Betting on the Gender Gap
The Women's Vote in the High-Stakes Elections of 2016
by Katherine Spillar
The gender gap is in and out of the news this election cycle. The 2016 election likely will have the largest gender gap in history, which could reach a 15-point difference between women and men in their choices for the country's political leadership. More than ever before, women have the power to elect the next president, decide the makeup of Congress, select state legislators and shape the national agenda.
Words written 30 years ago by Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation and Ms. publisher, ring more true today than ever:
You've seen it in countless newspaper headlines; you've heard about it on radio and television. Republicans alternately deny its existence or worriedly announce plan after plan for "closing" it. And Democrats, slow to recognize it as a political reality, are nevertheless counting on it to provide a windfall of votes for their party. It's the gender gap—the measurable difference in the way women and men vote for candidates and in the way they view political issues. The "women's vote," a powerful new voting bloc, will make the difference in political contests.
This call to arms opened Smeal's 1984 book Why and How Women Will Elect the Next President. After stepping down as president of the National Organization for Women, she was determined that the importance of the women's vote not be buried in the election coverage, regardless of who became president.
http://www.msmagazine.com/magazine/betting-on-the-gender-gap.html
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