The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) recently released new data on women's representation at the municipal level , revealing that women hold less than one-third of seats in municipal governments (in cities and towns with populations over 10,000) nationwide. To provide additional context for this data, we asked one of those municipal...

Dr. Mirya Holman is associate professor of political science at Tulane University. Among her many publications on gender and American politics, she is the author of Women in Politics in the American City (Temple University Press, 2014), which examines the effect of female mayors and city council members on urban politics. We asked Dr. Holman to share...

Many people are compelled to become political officeholders due to some higher calling. Whether it be a civic duty, love of country, or some pull to power. Black women are no different. However, their civic duty and love of country may look quite different than their white male and female counterparts. When Black women speak of doing the work of their...

“There are a number of women who are qualified to be president tomorrow.” These words from former Vice President Joe Biden made headlines back in March when he solemnly pledged to pick a woman as his running mate during the Democratic primary debates. The promise elicited mixed feelings from viewers – some were pleased, others felt slighted – but it once...

These days, hand-shaking, baby kissing, and door-knocking are scary and flout social distancing rules. The traditional ways candidates literally reach out and touch voters have been put on hold due to the coronavirus. No more direct contact means it’s necessary to master the art of being a virtual candidate. Making the shift to online campaigning isn’t as...

We know that women are on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. According the U.S. Census Bureau , women hold 76% of all heath care jobs. More specifically, women are over 85% of registered nurses nationwide, dominating one of the groups battling coronavirus via patient care in hospitals nationwide. Women are also 31 of 50 (62%) of state health...

This post is based on the author's live webinar presentation: “Campaigning During COVID, Part I”, as offered by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. Download and follow along with the accompanying Power Point presentation . Part II’s webinar will be on Campaign Tactics and...