How has Hillary Clinton impacted women in politics?

August 5, 12:04 PMWomen of the Web ExaminerBrit Horvat

Previous Next

3 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Women of the Web Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Faith Winter is the National Field Director for 
the White House Project, the youngest elected
woman in Colorado. 

Faith Winter, National Field Director for the White House Project, is the youngest elected woman in Colorado, where she also serves on the Westminster City Council.

She provides training and inspiration to promote women's political leadership across the country, and has helped train women who are now serving on city councils, school boards and state legislatures. Winter has been organizing and working on campaigns for the past six years. Doing environmental work, she led a team of over 100 young people that turned out 93,000 young voters.

Winter was named one of 30 people under 30 showing political leadership by the Youth Vote Coalition in 2004.

I recently had the chance to ask Winter her thoughts on Hillary Rodham Clinton's impact on local and national politics and how women and girls can get involved in the Democratic National Convention.

How has Hillary Clinton had an impact on national politics and women's involvement?

Senator Clinton's candidacy made a huge, and hopefully lasting, impact on our national political landscape. For the first time in our nation's history, we witnessed a viable woman candidate for the highest office in our country, and millions of Americans supported her with their vote. The shift that her candidacy made on the nation's political psyche was profound, and I doubt that we will ever have a presidential race again where women aren't serious contenders. We have seen a huge increase in the number of women wanting to be trained for office. Whether these women were Sen. Clinton supporters or not it truly shows that it is possible for a woman to president and for women to have an impact in politics.

On the other side of the coin, Senator Clinton's candidacy also put a spotlight on women as voters. The power of women as a voting bloc - and a diverse one at that - is something that we don't hear a lot about during election cycles. But with Senator Clinton in the running, the media and the candidates paid a great deal of attention to how women were voting. In the long run, this means more attention to the broad array of issues that women care about, and a more empowered constituency who know that their voices and votes matter.

How has Hillary had an impact on a local level?

Marian Wright Edelman, who founded the Children's Defense Fund, once said, "You can't be what you can't see." And this is undoubtedly true for women in politics. In a nation that ranks 71st in the world for women's political leadership, women have a difficult time envisioning themselves as political leaders. Yet with the high visibility of Senator Clinton's campaign, women everywhere saw the possibilities open up for women in politics. Her candidacy normalized women's leadership on a scale that this country has never witnessed before, and paved the way for a whole new generation of women to step into power. That's why The White House Project exists—to educate and empower women to claim their rightful place as leaders, alongside their male peers. Programs likeVote, Run, Lead - our national political leadership training - give women the inspiration, information, and necessary tools to lead a political life, run for office, and have a lasting impact in their communities and world.

For many girls and women who are just diving into the political sphere, what are the best news sources, blogs, Web sites to start with?

The White House Project has our own blog, Add Women, Change Everything, where we discuss various topics in the current news cycle in conjunction with women's leadership. Marie Wilson, our founder and president, blogs regularly on The Huffington Post, and several of our staff members contribute to BlogHer. There are thousands of insightful women bloggers out there as well. Blogs by Women has a wonderful database of them.

If a girl or woman wants to volunteer in Denver for the DNC, who should she contact?

The White House Project will be holding a variety of events at the DNC this August, and we welcome volunteers to help out. Those interested should contact Heather Lurie at heather@purpleliberty.com.