November 1997
Conference Spotlights Women in Public Life
The message was clear to the majority female audience at the John F. Kennedy Library on Oct. 18: Run for office, women!
"Women Shaping Public Policy: Past and Present," a conference sponsored by the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy of the McCormack Institute, attracted 180 people.
Focusing on the political contributions of women in the past, both inside and outside of electoral politics, morning discussions were moderated by Ellen K. Rothman, associate director of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.
Manisha Sinha, assistant professor of history at UMass Amherst, chronicled pre-20th century activism. Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO and the highest ranking woman in the American labor movement, compared women of today and yesterday and shared statistics on the AFL-CIO's inclusion of women. "Make no mistake about it. The future of all American workers is in the hands of the working woman," she said.
Meizhe Lui, coordinator of Health Care for All, described cultural barriers faced by some Asian women leaders. Ellen Fitzpatrick, associate professor of history at the University of New Hampshire, contrasted the suffrage movement with today's low voter turnout.
"Our past perspectives are still future challenges for most American women and for most women around the world," said Anita Perez Ferguson, president of the National Women's Political Caucus, remembering the less fortunate. "All of the things that we have fought for in the past are still granted to only a few of us."
Ruth Mandel, director of the Eagleton Institute at Rutgers University, refuted the assumption that women votes mirror their husbands'. "Many, many elections have been influenced by the gender gap," she said. "That's power, and I don't know how much we recognize that as women."
The afternoon discussion, moderated by Elizabeth Sherman, director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, focused on the future.
Several panelists challenged women to not wait until they felt qualified to run. "It's tougher for women to feel that they're qualified to run for office," said Gloria Cordes Larson, Esq. of Foley, Hoag and Eliot. "For me, someone who had never run for office before ... people believed in me, voted for me, and here I am," said State Rep. Charlotte Golar Richie (5th-Suffolk).
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, lieutenant governor of Maryland, also stressed getting involved. "Waiting for life to be simple is really not an option," she said. "Clearly Susan B. Anthony didn't sit on the sidelines and wait for things to change. She said, 'I'm changing it,' and I hope you will too," Kennedy Townsend concluded.
Carol Hardy-Fanta, research director, Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, reviewed "Political Profile of Women in Massachusetts," a new statistical breakdown of women in local and national politics.
The finale of the conference was an excerpt of a 20-minute documentary film by Laura A. Liswood titled "Women World Leaders: 15 Great Politicians Tell Their Stories." Liswood, journeyed around the world to meet women presidents and prime ministers, spoke about the film. "I came away with a sense of awe for the courage of all of them -- the sense of courage it takes to go from being in the crowd to being in front of the crowd," she said.
The conference also offered a forum and support for the State House Project. Gail M. Leftwich, president of the Board of Directors, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, described the project, which will include a mural and individual portraits honoring six women leaders born in the 1800s.