“Raising Ms. President” Raises the Question: Why Do So Few Women Run for Office?

Filmmaker Kiley Lane Parker will screen and discuss her new documentary Raising Ms. President when she visits Washington College Monday, March 24. The event is slated for 4:30 in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall. Sponsored by the Louis L. Goldstein ’35 Program in Public Affairs, it is free and open to the public.

Parker’s latest production explores why more women don’t run for office and looks at how to encourage the next generation of female political leaders. She was motivated to make the documentary by the 2008 Presidential election and the way Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were represented in the media. “The race was so historic in so many ways, but the way the women were treated during the race was something that I hope, and I think, a lot of people took notice to,” she says. “Here was a woman [Clinton] who was so well qualified but she didn’t even win her party’s nomination.”

Filmmaker Kiley Lane Parker

Today, women hold fewer than 20 percent of the seats in the 113th Congress and fewer than 25 percent of the seats in state legislatures. What is more, only 5 of the nation’s 50 governors are female. Christine Wade, the Washington College professor of political science and international studies who serves as curator of the Goldstein Program, says the screening and discussion is part of its new Women in Public Affairs program, developed to promote awareness about the role of women in civic and political life. “We are very excited to host Ms. Parker and her documentary, and we hope that this event will generate serious discussion about the reasons girls and women don’t run for office and how we can change that,” she says.

Parker and her producer, Sarah Lawrence, conducted interviews with many significant political figures, including Democratic Congressman John Yarmuth of Kentucky’s 3rd district, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Arkansas, and the president of The White House Project, Tiffany Dufu. “Policy decisions need a stronger female voice,” she has said. “This film is non-partisan; we do not pick a side, but value a true democracy, which means more equitable representation across the board. I wanted it to have a positive message and to really answer some controversial questions.”

Following the 60-minute screening of the documentary, Parker will lead an open discussion on her research and findings.

The sponsoring Louis L. Goldstein ’35 Program in Public Affairs at Washington College was established in 1990 to encourage students to enter public service by introducing them to exemplary leaders, both in and out of government.