Departmental News

Posted:  Feb 23, 2017 - 12:00am

NPR's All Things Considered recently featured a segment by member station KUNM. The segment explores women's increased interest in seeking public office following Donald Trump's election. Political science professor Dr. Lonna Atkeson was intereviewed for the segment. She points out a spike in women elected to state legislatures in the early 1990s, with Anita Hill's testimony against Clarence Thomas serving as a catalyst for this increase. However, women still constitute only 25% of state legislatures. According to Atkeson, their absence could shape priorities: "Women candidates tend to come from education backgrounds, not from business backgrounds, and so that's a very different perspective on public policy". The segment suggests that Trump's election could be another watershed moment for women in politics. According to the New Mexico branch of Emerge, a group that trains Democratic women to run for office, interest in their programs is at an all time high. 

Listen to the full segment here.

Photo by Megan Kamerick/KUNM.