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Lottery Numbers for Wednesday, Aug. 24

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RailRiders rally for victory

<p>Women are not equally represented in American governance.</p><p>According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, women account for 51 percent of the U.S. population, yet they hold only 19.4 percent of the seats in Congress and 25 percent of the seats in state legislatures. Governors are predominately white men; there are 42 of them. Two governors are men of color, and only six governors are women.</p><p>There are 1,391 mayors of U.S. cities with populations of more than 30,000; 18.8 of those mayors are women.</p><p>A look at Pennsylvania&#8217;s statistics reveals that we are 40th (18.6 percent female) in terms of the number of women in our state legislature. Only 10 states &#8211; including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee &#8211; have less female representation.</p><p>Clearly, given these numbers, our representative democratic systems do not represent our population with regard to gender.</p><p>It makes good sense to elect more women, neither because of &#8220;political correctness,&#8221; nor the latest buzz phrase, &#8220;identity politics.&#8221; Electing more women improves governance, leading to a healthier and more effective democracy. For example, research finds women&#8217;s leadership styles tend toward collaboration, consensus building and inclusion.</p><p>Perhaps if more women were at the decision-making table, there would be less gridlock and partisanship. We saw this in 2013, when female senators worked across the aisle to avert a protracted government shutdown. U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark., admitted that their female colleagues can take most of the credit for the compromise.</p><p>Increased numbers of women also can improve policy outcomes. Women sponsor and co-sponsor more bills than do men. Motivation for women leaders comes from achieving policy goals, not power and prestige. In key policy-making areas, the American public ranks women higher in keeping government honest, working out compromises, representing constituents&#8217; interests and standing up for what they believe. (See politicalparity.org).</p><p>For the past four years, Ready to Run Northeastern Pennsylvania has worked to increase the number of women in political office. In collaboration with the Center for American Women and Politics, our workshops teach women how to run for office by preparing them to be credible and viable candidates.</p><p>A daylong, nonpartisan workshop, &#8220;Wanted: More Women Candidates,&#8221; will be held Oct. 8 at The University of Scranton. We all know strong women in our lives who would be good leaders &#8211; sisters, daughters, mothers, spouses, friends, even ourselves.</p><p>For registration information and other specifics, visit <a href="http://www.scranton.edu/academics/ready-to-run/" target="_blank">scranton.edu/readytorun</a>.</p><p><strong>Jan W. Kelly </strong></p><p>Moosic</p><style>
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Letter to the Editor: Urge women in Northeastern Pennsylvania to run for public office