Authors: Marianne Schnall
MS
: Sometimes this gets framed as equality for equality’s sake, but why is it important that we have women’s voices represented?
CMR
: Women just bring a different perspective to the table. We are certainly focused on our families, our children—we are interested in what’s best for them. Women oftentimes are the ones that are taking care of elderly parents and the children. And boy, they just have a different perspectives, different priorities at times. It’s important that they’re also represented around the table. In the healthcare field the large majority of healthcare professionals are women, women make 85 percent of the healthcare decisions in this country, and so it just makes sense that you would have women around the table when the public policy is being determined for healthcare. That’s going to be a very important perspective because of their experience and their roles in the household. And I also find that in education, that as a mom, now with kids in school, I’m just more passionate today than ever about making sure our schools are the best possible and the policies that are going to help make that happen—not that the dads aren’t, but I think women just have a different perspective, a different role, and that’s important to also be represented as we are developing public policy. And also if you ask people what they’re looking for in their representative, they’re looking for someone who listens, who cares about the concerns of people like you and me, who is willing to work across the aisle, is solution-oriented—and all of those qualities are qualities that often
are associated with women, more than men. And so genetically there are some qualities that women are perceived to bring to the table that large majorities of Americans are looking for.
MS
: I know that a lot of the work you’re doing now is trying to help redefine the Republican Party, especially as it pertains to women. Can you talk a little bit about that?
CMR
: Well, it is better connecting our policies with how they impact people in their daily lives. And Republicans are quick to talk about facts and figures, and we don’t talk about the benefits. So we talk about tax reform or regulatory reform or healthcare reform or education reform, but we don’t humanize it enough and we don’t give the benefit to people in their daily lives—whether it’s the mom, or it’s a single mom trying to care for her family, or even other families sitting around the table trying to balance the budget. A lot of times, it’s the woman in the household who keeps the books, is balancing the budget in the home, is trying to figure out how the family is going to make ends meet. So making sure that we’re talking about policies in ways that average hard-working Americans across the country can understand, how it’s going to impact them in their daily lives, and just making that better connection.
MS
: We did talk about the milestone of the fact that you are chairing such different, important committees and aspects in terms of leadership positions in the Republican Party. Obviously, it’s not only about getting women in Congress—do you feel that’s improving in terms of women having opportunities to reach these high-level positions?
CMR
: Yes, I do think it is important that you get into positions where you can influence even more; that’s why I think it is important to have women
around the leadership table. I think it’s important to have women that are chairing committees and taking on more leadership roles in developing priorities and the public policy solutions, absolutely.
MS
: I know you have two children. One of the things that I’ve been hearing a lot in terms of what may be holding women back—and obviously not just in Washington, but in all levels of the workplace—is this whole balancing of work and family. And it’s sort of a catch-22, because you wonder if there were more women there, whether we would have more family-friendly policies that would make this easier. But for now, do you think it’s just something that we’re going to have to deal with? Or are there tangible things that we can do to improve it? A lot of times I’m hearing that it’s almost impossible for women to feel like they can consider a political career if a woman is thinking about starting a family or has babies or very young children.
CMR
: I have concluded that every family has to figure out how to make it work for themselves. I have an incredibly supportive husband and he really plays a key role in allowing me to do what I do. People often ask how I do it all, and it’s a whole army of people that are making it possible. I have a great staff, I have the support at home, and extended family, too. My husband’s retired from the Navy, so he’s flexible and stays home with the kids, which is really ideal. And I know that that isn’t going to work for every family, and that’s where I think every family has to figure it out for themselves. Martha Roby, she was just elected in 2010, and has young kids out of Alabama, and I remember her talking to me about this and how you make it work. And I moved the family to D.C.; I made that decision. She’s left her family in Alabama. So every family has to figure it out for themselves, but I do know when I talk to women about running for office, they aren’t thinking of it as the next rung in the ladder;
quite often, they’re thinking about it as,
My plate’s already full. I have a career, my community activities, and my family, and how am I going to add something else to my plate?
It’s a different thought process for women to run for office than for men, quite often. And I do think as more women get elected, there is a recognition as to even the schedule, in Congress. It sometimes will drive you crazy. And part of it is that it’s hard to plan in advance, because it’s always changing, and maybe if more women were in the leadership positions, there would be more certainty with the schedule, for instance.
MS
: I know that you are the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. I’m not even sure that many people know that that exists or what that is. What is the purpose of that organization?
CMR
: It’s simply the caucus of all the women in the House. There are seventy-five of us, Republicans and Democrats. And the Women’s Caucus is a group that comes together at the beginning of every Congress to elect new co-chairs, so I’m no longer in that position. But I have found that it has really been an effective organization where we identify three issues that we’re going to prioritize for a given Congress, and they are ones that we can agree upon in a bipartisan fashion, and then we use our collective leverage, whether it’s the committees we serve on or our leadership positions, to help get these priorities passed. And through the years you’ve seen where we’ve had successes. When I co-chaired it with Lois Capps, one priority was more funding for breast cancer research, which we were able to get accomplished. Another priority was in education, promoting the STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] subjects for women. And then we did some work on the Afghan women—it wasn’t a piece of legislation, but it was just a commitment to supporting the women in Afghanistan, especially through this transition.
