AUSTIN — Women are nearly half of the workforce in the U.S. and are shouldering much of the frontline work during the coronavirus pandemic, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data from The Associated Press.
But they’re not always calling the shots because, when it comes to politics, they’re still underrepresented compared with men.
That’s why the new LBJ Women’s Campaign School at the University of Texas at Austin aims to get more women to run for office or to run political campaigns.
Beginning in June, the school will offer virtual training sessions once a month through December, and in January it will feature a five-day in-person campaign boot camp. The deadline to apply is Sunday.
The women’s campaign school is the brainchild of Amy Kroll, a graduate student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She said she was inspired after seeing former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accept an award at the LBJ School in 2018.
“I thought to myself, ‘We have to be doing more for women in politics,’ and so I started thinking about what we could do to support women in politics,” said Kroll, the executive director and founder of the campaign school.
There has been a surge in women running for office over the last few election cycles, with 2018 even being dubbed a “Year of the Woman.” But there are still stark gender disparities.
Despite the record-breaking number of women candidates in 2018, they were still less than 25% of the candidates on primary ballots, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. Another 2018 report found that for every one woman in public office, there were three men in office.
“And in Texas, it’s even more pronounced,” Kroll said. “For every one woman, there are five men in public office. So there’s still so much more work to be done, and it’s especially surprising since 2020 is the hundredth anniversary of the 19th Amendment.”
It’s not that women aren’t interested in politics. Women have outvoted men in elections for many years, Kroll said, but they are not serving in elective office at the same rate.
To encourage women to run or get involved, the school will teach campaign skills such as preparing a stump speech and fundraising.
Nancy Bocskor, director of the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at Texas Woman’s University, a sponsor of the effort, said women often use communication and leadership skills in the workforce but may struggle to ask for money or sell themselves as candidates. One 2018 study found a $500,000 difference between men’s and women’s campaign fundraising in congressional races.
“Women in the United States are the ones who are the backbone of nonprofit organizations,” Bocskor said. “My focus is teaching them that it’s OK to ask for something for themselves. That they are as important. That they can do this.”
While both Democrats and Republicans have ramped up efforts to win women’s votes with more representation, Republican women are more underrepresented in elective office.
The school is a bipartisan effort, featuring female political experts from both sides of the aisle, Kroll said. Jenifer Sarver, who ran in the 2018 Republican primary for former U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith’s seat in Texas Congressional District 21, serves on the school’s advisory board. She has conducted Facebook Live sessions for the school, as has Maya Rupert, the campaign manager for former Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro.
Through these candid conversations with women in the field, the school also aims to provide information on the practical questions women may face on the campaign trail, such as whether they can use campaign funds for child care and how to tackle sexism and cope with personal challenges.
For example, Sarver said, people were often surprised to learn during her campaign that she was running as a single woman with no kids. This gave her more flexibility in campaigning but proved personally challenging, she said.
“I didn't have a partner or significant other to share that journey with, and it wasn't something I was really emotionally prepared for,” she said. “So those are the kinds of introspective questions that we want people to think about ahead of time for when stuff gets really hard and you're under a lot of pressure.”
Kroll said the school also hopes to build a strong network of alumni and support for the women who enroll.
The tuition for the school is $750, but Kroll said financial aid is available based on financial need. Now more than ever, she said, it’s important to get more women from all walks of life into politics.
“Our nation demands more women in public office," she said. “I think especially during a crisis, it becomes especially important to have diverse voices in the halls of power.”
What: LBJ Women’s Campaign School
When: Monthly online two-hour training sessions June 13 through December. In-person boot camp Jan. 5-10
Cost: $750
To apply: Go to lbjwcs.lbj.utexas.edu. Deadline is Sunday.
