‘She Should Run’ Aims to Attract More Women to Public Office

“We weren’t alone in seeing what was very clearly a surge in women stepping up from all corners of the country.”

Voting Vote Election 1

Jake Neher/WDET

The idea that we have representative democracy is beautiful in theory, rather than in reality.

Our elected bodies have never truly represented the American population demographically.

Political parties have long struggled to attract women and minority communities to run for office.

In the Michigan Senate there are 38 seats and only four of them are occupied by women.

One organization is trying to change those types of disparities. It’s called She Should Run and it’s designed to encourage and support women who may be interested in running for an elected position.

Erin Loos Cutraro from She Should Run says the organization has heard from 15,000 women since the most recent presidential election, which is a roughly 1700% increase in contacts. 

“We weren’t alone in seeing what was very clearly a surge in women stepping up from all corners of the country, raising their hand and saying ‘okay, I want to do this. Tell me how to run for office.'”

To hear from Cutraro on Detroit Today, click on the audio player above.

Author

  • Dynamic and diverse voices. News, politics, community and the issues that define our region. Hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Stephen Henderson, Detroit Today brings you fresh and perceptive views weekdays at 9 am and 7 pm.