Women Leaders

Well, here we go: you know campaign season has truly started once the backwards, sexist comments start coming out of GOP candidates’ mouths. Congratulations to Cong. Steve King for kicking things off with a bang!

Gerry Ferraro was mourned and celebrated yesterday in New York City for the game-changing role she played not just in politics, but in the perception of women as leaders throughout the world – and for how she changed women’s perspectives on themselves as leaders. She was remembered, too, for her feisty wit, and her devotion to her children and her community.

The service was crowded with family, old friends, and political allies and rivals.

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Fortieth birthdays are not always welcome but the National Partnership for Women and Families, an organization that works for equality and family-friendly policies in the workplace as well as access to affordable, comprehensive healthcare, embraced the change. At their annual luncheon, they celebrated being “Forty, Feisty and Fabulous” with the equally phenomenal First Lady Michelle Obama as the keynote speaker. And what’s not to celebrate when you reflect on how much progress has been made in our nation since the National Partnership was founded, especially for women?

Today EMILY's List announced that it is moving five women currently "On the List" to a full recommendation. These five women are the first 2012 House challengers to move from "On the List" to a full endorsement.

It was a refreshing change to see a female face among the legion of male ones usually found on the Sunday political talk show circuit. However, apparently not everyone was as happy as we were to see veteran journalist Christiane Amanpour take over the reins of This Week. Sadly, the criticism seems all too familiar and all too shallow: “that hair of hers — yipe. What's the deal with that?” Tom Shales profoundly noted in the Washington Post. Remember all the fuss about Jake Tapper’s haircut or David Gregory’s mane? Yeah, we don’t either.

Yesterday, Stephanie sent an email to our EMILY's List supporters asking for your help to win another Special Election. We're coming down to the wire for the Oregon 1st District race for Congress, and Suzanne Bonamici is proving she's a strong candidate and will be a strong leader for Oregon.

Last night, we got to see the American spirit at its absolute best. Gabrielle Giffords arrived in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives to a standing ovation from colleagues on both sides of the aisle. She walked in beaming, without help, and she cast her vote. She said she was happy to get back to work.

When we shared the sad news of Geraldine Ferraro’s death with our community this weekend, the memories of a pioneering politician who inspired so many came pouring in. In honor of Ferraro, we wanted to share the thoughts and words of our members who were touched by her ground-breaking life and career.

I talked to Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin yesterday and wanted to make sure you saw this incredible news -- Tammy is running for the U.S. Senate.

Sorry folks – no pity party to see here. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a recent interview with Deborah Solomon of The New York Times, evaluates recent events with her typical frankness. After the midterm losses, Solomon asks Pelosi, why not just step down from leadership? “Well, don’t forget that I led the party into the strong victories of ’06 and ’08. And now we are prepared to win again.”