This is an area where we can discuss Women and Politics .
I thought we could start with this statement made by
Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Woman and Politics at Rutgers University, who says women seek public office because “women run to do something, men run to be somebody.”
Continuing, Walsh said: “Women run because there is some public issue that they care about, some change they want to make, some issue that is a priority for them… men tend to run for office because they see this as a career path.”
Do you agree with this ?
I know I decided to get into local politics for this reason. I had always been interested in politics because in my family we always liked a good discussion on the topics of the day.
My Grandad had been involved in the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1950’s and 1960’s. In fact he was the Vice -President of the Lancashire NUM. I’m proud of that ! I became a Union Rep myself in the 1990’s. So I guess for me , fighting injustice was in my genes.
Yet it was only when I reached my late 30’s that I decided to get active with the local Labour party .This was because as this statement suggests there was a public issue I was concerned about. As many of you might know already,this was road safety. I founded www.kidscrosssafely.org.uk when I realised that there was injustice in a system which should protect our children.
I’d like to hear from you. What made you want to get involved in politics ? Do you feel that this is a good statement ?
Do you feel that there should be more done to encourage women into politics. How do we achieve this ?
