PCWP— 25 Years of Empowering Women in Politics
This article was originally published in the Spring 2023 edition of the Chatham Recorder Alumni Magazine by Cara Gillotti. To view more digital Recorder stories, click here.
In 1998, Google was founded, Saving Private Ryan was released, and the Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics was born—the Commonwealth’s first center that focused on women’s political involvement.
Established in 1998 through the generosity of the Hillman Foundation, Inc. and the Maurice Falk Medical Foundation, it was then reconceived and endowed in 2003, by the Hillman Foundation.
The Center’s mission is “to increase women’s influence and leadership in public life in Pennsylvania and improve the quality of women’s lives by providing them with educational and training opportunities in politics and public policy.” Flagship educational opportunities include:
Ready to Run™ Pennsylvania provides non-partisan political training to encourage women to run for government leadership positions.
The National Education for Women’s (NEW) Leadership Pennsylvania is an intensive, six-day leadership and public policy institute designed to educate and empower young women for future political participation and leadership.
PLEN (the Public Leadership Education Network) is a coalition of women’s colleges and universities that offers Washington DC-based seminars and internships. Chatham is a founding member.
If you would like to make a donation to PCWP, visit www.pcwp.chatham.edu/give
“I first found out about Chatham because of PCWP, so as soon as I got here, I was determined to get involved. I think PCWP is one of the best parts of Chatham, and I really hope we can keep emphasizing it.”
Q&A with PCWP Executive Director Dana Brown, Ph.D.
Dr. Dana Brown began her tenure as the executive director of the Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics and assistant professor of political science at Chatham University in July of 2010. Dr. Brown earned her doctorate in American Politics and Women and Politics at Rutgers University where she also received her master’s degree in political science.
How would you say the landscape for women in politics has changed in the past 25 years?
The landscape has changed in a really positive way, across the Commonwealth as well as the U.S. Certainly we’ve seen great gains in number of women who are both running for and winning elective office, across the municipal, state, and federal levels. For example, in 1998 women comprised only 12.3 percent of the state legislature in Pennsylvania. Today, women hold 31.2 percent of those seats. Similarly, in 1998 women comprised only 14.4 percent of the composition in the U.S. Congress, but in 2023 women now make up 34.3 percent of the U.S. Congress. While we are not near parity yet, and it has been a slow climb, we continue to make progress.
Among the Center’s many accomplishments, which are you most proud of?
“My involvement began when Elsie Hillman funded PCWP 25 years ago. At that time, we had one woman in the PA State Legislature from Allegheny County. We now have elected eight women! I credit this to the training provided by PCWP. My husband, Tom, and I continue to support PCWP because of the education provided to potential candidates and the amazing results.”
Of all the work we’ve done, I’m most proud of our NEW Leadership Pennsylvania Summer Institute program. When I started, the program did exist, but I updated the curriculum and engaged in a much larger scale recruitment effort, and I’m really happy to say that with those changes, we’ve really grown the program and we’ve been able to reach so many more undergraduate students. The reason why I am so pleased to reach more students is that I know the positive impact the program has on the students. I can tell you from the evaluations year after year—it’s profound, it’s potentially life-changing for some. Nearly 100% of the participants year after year indicate that the program has increased their understanding of politics and public policy, the program has increased their confidence to make change in their own communities, and they’re just much more likely to participate in the political process, so I am most proud of that work as it has measurable, positive outcomes. Alums of the program have gone on to run for office, work in government, as well as advocacy organizations.
Can you describe the growth that you’ve been seeing?
The class size prior to my arrival was maybe 13-15 students per year, and the last class pre-pandemic was about 43-45 students. And for pedagogical and logistical reasons, that’s probably the most students we can take. We just have a much more diverse student body, and diversity in every single way. In the last class we had 45% of the students identify as a woman of color, we have geographical diversity, students coming from all pockets of the Commonwealth, and we also have diversity of majors.
How do you envision the Center’s priorities over the next 25 years?
My hope is that the Center will continue to evolve and grow to meet the needs of our students and the community. I cannot necessarily predict what the priorities will be in the next 25 years. However, what I can say is that we are here to educate and empower women for public leadership, and we will continue that focus until we eradicate gender bias in public leadership and reach parity in political leadership.
If you could bring anyone in as an Elsie Hillman Chair in Women & Politics speaker, who would it be, and why?
Hillary Clinton—the first woman nominee for President of the United States from one of the two major parties. It’s history, and it would be wonderful to have history on Chatham’s campus. Hopefully we would learn from her and all that her campaign brought to America.
How can alumni support the Center?
We invite all alums to participate in two of our signature programs: the Elsie Hillman Chair in Women and Politics and the Ready to Run Campaign Training. We also have several civic engagement and democratic learning opportunities for alums throughout the year as well. Our programming changes annually in order to keep up with current events. For example, we have held educational programs on redistricting, reproductive rights, and the impact of elections on public policy. I would encourage alums to find us on social media and sign up for our mailing list, so they can keep in touch with the ever-changing programs that we’re offering. I also ask for their financial support as well, in order to meet the needs of our students in connecting them to experiential learning opportunities. For example, alumna Bonnie VanKirk ’81 and her husband, Tom, have been supportive donors and friends of the Center for years.
PCWP by the numbers
1,495 Women who have participated in Ready to Run
566 Undergraduate students who have participated in NEW Leadership PA
5 Policy reports and published papers that have come out of PCWP
14 renowned speakers for the Elsie Hillman Chair in Women & Politics, including the likes of: Cokie Roberts, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Gwen Ifill, and many more
35 Students at Chatham majoring or minoring in political science