The National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) said this week that it’s heartening to see more women, particularly Republican women, taking leadership roles and running for office, but said there will be a real celebration when these women are committed to issues directly impacting women’s lives, such as those the NWPC stands squarely behind – pay equity, reproductive rights and passage of the equal rights amendment.

Advancing progressive, pro-choice women to elected and appointed office, regardless of party affiliation, is the passion and purpose of the NWPC ( www.nwpc.org).

The multi-partisan grassroots organization, continues to recruit, support and elect women to further issues and causes essential to women. Making sure women are appointed to top government positions in representative numbers is fundamental to NWPC’s goal of achieving political gender parity by 2020.

“Women make up half the population, yet for too long we’ve been under-represented in our government,” said NWPC President Lulu Flores of Texas. “We deserve better.”

A diverse governing body is a stronger, more effective, and more representative governing body. However, of 535 members of Congress this year, only 90 or 16.8 percent are women.

Globally, the U.S. ranks a dismal 74th in number of women worldwide serving in parliament or congress.

When Flores recently attended briefings on equal pay for equal work and health care in Washington, D.C., she also observed the unveiling of the statue of Sojourner Truth, a suffragette and abolitionist whose life underscores the difference a committed woman can make in the struggle for justice.

“I’m proud and impressed with the caliber of women representing us in Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman-Schulz of Florida, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, and others,” Flores said. “Seeing them in action drives home why more women are needed in office and why our work to get women like these elected is so important.

“Each of these office holders knows it is women who bring a special perspective and voice to the table; who bring a passion, commitment and true understanding to issues particularly important to women, plus the sensitivity to how all other issues impact women. They all express the need for more elected women for critical mass to be more effective.”

For example, the male-dominated establishment in Congress would not give Rep. DeLauro a hearing on her equal pay legislation until she had 200 co-sponsors. It took her almost 10 years to develop that kind of support.

Now that it’s passed in the House, it is up to the Senate to act. They are just two shy of the magic 35 needed to bring this up for vote. With other women’s groups, NWPC is reaching out to members of the Senate to educate and advocate for the passage of this bill. But it would have happened sooner if more women were in Congress.

Women typically come to politics to solve a problem. They come as moms, nurses, and teachers. Once elected, they change the debate from corporate profits to the impact laws will have on families. They demand changes in health care, social services and the environment.

While men can, and do, support and champion women’s issues, only women can bring the necessary insight, passion and urgency to these issues.

An example is Rep. Wassermann-Shultz who pushed for legislation on early breast cancer detection. She underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation all while never missing a day in Congress and ardently campaigning for Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for president.

Equal rights for women and freedom of choice are the fundamental tenants of the movement than shaped NWPC.

Founded in 1971, founding mothers include such prominent women as Gloria Steinem, author, lecturer and founding editor of Ms. magazine; former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm; former Congresswoman and current president of Women USA Bella Abzug; Dorothy Height, president of the National Council of Negro Women; Jill Ruckelshaus, U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner; Ann Lewis, Political Director of the Democratic National Committee; Elly Peterson, former vice-chair of the Republican National Committee; LaDonna Harris, Indian rights leader; Liz Carpenter, author, lecturer and former press secretary to Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson; and Eleanor Holmes Norton, former chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

With a winning record of candidates who have hit the ground running, The NWPC will continue to lead the way by identifying progressive, pro-Choice, pro-women’s rights candidates to run for office, training them to run winning campaigns, and standing beside them with the financial support of our PAC and our members through election day and beyond.

For more information, see www.nwpc.org. Follow NWPC on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1199994356&ref=pymk#!/NWPC.fb?ref=ts and Twitter at http://twitter.com/NWPC_updates.

Hidden Valley Lake resident Susanne La Faver represents Northern California NWPC on the national board and serves as secretary on the state board. She is a member of the Mendocino Caucus and an NWPC certified campaign trainer.