by NOW President Kim Gandy

Okay, take a guess. What do the G.I. Bill, the School Lunch Program, and the Fair Labor Standards Act have in common? How about federal aid to education, the nationwide network of veterans’ hospitals, and the tax deduction for child care expenses?

If you’re really stumped, how about Title IX, the equal educational opportunity law? The Equal Pay Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act? The Freedom of Choice Act? The Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Pay Act? Okay, maybe now you’re getting the idea.

Yes, despite their paltry representation, women in Congress introduced them all, along with countless other reforms that affect our lives to this day. It might sound clichéd, but women leaders do make a difference. Women began serving in Congress less than 100 years ago, and throughout that brief history they have made a great impact – a truly progressive, society-transforming impact.

Organizations like NOW, and feminists in general, often state that we need more women in government, from local school boards all the way to the highest levels of office. Increasing the number of women in power is a good thing — that’s just common sense, right? But taking a closer look at why it’s so important has been on my mind as the November elections approach.

First, there’s simple parity. Currently, women hold a paltry 16 percent of the seats in the United States Congress and they make up 24 percent of the state legislatures. Only eight states have women governors, and we all know that the U.S. has yet to have a woman president or even a female nominee from a major political party. And as recently as 1992, women were only 2% of the U.S. Senate.

With women vastly under-represented in this arena, and glass ceilings still to be smashed, women’s rights advocates would be negligent not to try to correct such an imbalance.

But there’s so much more to the argument than fairness.

It might seem obvious, but it’s worth noting that most women legislators can be counted on to fight for the “bread and butter” women’s issues that a legislature exclusively occupied by men might not bother to tackle. Access to reproductive health services and child care, the right to equal pay and education opportunities, ending sexual harassment and all forms of violence against women – without a doubt, these issues advance when women with firsthand experience secure the authority to do something about them.

It was a woman, in fact, the very first woman ever to serve in Congress, Jeannette Rankin, who introduced the very first piece of federal social welfare legislation — a bill to reduce maternal and infant mortality.

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