Women Power Democracy

Take a look at the League of Women Voters’ new programmatic focus: Women Power Democracy.

Since the 2020 election, we have seen new barriers to voting and continued attacks on our democracy that require a renewed organizational investment. ‘Women Power Democracy’ is a 4-pronged approach to tackle systemic challenges to voting rights through advocacy, litigation, and organizing. These League-led programs will build more trust in our elections, grow our electorate with equity, create fairness for voter access, and ensure community districting truly reflects our population.

Its components are: 

  • Democracy Truth Project: Countering mis- and disinformation in our government and advancing public understanding of the democratic process;
  • Expand the Franchise: Increasing voter participation, with a focus on underrepresented populations and low-propensity voters;
  • Democracy Defense Fund: Protecting voting rights and advancing a more equitable democracy through advocacy and voter protection efforts; and 
  • People Powered Fair Maps™: Leading with advocacy, public education, and organizing to create transparent, people-powered electoral maps and eliminate gerrymandering during 2021 redistricting. 
  1. The Democracy Truth Project will provide the public with the information and the tools to participate in our democracy and work to restore trust in the political system. With trusted partners including leading scholars who are studying the trends of mis- and disinformation, the League will target vulnerable voters and communities that we know are more susceptible to mis- and disinformation to combat the influx of lies, with trusted and accurate information. At the same time, to build and restore the public trust in our democracy, the League will promote educational resources focused on the foundational elements of a healthy democratic system.

2. The League is dedicated to expanding registration and participation for the New American Majority (the growing demographic of voters that include Americans with limited incomes, communities of color, non-college youth, unmarried women, and new citizens). In 2020, the League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF) served more than 6 million people with VOTE411 election information, in addition to launching our largest ever get-out-the-vote campaign driving participation among low-propensity female voters. In 2021 and 2022, LWVEF will continue our work to equip all voters with the information and tools they need to make their voices heard in elections. This voter engagement program leverages the League’s wealth of registration, education, and protection resources – particularly the personalized information and voters’ guides available on VOTE411.org. 

3. Our efforts to register, educate, and mobilize voters in the New American Majority must be accompanied by work to protect their voting rights and expand their access through persistent advocacy for a more equitable and inclusive democracy. Following the 2020 election, hundreds of anti-voter bills that disproportionately target Black, brown, and women voters have been introduced in state legislatures around the country. These restrictive voting bills include implementing stricter voter ID laws, restricting votes by mail, limiting voter registration availability, and aggressively purging voters from the rolls. The League is speaking out and fighting back against this national trend and supporting our network of Leagues to educate the public about anti-voter bills in their states and to mitigating the impact of new laws. We are also preparing to participate as necessary in federal or state litigation against new voter suppression bills that are signed into law.

4. People Powered Fair Maps™ is the League’s national redistricting program focused on creating fair political maps in all 50 states and D.C. Since 2019, People Powered Fair Maps (PPFM) has worked to advance a transparent, people-powered redistricting processes that eliminates partisan and racial gerrymandering nationwide. To strengthen our advocacy for improving around /on redistricting, the League is demonstrating the impact of district maps on issues of concern to community members – such as healthcare, transportation, city resources and services, and infrastructure – and encourage the public to get involved. 

The lwv and women voters

While women have been on the front lines of democracy, the League of Women Voters has powered their work for more than a century. Women Power Democracy builds upon the success the League of Women Voters saw in 2020. This work will serve to empower voters and defend our democracy while positioning the League as a continued leader in these areas ahead of the midterm elections in 2022. 

Together, these strategies will advance our vision for a stronger, more representative American democracy. Within each strategy, LWV will coordinate with our network of state and local Leagues, mobilize our members and activists across the country, and collaborate with partner organizations at the national and state levels. Building on the lessons of the 2020 election cycle, the League will focus on repairing the damage to our democracy while expanding the franchise during the midterm election cycle in 2022 and the next presidential cycle in 2024. 

National Democratic Institute: A similar Focus

https://www.ndi.org/what-we-do/gender-women-and-democracy

NDI works to support women to overcome the barriers to their equal and active political participation. These barriers are present at the individual, institutional and socio-cultural levels. For example, at the individual level, women who are actually equally qualified as men talk themselves out of running for office. At the institutional level, political organizations – like parties and legislatures – remain unwelcoming to female colleagues. At the socio-cultural level, the representation by the media of women in leadership, still tends to focus on what they wear, their marital status or their voices, as opposed to their policy positions or competence.

NDI’s focus on women’s political empowerment comes from the belief that democratic resilience requires that political systems and processes take account of the voice and agency of all populations. NDI’s multi-national approach to democratic development reinforces the message that while there is no single democratic model, certain core principles are shared by all democracies. Including women as equal participants in the decision-making that affects their lives and their communities, is both a rights issue and an issue of democratic integrity. 

Milestones for Women in American Politics:

Facts and historical data on women candidates and officeholders

Here’s another long presentation on women in politics: