For the third year in a row, CAWP’s flagship Ready to Run® program in New Jersey will be held as a series of virtual events. The series kicks off on February 11th with What Women Candidates Need to Know, featuring Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners, who will provide skill-building information around public opinion research on women candidates, including key findings on how women candidates are perceived during times of crisis, the advantages and disadvantages facing women running for office, the likeability vs. qualifications conundrum, and messages that are convincing to voters to support women candidates. She'll also discuss the support that women need and how to respond to sexist media coverage. On February 16th, a keynote panel will feature the three first Asian American women elected to the New Jersey Legislature, Assemblywomen Shama Haider, Sadaf Jaffer, and Ellen Park, who were all elected in the 2021 election. Moderated by Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, the panel will discuss this important moment, why they chose to run now, the importance of having diverse voices at the policymaking table, and what this means for women in New Jersey moving forward.

Register for these programs and see the full schedule on the Ready to Run® 2022 Virtual Series page on the CAWP website.

New from CAWP Senior Scholar Kira Sanbonmatsu and co-authors Stacey Greene and Yalidy Matos in the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, “Women Voters and the Utility of Campaigning as ‘Women of Color’” explores survey data to analyze voter reactions to the women of color identity among Black women, Latinas, and white women. The research looks into whether women are aware of the term and whether they place value on the election of women of color, and it also conducts an experiment to discover whether women’s evaluations of Kamala Harris are affected by a women of color frame. “Research about public support for candidates who self-identify as WOC,” the paper argues, “is necessary to fully understand the opportunities and challenges of electing more diverse women to public office.” Read the full article in a special edition of the Journal of Women, Politics, & Policy devoted to scholarship on women of color political elites in the United States.

News of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s potential retirement broke during CAWP’s Senator Wynona Lipman Chair in Women’s Political Leadership lecture with PBS and NBC journalist Yamiche Alcindor, so the audience of the event was treated to her very first reaction to the news. During the 2020 presidential campaign, President Joe Biden pledged to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, and Alcindor noted this promise and told the Lipman crowd, “It will be a transformational moment to have a Black woman on the Supreme Court.”

Indeed. As we have seen with historic appointees like Thurgood Marshall, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Sonia Sotomayor, these jurists bring not only their intellect and breadth of legal knowledge to the Court, but they also arrive with a set of life experiences that guide their understanding of the law and the way it affects people in the real world that are crucial to the creation of a more perfect union. We’re intrigued to see what this nomination process will bring forth. Read more about the potential nominees at The New York Times.

We’re looking for a research project coordinator to assist scholars and staff on major research projects, including engagement with scholarly literature, data collection, qualitative and quantitative analyses (including analysis of large datasets), research project planning and data visualization. They will also have the opportunity to contribute to our reports, research memos, and blogs. This role offers great potential to expand our data collections, find new areas of research to explore, and assist experienced scholars in producing reports that illuminate areas of women’s representation that are little-understood. Do you have an advanced degree with a focus in political science, public policy, or women and gender studies and a desire to work with the leading source for data and research on women’s political engagement in America? Find more information and apply on the Rutgers University employment site — but time is running out! This job posting will close on February 4th.