USA

The Democratic Party is hoping 2014 will be a Year of the Woman—again.

As party operatives prepare for the midterm elections, Democratic women are being cast in starring roles, on the ballot and at the ballot box, as the party tries to take back politically important governor's mansions and keep its fragile majority in the Senate.

"The importance of women to the Democratic Party in 2014 cannot be overstated," said Jess McIntosh, a spokeswoman for EMILY's List, which recruits and supports Democratic women candidates.

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.

By John Kerry

On my many trips to Afghanistan as a senator and as secretary of state, I’ve met with a remarkable array of Afghan government officials, businesses people, development experts, diplomats, brave American troops and their courageous Afghan counterparts — all of whom have sacrificed for the promise of a safe, secure and sovereign Afghanistan.

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.

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?

Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State John Kerry and former First Lady Laura Bush on Friday said that as elections near in Afghanistan and U.S. troops continue to draw down, America must remain committed to the country during what they called a critical juncture.