, I am! Because I would never tolerate a man talking to me like that.

And so we have some work to do internally of teaching women their value, their, um, the rights that they have to be treated with, being treated as an equal. We're not their baby; we're grown women! We—if we walked up to them and said, little boy, go over here and sit down, it's like, I'm a man; who do you think you're talking to?

Well, I'm a woman; I'm not your baby; I'm a Congresswoman! I am an adult, and I have a name!

So I just wanted to bring that up.

No, absolutely! That's a great point, and I think it brings up an important note about the importance of allyship as well, whether it's between men and women or Democrats and Republicans.

I think that those ties that you create once you get there, I would imagine as anywhere are really critical to, you know, disrupting and eradicating that type of behavior.

Um, I could keep talking to you all day about this! This has been such a great conversation, but I think we do need to wrap up. And so, you know, I just like to see, you know, we're celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment.

Obviously, you know, there were some pieces of that that were fraught back then, and we still have more work to do now. So I’d love for each of you to comment on, you know, what advice would you give to the people watching this or to women allies in general about what do we still need to do and how can they get involved?

I'll start. Thank you again so much; it's so great to be on here with you, Ariel and Kristabel.

Um, I just, I just like to use this example and have an opportunity to talk to women on top of the Capitol of the United States where the greatest form of political power in the world—there is a statue, and it's a woman. She's called Lady Freedom! She has in her hand a sword in one hand and a wreath of peace in the other!

Whenever we talk about our democracy and the checks and balances, the woman is depleted. As a woman, the Lady of Justice, where she said justice is blind. When we talk about immigration, it is that amazing statue with Braming your poor—the Statue of Liberty!

Throughout the history of this country, women have been depicted in those powerful visual marks of who we are, what we value, who we are as a country.

And I will say to every woman here, as Ariel recruits women, as um, Rutgers, you do your amazing work or keep giving us the data and keeping us informed! This is a time in history where I want every woman—100 years we've had the right to vote, and with their right to vote keener rights to be included and to be represented.

And as I talk about Lady Freedom on top of the Capitol and I think about Shirley Chisholm being that first one—oh my gosh, how lonely must that have been for her? That we—Lady Freedom has a sword—that means that we can kick anybody's behind if we need to! We can fight!

And if you come after our children, I don't care if you're Republican or Democrat; women stand—we will stand up and fight you for those rights and those values!

But we also have the wreath of peace because we have the ability to, to console, to reduce fear, to comfort—it's something that is one of our powers!

And I don't walk away from that—our emotional power! So I say to every woman, know your power, respect your power, and do something with it! Thank you so much!

Thank you so much for those very empowering words, um, and for being with us today, Congresswoman Lawrence! Ariel or Kristabel, what would you leave with the folks here today?

I would just say to do what you can to encourage the women in your life to see themselves as public leaders.

And, and most of all too, as we're doing this work to get all of us more represented in different ways, but especially for, for women, um, as we're doing this work to correct those errors of the past and think of ways in which we can be inclusive of all women or women-identifying folks and really, um, work hard to expand how we think of who represents us.

Um, and then finally, I would say to, to just stay in the fight! You know, um, as the Congresswoman said, um, you know, there are gonna be losses, but losses are also wins when someone's running for that first time!

Um, or we're having more, you know, in this case of this year, you know, we will have losses, but we've got this record number of women winning, and that's a win! So celebrate! Celebrate it all and, and just push for more because even—you know, don't settle in!

Even though we've got these record numbers, there's still so much more work to do, and um, I'm excited to, uh, to be in this fight with all of you!

So amazing! This has been—I could talk to you guys for the rest of my day! So this has been such a, such a pleasure!

And yeah, I mean, I think get ready to be in the fight, right? Like, we haven't been represented in terms of how much we make up of the population ever!

And I think, um, you know, if 2016 was kind of the modern wake-up call that we can't just leave politics and, you know, the running of our country and the governance of our country to men, like, which I think it was for a lot of women. I think lean into it!

Um, find your voice! Be comfortable with the fact that you have a point of view and, you know, encourage other women to step into that space as well, right? I think we get really, um nervous sometimes.

And I think just to pick up on, um, the Congresswoman's comment about locker-room talk, which I hate, is I think part of the reason why women have been trained to brush that off is because we are told that we will lose our access to those rooms if we decide that we are uncomfortable with the language that's being used!

So ask for better!

Um, and I think the other thing is that in terms of finding your voice, finding your place, and supporting other women is also recognizing that we aren't fighting—I’m not fighting for myself, right?

Like, I am fighting for the women who are coming behind me! I am fighting so that young women who are in high school right now will have different outcomes and we’ll have different opportunities moving forward.

And if you can't kind of find your voice for yourself, just think about, you know, your daughters, your nieces, your friends' kids that you love, right? Like, the whole point is to just move this forward so that we can have better representation, that we can have a government that is reflective of the wonderful diversity that we have in this country!

Um, and that's how it should be!

I think we'll all get better outcomes that way! That's such a powerful note to end on!

Um, I could also talk to you all all day! Um, this has been such a great conversation!

But, um, uh, thank you all so much for joining us, um, on this kind of historic day and this historic moment! Um, we really appreciate you and all of the work that each of you are doing!

So thank you everyone for coming!