Rachel Stanley (Elon) on Women's Issues in the Presidential Campaign

“Women’s issues,” a very simple term to describe a number of issues that affect millions of women around the world in numerous ways, have been in the news lately. Most notable are the many instances when women are not allowed to participate in the very conversations about their issues and rights. From Sandra Fluke to the Violence Against Women Act to Representative Lisa Brown in Michigan, women’s issues are in the news, but women are not on the debate floor.

No matter how controversial an issue, women need to be included in the conversation about their own issues - maybe particularly when an issue is controversial. In a year when multiple elections are taking place, arguably the most democratic procedure that we have, the most direct stakeholders in these important national conversations need to be recognized as valuable. We elect representatives to Congress (men and women) to sort through all the decisions that many ordinary Americans do not want to spend the time working through. Even though many Americans are generally complacent with this system of representative democracy, not all are, especially in certain situations. Sandra Fluke may or may not ever hold elected office, but as a woman and as an educated person, she felt capable and inspired to speak out on an issue that directly affects her. Yet she, along with seemingly more and more women these days, are being banned from keeping up on the issues that most affect them.

Millennials are told again and again that we are the most educated generation. We are the most global, and as a result of all the traveling, learning, and experiencing that we have been able to do, we have a much different, hopefully more enlightened view of the world than our parents’ or grandparents’ generations. Most of our generation has been able to attain more education and maybe experience a wider variety of things than our predecessors were able to.

With all of these assets, our generation should be the most capable of changing the limitations of our current democratic system. There seems to be something inherently wrong with a system that can debate and attempt to make decisions without the primary stakeholders. Congress certainly has procedural limitations, but if the structure of Congress is so limiting that primary stakeholders cannot be part of the very conversations that affect them, perhaps we need another democratic outlet. Whatever the solution is, it is up to our generation, with our informed, diverse world views; it is up to the Millennials to make sure that our democracy is strengthened. We have the foundations, but there are clearly democratic limitations, and the Millennial generation is the best equipped to figure out how we can move our democracy forward, to a state in which all stakeholders can weigh in.