In a field dominated by the minority -- wealthy, educated, white men -- women with political aspirations have a challenging road. In a recent WomenCount BlogTalk Radio interview, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner discussed her efforts to organize and establish mentorships for women who want to run for office in Ohio. Her goal is to crowd her field as "first woman" and "only woman" a little (or a lot) more. Read More...

Most are now convinced that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will be confirmed, including Senate Republicans. Still, they are readying their opposition speeches, which should begin Tuesday with Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican, leading the charge. Sessions was once himself a nominee for a federal judgeship. He was accused of racism, and his nomination was voted down. Read More...

Ask anyone to break down their identity using only four words and you'll always here gender first.  Especially with women.  My mother-in-law will say, "woman, mother, Jewish, business executive."  I say "woman, mother, writer, filmmaker."  The point is that probably 99.99% of the 51% of this county's population will, without thinking twice, put the descriptive "woman" first.  We are women first.  I'm not even sure political affiliation makes the list unless it’s your livelihood. Read More...

Living in Monterrey, Mexico during the lower congressional chamber and local elections, I have been noticing a lot about the differences in the political process between the U.S. and Mexico. One of the first things I noticed was the prominence of women candidates. About half of the people running are women. This is a far higher rate than in my very conservative home state of Utah. I found out there are so many women because Mexican election law requires each party to fill 40% of its candidate lists with women. The current congress is made up of 24% women in the lower chamber and 21% in the upper chamber. This is significantly higher than the rates in the United States. Read More...

Last week on WomenCount Radio we had the great pleasure of chatting with Ohio’s Secretary of State and candidate for U.S. Senate, Jennifer Brunner. As Ohio’s first female Secretary of State and only the 5th woman to serve in an executive level position in Ohio, she has taken it upon herself to bring together the other women who serve in Ohio, both Democrat and Republican, as a way to cross party lines so that they can work together and focus on the issues facing women in Ohio.

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