Blogs

Current | Archived

Political Forum

June 9, 2008

Five state-wide elected officials filed into their seats for a panel discussion – not to campaign, debate, or lobby – but rather to encourage fellow women to fulfill the need for female representation in political office. Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton gave a keynote address and Christine Lidbury, executive director, Wisconsin Women’s Council, provided a special update on the 2007 Wisconsin Women in Elected Office Report. Other panelists included State Senator Lena Taylor and four newly-elected office-holders, Wauwatosa Mayor Jill Didier, Milwaukee Alderwoman Milele Coggs, Deerfield Town Board Supervisor Heather Smith, and Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Rebecca Dallet – a diverse representation of knowledge and experience. The forum was
a highlight in the 2008 NEW Leadership™ Wisconsin schedule, but the conversation was open to all. Each panelist expressed the need to increase the number of women holding political office, for it is not only diversity of experience, race, or socio-economic status, but also gender that allows for breadth of perspective, opinion, and public policy solutions.

Panelists prepare to present

The women revealed the struggles of balancing work and home as well as the pressures of public scrutiny. In campaigning, one woman said she was criticized for running for office with two little ones at home; another shared that she was disparaged for not having children. How could she represent her constituents with no family perspective?

Yet the forum’s conclusion was unanimous: pure enjoyment and the power to enact change is a feeling and societal need worthy of all aspiration – and more women must grab hold of political opportunities to direct the future. It is that need and the reward, both personal and public, they agreed, for which their audience should also strive.

The forum has become a standard of the NEW Leadership™ Wisconsin program. At last year’s forum, one local woman, Sandra Pasch, was so inspired by the stories of the women on the panel that she threw her hat in the ring and is now running for the 22nd Assembly seat in Wisconsin.