United States of America

The first time Senator Patty Murray ran for local office, she was so embarrassed to ask people for money for her campaign that she and her husband held a garage sale. But her generous husband could not stop himself from giving away an expensive lawn mower, she said, leaving the fund-raiser at a net loss.

By the time she ran for the Senate in 1992, she had gained the confidence to hold out the hat enthusiastically.

What is the appropriate role of women in political life?

Are women fundamentally different than men? How does “femininity” qualify or disqualify women from political participation?

When I arrived at the Capitol in 2007 to take my oath as a new member of the U.S. House of Representatives, I had the privilege of filling the seat held for so long and so well by my friend Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress. I was so grateful to her.
I felt Patsy’s presence when I cast my first vote in Congress, which was to elect Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House. I rose and said, “In memory of Patsy Mink, I cast my vote for Nancy Pelosi.”

A gathering of Washington's most important military leaders doesn't seem like the obvious place to champion the cause of increasing women's power around the world. Nor does Hillary Clinton seem like the obvious choice for an award from the National Defense University.

Former President Bill Clinton said Monday he would like to see a female president, but he has “no idea” if his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will run in 2016.

“I hope we have a woman president in my lifetime, and I think it would be a good thing for the world as well as for America,” Clinton said at a conference in China, according to Agence France-Presse.

There’s something I need to get off my chest. It’s been weighing on me, and I want to come clean before the next election cycle: I didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary. That fact is only controversial because I’m a women’s advocate by trade, and there are certain feminist circles in which anything less than full-throated Hillary support is tantamount to heresy.

What, I wonder, explains the gender gap in political corruption?

Women make up almost 20 percent of the current Congress, according to the Center for American Women and Politics, but they don’t come anywhere near that proportion when we are talking about scandals on Capitol Hill.

Will it take breaking news of a female lawmaker doing something truly stupid like former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s tweeting self-portraits of his private parts to strangers to know we are beginning to achieve gender equality?

We are so fortunate to have been able to interview Betsy Hodges, who is currently running for Mayor of Minneapolis. She's been the representation for Ward 13 on the Minneapolis City Council for seven years, during which time she has chaired the Intergovernmental Relations Committee and the Ways & Means Committee. The mayoral race is coming to a close (get out and vote November 5th if you live in Minneapolis!), so we're thankful that Ms. Hodges took the time to answer some of our questions about her political career.