© Irène Barki/Sipa Press, Paris
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Networking on the
Web
A number of organizations in the U.S. are
gearing up for the 2000 election. Many have experience in supporting women candidates
and training campaign staff, others are focusing on informing women and encouraging
them to vote. Here are some of the players.
Emily’s List
(www.emilyslist.org)
is a major source of early funding for pro-choice, Democratic women.
The Women’s Campaign Fund
(www.wcfonline.org),
the National Women’s Political Caucus
(www.nwpc.org)
and the National Organization for Women
(www.now.org)
all provide support to pro-choice, feminist candidates.
The Wish List
(www.thewishlist.org)
supports pro-choice Republican women candidates.
Village.com, one of the largest Internet sites geared to women, offers on-line
registration, interviews with candidates and chat rooms to exchange information with
them.
The White House Project
(www.thewhite
houseproject.org)
is working to change the political climate so that women can be elected to the presidency
and other key positions.
League of Women Voters
(www.leagueof
womenvoters.org)
runs voter registration campaigns to encourage women to vote.
Lifetime Television
(www.lifetimetv.com),
has formed a partnership with the National Council of Women’s Organizations, (made
up of 110 national women’s groups), for a bipartisan campaign to educate women about
issues that affect them and to underscore the importance of their vote.
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Women account for just 13 per
cent of the U. S. Congress and 10 per cent of the Senate. But a pioneer of the contemporary
feminist movement keeps the faith
 Betty Friedan burst onto the
American scene in 1963 with The Feminine Mystique, a book that transformed the way
women thought of themselves not only in the U.S. but also around the world. She gave
voice to the silent malaise gripping housewives as they tended chores and wondered
silently, ‘Is this all?’. Friedan called it the problem that had no name, but one
society had to face.
Since then, Friedan, often called the mother of the U.S. women’s movement, has published
a series of seminal works. Her most recent book is a memoir, Life So Far, published
this spring by Simon & Schuster. I interviewed her just before the start of her
book tour. At the beginning of the interview, she quipped: “The trouble is when you
write a memoir, you finish it, and now you think ‘I’m dead.’”
Given the historical strength of the U.S. women’s movement, why are there still
so few women in politics?
It takes so much money to run for office in the U.S. Women don’t make that much money
and they don’t have as easy access to it as men do. I wouldn’t mind running for the
Senate but I certainly would not want to have to raise the money.
In addition to the issue of money, women also have the main responsibility for [raising
their] kids. That takes some years off most women’s career life.
How has your work facilitated women’s entry into politics?
The things I wrote helped women break through certain barriers in their own psyche–the
way they looked upon themselves and their possibilities. The feminine mystique, that
miasma of influences, would keep women modest, shy, silent and invisible. I told
them to shout–don’t whisper. I organized women to break through the feminine mystique,
to run for office, to get weapons against sex discrimination enforced.
You’ve worked hard for equal rights and affirmative action. How effective do you
think they’ve been and how could they be strengthened?
Women today in the U.S. are getting the same number of professional degrees as men.
The discrepancy lies in the childbearing years and women never catch up. We are the
only industrialized nation without a national programme of childcare. It’s outrageous.
Turning to equal pay for equal work, the principle is right but there are a lot of
ways of sidelining it. Too many women are segregated in jobs that may be even more
valuable than jobs men do, but because women do them they are paid less. So we began
to say equal pay for work of equal value. Why should janitors get more than a schoolteacher?
Or where would doctors be without nurses?
Do you think women’s issues like economic equality and reproductive rights are
considered marginal and difficult to construct a campaign on?
These issues affect 52 per cent of the population. Women in this country have far
more power than they are using. They vote in higher proportion than men do. The real
question is why aren’t we using our power to make the issues that are important to
us a higher priority and get more women elected to office. These issues are not as
marginal as they might once have been considered. I doubt anybody running for office
in any metropolitan area would dare to have as their slogan, “Women Go Back Home.”
Although you never know what would happen if there were an economic downturn.
What more could the women’s movement do to support female candidates?
It will be interesting to see what happens with Hillary (Rodham Clinton) in New York.
Will there be a big upsurge of support for her from women crossing party lines? One
thing didn’t really please me: when Hillary became visibly vulnerable to her Monica
[Lewinsky] problems, her ratings went up. It was as if women couldn’t identify with
her superiority. They were more able to identify with her when it became clear that
everything wasn’t easy than when she was so in control. I want to see women really
identifying with their own empowerment and getting out of the ‘victim’ state.
What are some strategies that would facilitate women’s entry into politics?
There are more and more women mayors–women who are going through the ranks on their
way up. It used to be the only women you saw in Congress were widows sitting in their
husbands’ seats. That’s not the way it is anymore. Maybe for me or for you the progress
isn’t fast enough but it’s fair and it will get better as more women study political
science and head student governments in colleges and go to law schools. Up to now,
law has been the way into politics. More than 40 per cent of law students are women.
So in another generation, the talent pool will be nearly equal.
Any parting thoughts you’d like to share with readers?
Women are not defined any longer as mothers or housewives. To the degree I’ve
had a hand in making that happen, I feel very pleased and very proud. I’m impatient
for the next step. Now women make up only 12 per cent of government. What would it
be like if they were 50 per cent? I think politics would be different. Some research
done a few years ago found that by adding two women to a state legislature the agenda
changes. And not just in the direction of women’s rights, but in all directions having
to do with life–children, sickness, old people, health, quality of life–and not just
highways.
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