Focusing on a female perspective
Groups aim to increase participation, representation of women in politics
Indiana elections are seemingly in a lull-period, at least in the minds of voters, with the next election the May 2022 primary. But area women’s organizations are working hard to engage more women in the election process and get them involved.
The organizations are focusing on addressing gerrymandering, in which political parties in charge of a state’s legislature redraw electoral district boundaries, and lead positions in local politics.
“When women are involved, when women engage and when women run it benefits all of us,” said Women4Change Indiana Executive Director Rima Shahid.
Women4Change Indiana, with a focus on educating, equipping and mobilizing Hoosiers to create positive change for women, is focusing on addressing redistricting electoral maps. The electoral maps are drawn every 10 years once census data is released, which means that today’s first graders will start voting the when electoral maps are redrawn in 2031, Shahid said.
“These maps don’t just affect us now in the present, but they really have long lasting impactions. This is part of our ongoing strategy around voting and engaging Hoosier voters,” Shahid said. “Women make up 51% of the population, and have to be heard and counted at the ballot box because we are your majority.”
Linda Hanson, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Indiana, said addressing how the maps are redrawn would encourage more candidates to run for office.
Shahid said that Women4Change Indiana is encouraging women
to run for state and federal offices, but a greater effort has been placed at the local level. The pandemic exposed the different entities and bodies that make decisions around elections, Shahid said as an example, and women would have an impact serving on election boards, as precinct chairs and in the election administrative offices.
“Largely, these are not women that are necessarily in those positions. We need people at all levels of government because all of them are important,” Shahid said. “As we know, all politics are local. We have to start thinking about our city, county, (school boards) and ... folks that administer our elections, which is fundamental to our democracy.”
Gary Councilwoman Tai Adkins, D-4th, recently wrote an opinion piece about her experience with the Hoosier Women Forward leadership program, which focuses on preparing and propelling Democratic women into top roles in the public and private sector, and to encourage other women to apply.
The program, which started in 2018, has seen 14 of its members run for office, eight successfully, Adkins wrote, adding that “while having class members run for office is not the only goal of the program, increasing the number of Democratic women involved in and seeking political roles in Indiana is a long-term objective.”
After the 2016 election, Deb Chubb, a Michigan City Area Schools board member, said she felt she had to do something to work with and support women at the political level. In 2019, Chubb created 25 Women for 2020, an organization with the goal of supporting and ultimately electing 25 Democratic women to the Indiana State Legislature in the 2020 election.
Ultimately, the group supported 29 women, Chubb said. The majority of the candidates were new to politics and hadn’t run before, she said.
The group, with a five-member board, offered training, support, advice and referrals — whatever the women needed — to each of the candidates, Chubb said.
“It was all very gratifying, for me, to help these women, if not win the race really find success in learning how to be Democratic women in politics and run for office,” Chubb said. “The most beneficial part of that candidate network was the connections that they made with other women and the support they got from other Democratic women running for office.”
Unfortunately, Chubb said, only two women the organization supported were elected. But, after reviewing voter turnout, Chubb said she realized that combining the districts of the 27 candidates who lost they received about 100,000 more votes than the Democratic candidates in the 2016 and 2018 elections — depending on House and Senate seats.
“They did a lot of work, and they really did bring in a lot more Democratic votes in those districts,” Chubb said. “They did really increase the Democratic votes in their districts as a group, but not enough to overcome the overwhelming Republican turnout.”
Now, Chubb is focusing beyond 2020, changing the name of the group to Indiana Women’s Action Movement and expanding the group’s board from five to a dozen. The group’s mission also expanded, she said, to recruiting, training and supporting Democratic women to positions at the grassroots level of the Democratic Party structure: Precinct chairperson.
A precinct chairperson, one for each party, leads a voting precinct with an area of about 600 to 700 homes, Chubb said. The committeeperson creates a committee of volunteers to help find party members in their precinct, register people to vote, inform voters of their party candidates and encourage them to get out and vote.
The group will support and educate Democratic women about the precinct committeeperson positions, Chubb said, by offering forums, training and support.
“This is an enormously important position,” Chubb said. “Our organization is really committed to helping Democratic women who may not know about precinct work and who want to do something at a local level to learn more about it.”
The group’s mission will also still focus on recruiting, training and supporting Democratic women running for state legislative seats, Chubb said. But, to further that effort, Chubb said the group will work toward building a coalition of Democratic women’s groups to create a stronger support system for women working in the political system and running for office.
“We hope that Democratic women who are interested in politics will find the information that they are looking for and will get a better understanding about how to get more Democratic women elected, and learn more about what’s happening in other areas of the state toward this end,” Chubb said.
Research has shown that women are excellent leaders, Chubb said, giving the example that countries with women leaders had the best response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Women leaders are known to be better collaborators and consensus builders, Chubb said, as well as successful in passing legislation that helps their constituents.
On the other hand, Chubb said, a lack of women in leadership, particularly in the Indiana State Legislature, means bills that are harmful to women are drafted and passed.
Chubb pointed to an anti-abortion bill, signed into law, that requires doctors to tell women undergoing drug-induced abortions about a scientifically unfounded treatment for potentially stopping an abortion.
“It’s just embarrassing and outrageous how women’s issues are just stepped on by the Republican majority in both houses and the governor,” Chubb said. “Women in leadership is extremely important.”