Attend party dinners. Contact voters often, both in person and through mailings and telephone calls. These contacts will help you win new votes and remind your supporters to vote for you on election day. You can obtain voter lists from voter registration offices. Remember, your bid for office and potential win will be critically important to changing both policy AND public perception about the commitment of women to seek and achieve political positions.
Women are still sorely under-represented among elected officials today.
While females make up 52 percent of West Virginia's population, they made up less than 15 percent of West Virginia's legislature in 1995. Only 10 percent of U.S. senators and representatives are women, and in 1995, only one woman in the country served as her state's governor. Although women are gaining power, political scientists predict that at the current rate, it will take more than 300 years for women to be equally represented in government. When you run for office, you take a step toward proving these predictions wrong. If you are not ready or willing to run for office, you can still participate in the political process in other ways.