Online Reference
- From Suffrage to the Senate: America's Political WomenFrom Suffrage to the Senate: America's Political Women is a comprehensive and valuable compendium of biographies of leading women in U.S. politics, past and present, and an examination of the wide range of women's movements.
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Perspectives
A Rising Public Voice
In essays, profiles, and interviews, activists and women at the highest levels of national governments describe election campaigns, party politics, and work in parliamentary chambers; whether and how their agendas and political styles differ from men's; and how, unlike men, they must manage family responsibilities and accept public scrutiny of their personal lives.
When Women Win
The dramatic inside story of the rise of women in elected office over the past quarter-century, from the pioneering founder of three-million-member EMILY's List -- one of the most influential players in today's political landscape In 1985, aware of the near-total absence of women in Congress, Ellen R. Malcolm launched EMILY's List, a powerhouse political organization that seeks to ignite change by getting women elected to office. The rest is riveting history: Between 1986 -- when there were only 12 Democratic women in the House and none in the Senate -- and now, EMILY's List has helped elect 19 women Senators, 11 governors, and 110 Democratic women to the House. Incorporating exclusive interviews with Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Tammy Baldwin, and others,When Women Win delivers stories of some of the toughest political contests of the past three decades, including the historic victory of Barbara Mikulski as the first Democratic woman elected to the Senate in her own right; the defeat of Todd Akin ("legitimate rape") by Claire McCaskill; and Elizabeth Warren's dramatic win over incumbent Massachusetts senator Scott Brown. When Women Winincludes Malcolm's own story -- the high drama of Anita Hill's sexual harassment testimony against Clarence Thomas and its explosive effects on women's engagement in electoral politics; the long nights spent watching the polls after months of dogged campaigning; the heartbreaking losses and unprecedented victories -- but it's also a page-turning political saga that may well lead up to the election of the first woman president of the United States.
After Suffrage
Debunking conventional wisdom that women had little impact on politics after gaining the vote, Kristi Andersen gives a compelling account of both the accomplishments and disappointments experienced by women in the decade after suffrage. This revisionist history traces how, despite male resistance to women's progress, the entrance of women and of their concerns into the public sphere transformed both the political system and women themselves. Andersen shows how women's participation was based on a conception of women's citizenship as indirect and disinterested. Gaining the right to vote, campaign, and run for office transformed women's citizenship; at the same time, women's independent partisan stance, their focus on social welfare concerns, and their use of new political techniques such as lobbying all helped to redefine politics. This fresh, nuanced analysis of women voters, activists, candidates, and officeholders will interest scholars in political science and women's studies. "In this rich and engaging book, Kristi Anderson presents a convincing argument that woman suffrage deserves greater scrutiny as a social, cultural, and political force in the development of American electoral and party politics."--Jane Junn, Political Science Quarterly
See Jane Win
From an award-winning journalist covering gender and politics comes an inside look at the female candidates fighting back and winning elections in the crucial 2018 midterms. After November 8, 2016, first came the sadness; then came the rage, the activism, and the protests; and, finally, for thousands of women, the next step was to run for office-many of them for the first time. More women campaigned for local or national office in the 2018 election cycle than at any other time in US history, challenging accepted notions about who seeks power and who gets it. Journalist Caitlin Moscatello reported on this wave of female candidates for New York magazine's The Cut, Glamour, and Elle. And in See Jane Win, she further documents this pivotal time in women's history. Closely following four candidates throughout the entire process, from the decision to run through Election Day, See Jane Wintakes readers inside their exciting, winning campaigns and the sometimes thrilling, sometimes brutal realities of running for office while female.
For the Freedom of Her Race
Grounded in the rich history of Chicago politics, For the Freedom of Her Race tells a wide-ranging story about black women's involvement in southern, midwestern, and national politics. Examining the oppressive decades between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932--a period that is often described as the nadir of black life in America--Lisa Materson shows that as African American women migrated beyond the reach of southern white supremacists, they became active voters, canvassers, suffragists, campaigners, and lobbyists, mobilizing to gain a voice in national party politics and elect representatives who would push for the enforcement of the Reconstruction Amendments in the South.
Famous Women Political Figures
- Ardern, Jacinda (Kate Laurel)New Zealand centre-left politician, leader of the Labour Party and prime minister from 2017. She was elected Labour's deputy leader in March 2017 and its leader (in opposition) in August 2017, seven weeks before a general election. Ardern's charismatic optimism appealed to younger and female voters, enabling Labour to gain 15 seats and form a coalition government with the New Zealand First party in October 2017. She was New Zealand's third female prime minister and its youngest prime minister in 150 years.
- Aung, San Suu Kyi (1945-)Burmese politician, co-founder and general secretary of the National League for Democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi was detained without trial for ‘endangering the state’ and held under house arrest from 1989 to 1995.
- Chisholm, ShirleyThe first African American woman elected to the United States Congress, Shirley Chisholm was a forceful advocate throughout her career on behalf of children, the economically disadvantaged, and Americans of color. A tireless and courageous proponent of progressive causes, including federally financed social programs, Chisholm served as a role model to many Americans and as a symbol of big-spending, liberal interventionism to others.
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (b. 1938–d.)On January 16, 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as president of Liberia. In her inaugural speech she vowed to end civil strife and corruption, establish unity, and rebuild the country's devastated infrastructure. Johnson Sirleaf's victory in her country's 2005 presidential election was the culmination of a long and often hazardous political career and made the “Iron Lady” Africa's first elected woman head of state.
- Gandhi, Indira Priyadarshini Nehru (1917–1984)Indira Gandhi was the first woman to be elected prime minister of the world’s most populous democracy, India. Her leadership was both long and controversial.
- Harris, Kamala Devi (b. 1964)Democrat Kamala Harris of California entered the United States Senate on January 3, 2017. Senator Harris is only the second African-American woman (Democrat Carol MoselyBraun of Illinois was the first) to serve in the Senate and the first South Asian-American in history. She entered the race for the Democratic Party's nomination for president of the United States in 2019.
Streaming Media
- The Rhetoric of Women in PoliticsThis program presents distinguished women speaking about the prejudices and obstacles they face in the predominately male world of politics. Featuring Shirley Chisholm, Geraldine Ferraro, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Elizabeth Dole, and others.
- Women in American PoliticsThis program with Bill Moyers looks at the rising number of women on the political scene and their impressions of politics. Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, former Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin, Senator Carol Moseley Braun, and other female politicians talk about the challenges women candidates face, describe their experiences in male bastions of power, why it’s important for women to participate in politics, and what women bring to governing our nation.
- The Suffragists; Political Struggles for Women in MexicoThe story of Eufrosina Cruz, an indigenous woman from the Zapotec community of Santa María Quiegolani in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Las Sufragistas details her political struggle, as well as Mexican women’s long fight for political power, beginning with the Revolutionary period. The film also considers challenges that women in power face.
- Pink Saris: Female Political Activists in India“A girl’s life is cruel…A woman’s life is very cruel,” notes Sampat Pal, the complex protagonist at the center of PINK SARIS, internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto’s latest foray into the lives of extraordinary women. Sampat should know – like many others she was married as a young girl into a family which made her work hard and beat her often. But unusually, she fought back, leaving her in-laws and eventually becoming famous as a champion for beleaguered women throughout Uttar Pradesh, many of whom find their way to her doorstep.