With Women's Representation in Elected Office Shrinking, Group Plans Major Push

 After decades of progress, the last spate of midterms and state-level elections brought an unprecedented setback from women's representation in elected office. We already rank dismally below dozens of developed and developing nations in this regard. 

As a result, the Women's Campaign Foundation is rebranding itself after one of its most successful programs: "She Should Run," which encourages people to identify potential pro-choice female candidates in their midsts.

From an email sent out to supporters:

In light of the first backslide of women in Congress in 30 years and the disturbing decrease in the number of women in state legislatures, we recognize that drastic action is required to get more women in leadership positions. What has been done in the past few decades to increase women’s representation is no longer working. We take this so seriously that we are changing our name and honing our focus on the root cause that is keeping us here—the fact that women do not run for office.

Research has shown that a major reason women do not run for office is because they are not asked to run—and because they are discouraged by media sexism against women candidates. By changing our name to She Should Run, we are putting our focus on addressing these issues and getting dramatically more women to consider entering public life. We are excited to announce this name change and unveil our new look, focus, and innovative work with our partner organizations as we work to address barriers to women’s political equality.

Visit SheShouldRun.org today to check out our new look. While you’re there, use our She Should Run In Action online tool to ask a woman you know to run for office.

One of the only ways to change policies affecting women is to have more, and better, female candidates for office.