Tuesday, January 8, 2013

New Year's Resolutions

Have you made any New Year's Resolutions? Have you broken them already? Still searching?

House Democratic Women of the 113th Congress
Photo courtesy of Nancy Pelosi's photostream on Flickr

Resolve to have some style in politics:

1. Show a girl she can lead. Highlight good examples. Be a good example yourself. Consider supporting one of the many wonderful organizations that support girls in leadership - I like Running Start.

2. Support a woman running for office. Look high AND low - the House is full now, but your county, city or school board may have elections this fall or even this spring. And again, there are incredible organizations like Emily's List to help you support some of them.

3. Seriously consider running for office yourself. We know that one reason we don't have anywhere near gender parity in elected office (even in this banner year for Congress) is that not enough women run for office to begin with. Don't imagine that you aren't qualified or aren't ready. You probably are, and if you aren't you can get there. And guess what? You don't have to have it all perfectly figured out. Consider a few tools, like Kathy Groob's excellent Pink Politics guide to preparing for a campaign.