Women's History Month began as a celebration of International Women's Day, which marked the Feb. 28 meeting of socialists and suffragists in Manhattan in 1909. Only a year later, 17 countries marked the day at an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen.

The first major march on Washington by suffragists happened on March 3, 1913. The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote was ratified August 18, 1920. The Equal Rights Amendment was passed in the Senate on March 22, 1972 and passed in New Mexico in New Mexico in November of that same year.

The holiday wasn't widely celebrated in the United States until the United Nations began sponsoring it in 1975.

In 1977, in order to persuade school principals to comply with the recently passed Title IX, a task force in California created Women's History Week. They used that week to celebrate the accomplishments of women.

In March 1980, after celebrations had spread across the country, President Jimmy Carter declared that March 8 was officially the start of National Women's History Week. That same year, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and Maryland Representative Barbara Mikulski co-sponsored the first Joint Congressional Resolution declaring the week of March 8, 1981, National Women's History Week.

By 1987, Congress declared the entire month of March Women's History Month. Since then, every president has declared the month of March Women's History Month.

Women Politicos in 2023

By Jennie Lusk

Let’s have a look at the progress of women as political leaders, in recognition of Women’s History Month.

In the executive branch nationwide, 94 women hold just less than a third of the 310 statewide elective offices—52 of them Democrat, 40 Republican and two non-partisan, according to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). Of those, 12 are governors—8 Democrats and 4 Republicans. In New Mexico, we’ve had a woman governor for the past 12 years, and currently are in the first months of the second term of Democratic governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Of our non-judicial statewide elective offices, Laura Montoya has just been elected treasurer; Stephanie Garcia Richards, re-elected as Commissioner of Public Lands. The statewide offices of the lieutenant governor, attorney general, and auditor are held by men.

In the judicial branch, as of 2001, women filled 26.3% of the judgeships on New Mexico's highest court. Until recently, only six women had been justices of the state Supreme Court-—Mary Walters, Pamela Minzner, Petra Maes, Barbara Vigil, Judith Nakamura, Shannon Bacon and Julie Vargas. The last two of those are still on the Court and have been joined by Briana Zamora, and now constitute a majority of the highest court’s five seats. They and judges on the New Mexico Court of Appeals have the opportunity to garner public financing of campaigns and, women judges now hold seven of the Court of Appeals’ 10 seats.

Establishing majorities in the legislative branch continues to be a major challenge. Nationwide, 2451 women hold 1/3 of state legislative seats in 2023, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). In New Mexico, Democrats hold 45 of the 70 House seats; women, 38 of those. Democrats hold 27 of the Senate’s 42 seats; women, just 12 of those—but senate seats were not in the most recent general election contests. Altogether, women comprised just short of half of the New Mexico legislature’s 112 seats.

Women's Right to Vote

1920- 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Three-fourths Through

By Lance Chilton

We all have different approaches to getting chores done – I, for example, always turned in my school assignments early and I always change to the lane I’ll need on the highway far before I need to do so. My wife, on the other hand, is somewhat of a procrastinator; the famous example is her roller-skating to her college class just in time to turn in an assignment she had just completed. We both did all right in school.

Well, here we are, folks, three-quarters of the way through the session as I write this. Three bills, less than 0.3% of the 1027 total bills (not counting memorials and resolutions) have passed both houses and been sent to the Governor. 159 bills have passed either the House or the Senate, but not both. That’s about 15.4%. These last two plus weeks should be hectic, as usual. I’m not sure I’d be comfortable in a leadership position in either house.

I’ve looked at bills and the statistics at this point, and I have two observations to make for now:

• There are a great many of the 159 bills that have passed one house that have been passed unanimously and quite a few more where the dissenters can be counted one or both hands.
• No bills have been defeated on the floor of either the House or the Senate.
• If you want a bill passed by at least one house by the three-quarters point of the session, have it be pre-filed (before the Legislature starts its session, or filed very soon after the start. 25.2% of all bills with numbers below 200 have passed one house so far. 18.5% of bills with numbers between 201 and 300 have passed one house, and only 13 of the 400 bills with numbers between 201 and 400 have passed the House or the Senate – that’s a measly 3.25%.
• Filibustering has begun; some of that other side of the aisle seem to feel that no passed bills is better than passing bills they oppose.

Although there are bills on every conceivable subject among those 1027, from a new medical system for the state to a new state aroma, there are some especially popular topics. From my informal count, here are some of those in the top tier:

• Mental health 119
• Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD) 56
• Guns and firearms 42
• Alcohol 23
• Cannabis 14
• Malpractice 12
• Transgender 11
• Abortion 10
• Tobacco 10

Mental health attempts at solutions are popular because we have such difficulties getting care for behavioral health and substance use disorders – and we can blame much of that on a former governor’s destruction of the behavioral health system. These problems not only affect poverty, child well-being, and the use of substances to try to numb the nasty feelings inside us, but also cause homelessness and crime and our high rates of violence-related deaths and injury.

West Side Dems Elect Officers

WestSideDems.org

West Side Democrats to elect new officers!

It takes a village to guarantee the survival of West Side Dems. We almost lost that feeling of community, and we almost lost the West Side Dems during the pandemic. But we were able to revive the sense of community and WSD last fall. That resurrection kept the Westside blue.

So WSD is back and very much alive.

We win elections!

You can become part of this winning team. How?

Become a member ($10 a year) by clicking here — If you have been a member in the past but you have not paid your dues for 2023, you are not a current member.

Run for office — We are conducting an election for Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. If you have been a member for 30 days, you can run for office. Deadline for declaring candidacy is March 20.

Vote for your candidates of choice — Electronic voting begins March 27. You must be a member to receive a ballot.

Click here to declare your candidacy for one of our 4 officer slots.

Don’t miss the 2023 Ward/Precinct Elections and CCC Meetings

During the upcoming 2023 Democratic Party of Bernalillo County (DPBC) Ward, Precinct and County Central Committee (CCC) elections, active Dems will have the opportunity to gather (in person) and vote (online) for Ward and Precinct officers and additional members of the County Central Committee (CCC). Some of us may run for those offices. All of us will have the opportunity to elect leaders who support issues we care about.

The process begins with registration, Feb 1 – Mar 5, followed by in-person gatherings from Feb 18 - Mar 5. The voting period is Mar 7 - 11 and the CCC meeting happens Mar 25. Visit our DPBC website, where you’ll find the connections and information you need to register, participate, and stay in the know every step of the way.

See the timeline below for more information.

Important Announcement Regarding CCC Allocations

The DPBC has received permission to elect additional CCC positions at the ward level instead of at the precinct level.

During the ward election registration period, we have seen a number of people wishing to run for CCC positions in precincts where there is no allocation for them—and, on the other hand, many open CCC positions in precincts where there are no candidates to fill them. Leaving open positions on the table is NOT a trend we want to set!

What this means for you:

There's likely a CCC position open to you! If you didn't declare candidacy for CCC because there was not a position allocated within your precinct, there is probably now an available position waiting for you to fill it. 

For example: In Ward 10A, there are four additional CCC positions allocated to three precincts. Combining precinct allocations means any eligible Democrat in any of the ward’s 10 precincts can run for the open additional CCC positions. 

As a reminder, ward and precinct chairs are automatic CCC members.  

A strong party has a strong County Central Committee, and we're excited about how our combining strategy will help us make greater strides for the future of Bernalillo County.

The midterm election showed us just how important it is to reach younger voters using the communication channels they use. We stepped up to the challenge!

We've created a TikTok channel and we'd love for you to join us there & give us a follow!

There are a couple of very fun videos featuring DPBC 1st Vice Chair Danny Leiva, and Young Dems member Danny Bernal Jr. for you to enjoy, and there's more to come! The images to the left are not clickable from here, so to see the fun content, you'll have to.....

Join In!

Democrats who want to see change and be change are participating throughout the County in making change. Join them! Join us! Subscribe to The Blue Review at the bernalillodems.org website at https://bernalillodems.org/newsletter-subscription. Send us your news too! We want to hear from you.

Contact us by noon on Mondays and Thursdays for the newsletter editions on Tuesdays and Fridays. Write to us directly at [email protected].  You can also reach us by clicking on the “Enter Your Event" link on the website at www.bernalillodems.org website or this link: https://bernalillodems.org/event-entry/Bernalillo Dems.

Public Event Entry – Bernalillo Dems Newsletter deadlines: content must be received by noon Monday or noon Thursday.