Scariest Thing This Halloween? Extreme Gender Bias Against Women in Politics

Want to hear something that'll chill your blood? Then listen to the way female politicians have been portrayed in recent days by their peers and by the mainstream media. The National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC) offers a round-up just in time for Halloween:

Gender-stereotyping goblins and ghosts are lurking in the corners of the media and political arena, looking to demean our accomplishments and our women representatives at every turn with a sexist quip.

Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi expresses her opinion on a press conference and the NRCC [National Republican Congresssional Committee] releases a statement saying that she should be "put in her place."

[Maine] Senators [Olympia] Snowe and [Susan] Collins cast their votes on health care reform, and rather than attacking the choice itself they are called "jezebel," and [Rush] Limbaugh quips "women, damn it."

Martha Coakley, who has the potential to be Massachusetts's first female senator, is stereotyped as an "ice queen" and "mean girl."

Some ([Minneapolis radio host] Chris Baker) go so far as to say that they are "not that excited about women voting."

The frightening fact [is] that women - despite comprising over half of the US population - make up only 17% of the House and Senate.....[W]omen get paid only 80 cents for every dollar a man makes! And isn't it shocking that we still haven't been able to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed?!

Want to change the ending of these horror stories? Your opportunity comes just three days after Halloween, on Election Day, when you have the chance to vote.

The NWPC identifies two key races in which highly qualified, competent women are running -- candidates who are not merely 'gender picks' but are best suited to serve the needs of their constituents:

• the Massachusetts Senate race (to fill Ted Kennedy's vacant seat) with Democratic candidate Martha Coakley who is currently that state's first female Attorney General. If elected in the January 19, 2009 special election, she'll also be the state's first female Senator.
• the New York 23rd Congressional District race with Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava who breaks with her party in declaring herself to be pro-choice and pro-marriage equality. She'll be running in the general election on Tuesday.

Whether or not you can vote in these two races isn't the issue. What matters is that women go to the polls, even in an 'unsexy' off year, and support candidates who will go forth and legislate on behalf of women.

With only 17% of the House and Senate seats filled by women, of course we're not going to find our needs met.

We need to be pro-active and run for public office, support other capable and qualified women in our hometown races, and get inside the system so we can fix what isn't working.