The RNC couldn’t find more than 5 female potential presidential candidates for their 2016 straw poll today. 5/31 = 16%, a full 3 points lower than the embarrassingly low 19% female members of Congress.
Like any good social justice worker, I do my civil rights head count every time I walk into a room or presented with a list of names. (how many women, how many men; how many people of color, how many white people; how many young people, how many older; how many low-income people, how many middle-class, how many wealthy; rinse, repeat).
So when I got an RNC presidential straw poll in my email this morning–because I subscribe to campaign and major candidate emails from both parties–I did my count.
The result was embarrassing: 5 female candidates of 31 options. That’s 16%, a full 3 points lower than the also-mortifying 19% currently serving in Congress.
Given that I received the email from Sean Spicer, the RNC Communications Director, this was probably a mid-term list-engagement ploy. Given that, and that they’re trying to get folks excited to vote in the mid-terms, they couldn’t do better than 16% of the field? In an email where I would expect them to be trying harder than usual?
Here’s a walk-through of their list, both for humor and archival value:
Inspirational Quote:
“A Congresswoman must look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, speak on any given subject with authority and most of all work like a dog.” — Representative Florence Dwyer (R-NJ, 1957-1973). Quoted in Karen Foerstel, Biographical Dictionary of Congressional Women
