Why Emerge Massachusetts

Eighty-fourth in the world: that's where the United States ranks for women in elected office, behind Mexico, China and Pakistan.  In fact, women make up just 17% of the U.S. Congress.

Massachusetts ranks in the top 20 for state legislatures, with a ranking of 18th  in the nation in terms of women in elected office.

However, Massachusetts has only elected a total of four women to the U.S. House of Representatives and has never elected a woman to the U.S. Senate. Only 26% of our State Legislators are women.

A pool of highly qualified Democratic candidates is being left untapped.  Too often, women do not see themselves running for office - they don't think they are experienced enough or they just don't know where to start.

Emerge Massachusetts is changing that!

Emerge Massachusetts in a national context

Emerge Massachusetts is part of a national movement to address the under-representation of women in elected office at the local, state, and federal level. Although the network is only eight years old, there are Emerge affiliates in nine states: Arizona, California, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Wisconsin. Click here to find out more about Emerge America.

Emerge already has a strong record of success:

• Emerge affiliates have trained over 500 Democratic women to run for office;
• 41% of our graduates have run for elected office or have been appointed to local boards or commissions;
• Of those who have run for office, 60% of them have won!

Our growth is exponential: in 2010 alone, Emerge affiliates will train another Democratic 200 women to run for office!