MS
: It’s wonderful to know that that exists. We were talking about hard it is for women to step up, and pursuing a political career is not an easy path and it does take a lot of confidence and a lot of courage. I’m always impressed by the women who make it to Congress. How did you develop your own inner leader? Were you born this way? Was it your own evolution? Where do your strength and confidence come from?
CMR
: I have to ask myself, what drives me? My mom asks that, too [
laughs]
, but there’s something in me that at those junctures in my life, where I’ve had the opportunity to take on a greater responsibility, run for a particular office—I’ve just decided I was going to muster up the courage and give it my best shot. And where did that come from? Some of it is the strength that comes from those that support you and believe in you, and your family is certainly an important piece of that, but ultimately it has to come from your own heart, where you have a sense that you want to do it and you’re going to muster up all the courage you have and just go for it. And I’m always amazed that once I get to that point in my own heart, how then others do come along and are helpful. But if you’re waffling, then the others aren’t as confident to support you. You have to show that confidence in yourself to begin with.
MS
: It wasn’t actually that long ago that women did not even have the right to vote, which is mind blowing. I’ve been hearing different assessments of where women are, some very encouraged, some discouraged, some feeling like we’re stagnating. What’s your sense of where women are in this moment?
CMR
: Well, when you put it in the context of the amount of time since we first got the right to vote, I think, okay, we’re doing well. But also coming from the Republican side, too, I certainly would like to see more women
running on the Republican ticket. We had a record number run in 2010; we had a record number elected in 2010. And we lost some in 2012, and in the last twenty years . . . we’ve had our good years and then years where we didn’t do so well and it’s been pretty flat! And I do ask myself, why aren’t we doing better? For as much progress as we’ve made, I was just the 200th woman to be elected to Congress, ever, and I think, that’s not very many women that have ever served in Congress, total! But we’ve made good progress. There’s still a lot of work to be done, though, to encourage more women to run for office. I’m overall encouraged, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.
MS
: We started out by talking about the fact that women seem to have to be really encouraged to run, or wait until they’re asked to run, and I think a lot of this conditioning does start in girlhood. I have two daughters and despite the fact that I try to parrot all these positive messages to them all the time, there is still a lot of discouraging messages that come at them from the culture. What words of wisdom would you want to offer to girls and young women today in terms of seeing themselves as leaders and as change agents in the world?
CMR
: Don’t hold back. The sky’s the limit. And just be bold. Be bold. I remember when we were looking at the STEM fields and why more women, why more girls don’t go into STEM. And even when they’re in junior high, when they’re making those decisions as to what they want to do with their lives, and even if they are gifted in the areas of science and math—women or junior high girls—when they’re asked, “So what do you want to do?” they think about careers in terms of making a difference and being a part of the team, quite often, and they don’t see those fields leading to that type of a career, the science, technology, engineering and math. And I can’t help but wonder if politics is like that, too. I guess it makes a
difference, but not in being a part of a team. And we talk about America being this land of opportunity, but a lot of times we don’t even know what those opportunities are. I would encourage young women to just go explore. Take advantage of the internships and the fellowships and go travel and just go explore what’s out there before you make your decision, and see where you really find your passion and where you find fulfillment.
MS
: One of the goals of this book is to encourage women and girls to consider a career in politics, and right now it does seem so hard and challenging. What are the rewards? What are the joys? What’s the meaningful part of it that makes it all worthwhile for you?
CMR
: It’s when I see where I am making a difference in people’s lives, whether it’s promoting a particular issue or helping someone who’s having trouble dealing with the federal government—getting their back pay from the IRS, or whatever it might be—it’s making a difference for people, giving back to my community, working to leave a better America than the one I inherited.
“When it comes to this type of political power . . . women don’t want to have to go out and raise those massive amounts of money that it now requires. They feel guilty. They feel responsible. They don’t want to do it. So I think campaign finance reform is a huge part of women running for office. I also think the news media has to change. I mean, it is still shocking to me how many times you read an article and it comments on a woman’s clothes and just her appearance
—
and women feel humiliated by that. It’s just not something they want to have to go through. So I just think the news media really has to be mandated to only describe a female politician in the same exact way they would describe a male politician.”
A
FTER GRADUATING
cum laude
from Barnard College in 1992 with a degree in art history, Amy Richards embarked on an unexpected career as a feminist activist, writer, and organizer. What began as a summer project, Freedom Summer ’92, a cross-country voter registration drive, eventually led Amy Richards to co-found the Third Wave Foundation, a national organization for young feminist activists between the ages of fifteen and thirty. Richards’ leadership and visionary work launched her as a primary spokesperson and leading voice for young feminist issues, and for the past fifteen years she has assumed that role by lecturing at hundreds of venues, writing books and articles about feminism today, and
making numerous media appearances all in an attempt to confirm that younger people are making bold and transformative contributions to their communities.
Richards is most popularly known as the author of
Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future
(co-authored with Jennifer Baumgardner) and as the voice behind Ask Amy, the online advice column she has run since 1995 at
Feminist.com
(of which she is a confounding board member). Richards is also the author of
Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself
about feminism and motherhood, and the co-author of
Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism
. Richards’ writings have appeared in
The Nation, The Los Angeles Times, Bust, Ms. Magazine
, and numerous anthologies.