Women, Politics, and Power: A Conversation with Dr. Jennie Sweet-Cushman
2021 began as a monumental year for women in the political realm with the swearing-in of Kamala Harris as the 49th vice president of the United States in January. Almost three months later, we speak with Dr. Jennie Sweet-Cushman, Associate Professor of political science, on her studies of the shifting dynamic of women in the world of politics and what we all can do to enact change.
Jennie Sweet-Cushman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Political Science
How did you first become interested in studying the role of women in politics?
I am an American political scientist, so I am interested in things that go on in politics in the United States and one thing that’s a bug in our system is that women tend to be underrepresented. This wasn’t something I really even thought about until I began to be involved in a number of political candidates’ campaigns during my undergrad. My first job out of college was running a congressional campaign and I really started noticing that women played a different role in electoral politics than men did. I was not taken very seriously as a young woman and people were constantly commenting on how my trajectory would be different than younger men. Where it seemed that young women kind of disappeared from electoral politics, the men went on to higher positions and began running for office themselves. When I was in graduate school, I kept going back to how important someone’s gender is to how they experience politics and why there weren’t more women in elected office. This was kind of a new area of study at the time, but what they were finding was that voters weren’t less likely to elect women, but women were less likely to run. I was really interested in why women weren’t interested in running for political office and that has guided what I’ve been studying for the past 10 years. Right now, the thing that I am most focused on is the impact that role models can have in that equation not just for women but also for other underrepresented groups.
What progress have you seen for students in this area?
This makes me think of a conversation I had last week with a student. She was remarking about how having so many great women faculty at Chatham has been such a great influence for her as she’s looking to her future. It made me think about how when I was in my undergrad, I had very few women professors. There really has been a generational shift and we are seeing a lot more women in academia which is impactful for the future because they act as role models. Now, especially at Chatham and elsewhere in higher education, female-identifying students are seeing faculty who identify as women as well. The barrier is breaking down and student’s ambitions are seeming a little more possible. I’m super excited about that because I think that so much is possible as that compounds. The way that I see that coming through in politics is that whereas before politics was really a man’s game, today, women are seeing that they belong in the political realm. There are tons of structures set up now to engage women in politics and the spaces that used to just be men are getting more diverse voices at the table. This means that the policy outcomes are improving as well as more people’s needs are being considered at their inception.
Dr. Jennie Sweet-Cushman and students at the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania’s Student Lobby Day at the Capitol in Harrisburg in 2019.
What’s happening here at Chatham or locally to help push progressive policy?
Something that’s close to me is the Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics because I spent my first six years at Chatham acting as the assistant director. The center is focused on women’s civic engagement. There are opportunities for students through public leadership seminars in DC sponsored by the center that talk about public policy at the intersections of law, and healthcare, and science. They also bring high-profile women to campus to speak. Additionally, they provide training such as the Ready to Run trainings that bring women into the center to teach them how to run a campaign or run for office. Something that is going on here in Pittsburgh recently, is conversations on how we rectify the disproportionate tolls that the pandemic has taken on women and specifically, Black women in Pittsburgh. I don’t think anyone knows how to tackle something this big yet, but we need to be thoughtful in including women in our recovery plans and addressing their needs specifically.
Any advice for female-identifying students looking to enter the political realm?
The thing that is the biggest benefit for women is the way that we tend to do things communally. This propensity to draw strength from and build community is a real strength. A lot of times because this is not the traditional way that politics have been done, we don’t realize that it’s a strength. This is a place where there’s an excellent opportunity to do things in a new way that involves a lot of different voices that help make wiser decisions. I would say, find your people, draw strength from them, let them lift you up, and rely on them in your leadership. It’s relevant in any form of leadership whether it be in the political domain or not.
Dr. Jennie Sweet-Cushman speaking at an International Women's Day event sponsored by State Senator Jay Costa in 2018.
How can we ensure that politics become more progressive?
I think that people are starting to get the impression that there’s been this big surge in women candidates, especially with a lady VP, but we need to keep in mind that three-fourths of elected officials are still men and a vast majority are still older wealthy white men. That’s just not healthy for democracy for a couple of reasons. Not only does the policy created not reflect everybody’s interests, but when you don’t feel represented, you’re less likely to trust the government. We’re actually in a crisis of trust in government right now and one way to rectify that is to make government look more like us. We’re headed in that direction, but it’s slow progress. At this rate, Congress will be 50% women by like 2080. While we should celebrate more women in politics, the diversity is still not there, and we need to keep pushing. One way of that is getting involved as young people to hold elected officials accountable. I use this example a lot in class, but the Obama coalition that came out to support Obama when he was running was much more diverse, much younger, and largely comprised of women. The very first piece of legislation that Obama signed in office in 2009 was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a very important piece of legislation to help women get equal pay. That wasn’t a coincidence, it was because women supported him and that’s who he was held accountable to. If everyone decides that their votes do matter, it has the power to shape American politics in a really positive way. I hope that these trying times that we’ve been through have given people some idea that letting others make decisions for you is not a great idea. This is not simple stuff to understand, so it’s going to require that everyone educates themselves in order to make a significant change.
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