Sunday, July 31, 2011

Women in Politics, 17% and stagnant

This past weekend I was fortunate to attend and participate in the 40th Anniversary Celebration and 20th Biennial Convention of the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC). NWPC was created at an organizing conference, held on July 10, 1971. Some of the pioneering founders would become influential women that I studied throughout my undergraduate Political Science and Women’s Studies career - Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisolm, Eleanor Norton Holmes, Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Dorothy Height, and LaDonna Harris to name just a few.

On Friday night the NWPC hosted a Diversity Reception and presented the 2011 Women of Courage Awards. Among the awardees is Kamala Lopez who is spearheading an in-your-face education campaign on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) for young women. Unfortunately most young women are of the belief that women are “equal of rights under the law.” Not the case.

I am Generation Y woman. I was first exposed to 1970s women’s liberation through textbooks and college classes, but I have always known women and men experienced life on different terms. Sadly women and girls younger than Generation Y do not have the same exposure to women’s history that has been given to young women like me. We are at a critical point in the history of women and I urge everyone to check out the ERA Education Project and ERA Once and For All.

~Brenda

ERA Education Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOsSw7MkX24&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMiwvkAekyM&feature=related

ERA Once and For All

http://www.eraonceandforall.com/

If anyone is interested in learning more about the National Women’s Political Caucus, joining a chapter, or viewing photos of powerful women in politics visit NWPC’s website.

http://www.nwpc.org/

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