Position Paper II: Interest Group or Issue

Interest Group: She Should Run

 

  Have you ever wondered why there aren't a lot of women running for office? This is a major issue that She Should Run is trying to change. She Should Run is a nonpartisan and non-profit organization working to dramatically increase the number of women from all walks of life considering a run for public office. She Should Run was founded in 2011 by Erin Loos Cutraro and since its founding, 30,000 women have been encouraged to run for office through She Should Run efforts. 

    "She Should Run helps every woman understand the importance of being equally represented in office, gives her the opportunity to see herself there, demonstrates that she is qualified, and provides the pathways for her to take the first step." She Should Run has a vision of having 250,000 women run for a political office by 2030. Their goal is to reach women that either have just thought about running but did not and women that may have never thought of it at all. 

    

The Starter Kit

    If a woman is interested in running, She Should Run has a starter kit that helps answer questions and encourage the women to get involved in politics. There is a book that gives information about running for office, a quiz to determine what to run for, and information on what elections are coming up in your town or region. This is a great way to help women learn more about what is involved in running for office and what they would be getting into. 

The Incubator

    The Incubator are free courses provided by She Should Run for women of all backgrounds and races who are interested in running for office who see themselves in a leadership position. There are hours of free content to help women with the first steps of becoming a political figure. It is a self-driven learning platform featuring a robust nonpartisan curriculum that allows participants to unveil the many pathways to political leadership, discover why they want to serve, and connect with a supportive community, ultimately building their confidence toward a future run for office.

Partnership with Mattel

    In 2019, ahead of the November 2020 election, Mattel released Barbie dolls that were involved in politics. There were four diverse barbies that represented a candidate, campaign manager, fundraiser, and voter. She Should Run also has a PDF on its website that girls can download and print out to fill out. It is a way for girls to be confident, learn about politics, and find out how to be a leader. The Barbie Dream Gap Project, which launched in 2018, made She Should Run one of three of its organization it supports. The collection consists of diverse Barbies to show any woman can run for office. Mattel spoke on the matter: 

“[T]he brand made the political candidate Black because there are fewer Black female elected officials and fewer Black women exploring a path to political leadership. Of the 127 women serving in the 116^th Congress, 22 are Black and of the 90 women serving in statewide elective executive offices, only 5 are Black. Additionally, since voter turnout for Latinos lags around 20 percent behind that of white and Black voters, Barbie designed the voter doll to highlight this underrepresentation for girls."

The Barbie Campaign Team set features four diverse dolls that inspire girls to see themselves in the roles that make up a winning campaign: Candidate, Campaign Manager, Fundraiser and Voter: https://t.co/QbWPC4e9ep#Barbie2020 #YouCanBeAnything pic.twitter.com/XuwY6LPBru

— Barbie (@Barbie) July 28, 2020

Swag Shop 

    She Should Run has their own merch. This includes T-shirts, stickers, mugs, and bags. All of the merch are very much empowering women, and I am here for it. They have options for men, women, and kids. Many of the TikTok's I saw was about the merch that She Should Run provides. 

Social Media

    She Should Run has 74,000 followers on Instagram as of October 2022.  They posts memes, women in politics, and information on elections. On Twitter, She Should Run has 32,000 followers on the app. On Twitter they post more news articles and information on women and politics. Their Facebook is much like Twitter, posting the same information and articles. The Facebook account has 39,000 followers, a few more than their Twitter account.   I believe I like their Facebook more, because I like the way they advertise their own articles on their website and I also like their cover photo and the way the social looks all together. I believe that they are very modern and are staying up to date on their social media well. 

    She Should Run is an important interest group that we need in today's world. Based on the number that they provided, women need to be more interested in politics and run in elections. The way She Should Run helps women is a smart move. The starter kit, incubator, many different articles, and resources is just the minimum of what She Should Run does to support women. Being found only 12 years ago, She Should Run is doing phenomenal and I believe that they will continue to grow their social media and hopefully complete their goal of 250,000 women in 2030.