United States of America

In an era of government distrust, political gridlock, and legislative dysfunction, women may be the power players who forge solutions and help address our nation’s most divisive problems, argues Swanee Hunt in a recent article in Global Post. Ms. Hunt is a Lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School andChairwoman of Political Parity—an organization “dedicated to increasing the number of women serving in the highest levels of government.”

Thirty-six states will hold governor’s elections next year, and Democrats have top female recruits in at least five states who are poised to be their party’s nominee and competitive in the general election. Coupled with the four female governors who are running for reelection – three Republicans and one Democrat – observers say 2014 could see gains for women as states’ top executives.

“This is a year of opportunity at the gubernatorial level,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University.

Due to the government shutdown and debt ceiling debate, Americans have paid particularly close attention to Congress and its members. This new attentiveness to the legislative branch has raised a valid observation: most members of Congress are men. That is why on Wednesday, Oct. 16, Rhode Island College hosted a discussion panel featuring local female politicians as part of its Congress to Campus program. 

Four decades after the election that shattered the glass ceiling for women in the Minnesota Legislature, gender equality is still elusive at the state Capitol.

Women hold 34 percent of the 201 seats in the Legislature, giving Minnesota the fourth-highest share of female state lawmakers in the nation.

But as the candidate recruiting season intensifies a year before the 2014 election, more men than women step forward to run, and female candidates still face more barriers than their male counterparts.

In a state infamously governed by “three men in a room,” three women want to take the helm of upstate cities.

Rochester and Albany can elect their first female mayors in November, when Lovely Warren and Kathy Sheehan will lead the Democratic ticket in the respective cities. In Syracuse, Stephanie Miner became that city’s first woman mayor four years ago and is seeking re-election without a major-party opponent.

If they’re elected, it would mark a historic first for New York: Three of its six largest cities would have women in the mayor’s office.

Lincoln Sen. Amanda McGill will host town hall meetings this month to examine barriers that face women as they struggle to reach professional goals.

The meetings stem from LR295, introduced by McGill to study the income gap between men and women.

The town halls will give women a chance to share their experiences on wage disparity; balancing work and family; the lack of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields; and roadblocks to self-confidence.