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“You might not care about politics, but politics sure cares about you,” said Nancy Bocskor, the center’s new director and former political fundraiser and adjunct professor at George Washington University. “People control every part of your life. Why not have a seat at the table?”
This is the first program at the university to zero in on politics. The goal is to inspire, persuade and teach women how to enter public service, said Bocskor. Women are not only underrepresented in elected positions and with agencies that work with government. They are also underrepresented on policy boards and other committees that shape public policy.
While the program has yet to build a curriculum for students, the focus is now on research and developing activities that groom women for future office, such as launching a teenage political boot camp and programs teaching girls how to run for student body president.
Texas was once a leader for women in political power, with female mayors running half the state’s largest cities and the governor’s office in 1990. The number of women in Congress and the state Legislature continued to climb until a sudden downturn in 2010, slipping steadily since.
This year’s November election could break that trend.State Sen. Sylvia Garcia of Houston and El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar, are expected to be the first Latina women in Texas to win seats to the U.S. House of Representatives in Democratic strongholds. The number of women in Texas’ 38-member congressional delegation would increase from three to five. Read more
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