Vermont Partners with Emerge America to Promote Women in Elected Positions

At a news conference at City Hall on Monday, Sept. 23, former Governor Madeline Kunin announced that Vermont will be joining a new initiative to support women wishing to seek elected positions in Vermont.

As the only female governor in the history of Vermont, Kunin announced that Vermont is partnering with Emerge America, a non-profit organization with a stated goal of increasing the number of Democratic women in public office.

Kunin, along with a group of other Democratic women, raised $50,000 since January in order to implement Engage America in Vermont.

According to VTDigger.org, in her announcement, Kunin elaborated on why this issue is so important.

“Women’s issues are somewhat different, not on every issue, but on some issues, and those voices need to be heard,” Kunin said.

Kunin also pointed to more specific issues that require women leaders.

“Sexual assault is nothing new, but for the first time it’s becoming public, and it’s because women are leading the charge,” Kunin said.

Kunin also described the current state of women representation in Vermont politics. 41 percent of the Vermont Legislature is made up of women, and women hold half of the 96 Democratic seats in the House. In the senate, which consists of 30 members, there are only nine women.

Emerge America was founded in 2002 and currently works in 14 states, specifically Arizona, California, Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.

While the work Emerge America does in each state depends on the state’s political landscape and specific needs, the general procedure is standard and includes identifying potential leaders, and eventually encouraging them to run for all types of office, including those at the local level. Those interested in training apply to the program and the accepted program members attend a seven-month, 70-hour program.

A news release on Emerge America’s website reveals that Kunin expressed optimism that Emerge Americawill encourage women leaders to run for office.

“The difference between women and men is women often have to be asked to run,” Kunin said. “Emerge will ask!”

Emerge has had successful results in the states that it has been working with in the past 11 years. According to their website, of those who have run for office after attending Emerge training, 60% of the women have won their election.

Kunin led a kick off celebration on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at Hotel Vermont-Juniper in Burlington to officiate the new partnership.