Nora Grace-Flood
Tuesday night’s Zoom conversation.
Top Connecticut Democrats joined a host of national female politicians in celebrating the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote — and to contemplate the unique role women have played in American political life, on and off the ballot, since the last presidential election.
The Connecticut Democratic Party hosted that virtual conversation on Zoom Tuesday night. The event took place on the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, and amidst the backdrop the weeklong virtual Democratic National Convention.
The conversation, which was hosted by the Connecticut Democrats, featured a wide range of elected women leaders, including New Haven’s U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, New Hampshire State Senate President Donna Soucy, Vermont State Senate Majority Leader Beca Balint, and Dr. Nina Ahmad, candidate for Auditor General of Pennsylvannia. Connecticut Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz served as moderator.
“Women are the crux of what has happened in every election since 2016,” DeLauro said during the event.
The “rockstar” group— to borrow the words of Jacqueline Kozin, the Executive Director of the CT Democratic Party— spoke about the increasingly crucial role that women across the country are playing in electing officials and setting political agendas.
Bysiewicz shared that within Connecticut, 29.9 percent of the 311 state offices are held by women. Nationwide, there are nine governors, 15 lieutenant governors, and eight attorney generals who are female.
Twenty seven percent of the U.S. Congress is composed of women, and of those 127 female representatives and senators, 105 are Democrats.
“These are women who have defied the odds, run for public office, won, and are governing,” said Bysiewicz.
While women are still underrepresented in positions of power, those numbers hold a positive shock value in comparison to 100 years ago when white women were just earning the right to vote.
Black and Latina women were, and still are, denied that right through voter suppression tactics. It was not until The Voting Rights Act of 1965 that legislation specifically designed to overcome those barriers was signed into law.
“Women Are Not A Monolith”
DeLauro also warned that “women are not a monolith.” It should not be forgotten, for example, that 94 percent of Black women who voted in 2017 chose Hillary Clinton— and 53 percent of white women picked Donald Trump.
Tuesday’s event, which coincided with the second night of the Democratic National Convention, focused on a small group of elected female Democrats looking to build solidarity without sacrificing nuance.
Ahmad paraphrased the poet Audre Lorde, saying, “We don’t live single issue lives because we’re not single issue people.”
She reasoned, “I cannot think about my gender and not the color of my skin.”
Ahmad herself immigrated to the United States from Bangladesh when she was 21 years old. Her childhood was marked by the violence of the Bangladesh Liberation War, in which three million people were killed and two hundred thousand women and children were brutalized.
“When I talk about being a fighter, I stand very tall,” she said. “I stand in sacrifice of those people who gave their lives… and of people here who have been fighting for years to get a fair shot. I’m deeply grateful for the people who have come before me.”
DeLauro added, “When you’re elected you’re not elected for yourself, but to represent the broad base of a constituency. It’s not your own personal ideology. You have principles and values that motivate what you do.”
DeLauro said that those values are deeply rooted in our early personal lives. She recalled growing up in her own Italian, Catholic household, and how her own trailblazing and entrepreneurial grandmother and mother laid the groundwork for her long career in politics.
The officials recognized their diverse backgrounds, experiences, and values while suggesting that politics often requires compromise in order to best serve the general public that they were elected to represent.
Beca Balint related this to the current presidential election, recalling when California U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris was first announced as Biden’s running mate.
“All of a sudden she wasn’t progressive enough, she wasn’t this enough, why isn’t Bernie the nominee, can you just imagine,” Balint said. “I would pose a question: what do you think the other option is at this point? We have a mad man in the White House.”
Bysiewicz said that beyond the political significance of the election, public treatment of Harris had been overtly unjust. “Kamala Harris had been the choice of our next president for a minute and a half, and all of a sudden people are questioning her citizenship; we’ve seen that before, we know what that is, that’s racism.”
She also remembered instances in which Harris was called “too ambitious,” highlighting the persistent double standard that prizes male go-getters and punishes determined women.
“We have to stand not just for Joe Biden but for Kamala Harris,” Bysiewicz said. “We’ve seen these same kinds of attacks on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. She will have dual attacks. We just have to stand up and say that’s not acceptable and this is historic.”
Mayor Bowser said, “What broke my heart when Hillary ran were just vicious attacks,” adding that she did not see the “same energy” go towards defending Clinton as it did towards male candidates.
DeLauro noted that while “you have to hold firm in what you believe in” in order to foster change, “you have to be respectful.”
Beyond basic respect within interpersonal communication, all agreed that respect and care for women is also ensured through strong legislation.
Minimum Wage, Paid Family Leave, Pay Equity
While all six participants have differing stances and approaches to plenty of topics, they unanimously agreed on the importance of increasing the minimum wage, securing substantial paid family leave, and establishing pay equity.
DeLauro said that earlier in her career, she and other women “were the crazy aunts in the attic here talking about these issues” but that “they are now in the center of public discourse.”
Klobuchar stepped in at the end of the meeting to not only celebrate the successes achieved by the other panelists, but to emphasize the potential of the upcoming Presidential election to continue to reverse that progress. “Everything we care about as women is on the line, from reproductive rights to child care to food safety to all the economic issues,” she said.
The leaders discussed the importance of continuing to elect more women to office, partly to appeal to and prioritize more female voters.
Balint reflected on how she and her partner have two children and both work full-time jobs. “How does that prepare us to be better leaders in our chambers?” she asked. “I am going through exactly what my constituents are going through.” When Vermont residents call out the ways in which they feel unsupported as working mothers, Balint said she is able to say “I am right there with you.”
Balint was the child of an immigrant and said that while she always wanted to get involved in politics, “it was a pipe dream.” She said that there were no gay, female role models for her to look to, and it was not until she reached her mid forties and had a child in preschool that her spouse urged her to run.
That year, Balint became the first openly gay woman to serve in the Vermont Senate.
Ahmad, whose mother was from India, said that representation in its basic form still matters in today’s world. She said she was personally excited to see Harris, “a woman who is Black and Asian, bring to the table her lived experiences.”
“It is incumbent upon all of us to be good mentors and encourage women to run,” added New Hampshire State Senator Donna Soucy. She said that in New Hampshire, legislators are essentially volunteers. “This is very challenging for women who work,” she said, drawing attention to the challenges posed by women with children to balance their home life with uncompensated work.
Bysiewicz encouraged more youth to reach out to local governments and seek out internships. “Volunteer with your mayor or first selectman,” she urged. “Republican or Democrat, they will be thrilled that you volunteered because it’s hard for them to find people who want to volunteer their time or talents.”
She also said, “What I love about all the women here is that they all come from different walks of life… but all of us bring those special talents with us into public service.”
DeLauro also considered how despite adversity, women have been behind and in front of many of the major movements that have defined the current moment. Black Lives Matter, for example, was founded by three Black women: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi.
Klobuchar’s Favorite New Haven Pizza? “Pepe’s!”
Ahmad said that the 90 minute event was an opportunity “to be here with my sisters in the struggle” and to “have each others’ backs.” It was also a chance to relax and compare fond memories during a particularly tense time.
Klobuchar, who went to Yale, remembered when Rosa DeLauro spoke in her Politics and Government course. “I remember Rosa DeLauro being somebody that I listened to… talk about mentors!”
Bysiewicz, also made sure to inquire which New Haven pizza place was Klobuchar’s favorite.
“Pepe’s!” Klobuchar declared.
“I always stay safe and go with Modern,” Bysiewicz admitted.
After serving as a representative of New Haven for nearly 30 years, DeLauro had some sage advice to offer her colleagues.
“I never answered that,” she said, “because it’s a political question.”
