FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2016
Washington, D.C. — Today, Emerge America, the nation’s premier organization for recruiting and training Democratic women to run for office, launched #WhySheRuns, a social media campaign that will use the real-life stories of current and former women candidates and elected officials to spread the message of why our country needs more women to run for office and why women’s voices are so needed in government. The campaign also seeks to inspire women to jump into the political arena. Women who are interested in getting more information about running for office can sign up with Emerge America to get connected to resources.
“Hillary Clinton’s historic nomination as the first female presidential candidate of a major party has sparked important conversations about the role that women can and should play in government. This is an exciting time,” said Andrea Dew Steele, Founder and President of Emerge America. “However, even if the highest glass ceiling is shattered in November, women will remain starkly underrepresented in government around the country. That’s why we need to think of Hillary Clinton’s achievement as the beginning of this journey, not the finish line. In order to make meaningful gains for equal representation, we have to work together and address the issue head-on.”
As part of today’s launch, Emerge America released a short video highlighting the campaign’s message and goals and featuring Emerge alumnae from across the country. It can be viewed at emergeamerica.org/whysheruns.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said, “Women make up more than half of our population, but we don’t even come close to that level of representation in our government. If we had more women running for office and serving in leadership roles, imagine how much more this country would get done: we’d have far more cities and states with paid leave laws and affordable childcare, Congress wouldn’t be arguing about equal pay for equal work and we wouldn’t still be debating access to contraception. I encourage all women to raise their voices about the issues that matter to them: speak out, be heard and run for office! You will truly make a difference.”
#WhySheRuns will seek to shine a light on the important issue of women’s representation. The campaign will include:
When it comes to politics, many women don’t know where to start. Emerge wants to help them be a force of change. More information is available at emergeamerica.org/whysheruns.
CONTACT: Allison Abney
(202) 670-7994; allison@emergeamerica.org
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