Why Gender is playing a big role in the election

Nov 01, 2024

Six women are seen speaking and gesturing in front of a teal background.

Illustration by Claudine Hellmuth/POLITICO (source images Rod Lamkey Jr. for POLITICO)

Hey Rulers! How’s everyone feeling heading into election week? I, for one, am hoping to have a restful and relaxing weekend in preparation for the week ahead.

On that note, let’s get to it:

We are days away from the election — one that could result in a historic first for women — marking the start of the transition to a new political landscape. No matter who ends up in the White House, women are about to witness drastic change and reassess how they’ll drive politics and policy in the coming years.

It’s why women leaders from an array of fields gathered in downtown D.C. Tuesday for Women Rule: Rising Leaders , an event exploring the future of women in politics. Panels included discussions on health care, representation within STEM fields and the lead-up to the 2024 election (among other topics).

Here are some key takeaways from the event:

Gender is playing a large role in this election

With Vice President Kamala Harris vying for the presidential seat, it’s inevitable that gender would make its way into the conversation. Harris herself hasn’t made her identity a central part of the campaign, a shift from 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

In a panel discussion on women ruling — moderated by Teresa Wiltz , deputy editor of special projects for POLITICO Magazine — Win with Black Women Founder Jotaka Eaddy says that gender is going to play an important role in this election, especially when it comes to key issues like reproductive rights.

“I think it’s also important to know the issues that are driving this election, and it is issues of reproductive freedom. Because women are very close to that, and we care very much about the type of leader we have in office,” Eaddy says.

Eaddy was joined by Betsy Fischer Martin, executive director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University. Citing a study conducted by the institute, Martin says they found that women are very engaged in this election and showed “pronounced support” for Harris.

“If she does win in this election it will be because of women,” Martin says.

Early voting numbers are showing a 10-point gender gap, with women making up about 55 percent of the vote. But Eaddy says this election won’t be defined by a race between “boys versus girls.”

“This election is really going to boil down to democracy versus debauchery,” Eaddy says.

A lot has changed since 2016

Eight years after Clinton’s defeat, Martin says that the idea of a woman as commander-in-chief has become more acceptable.

Clinton made history in 2016 as the first woman to be nominated for president by a major political party. In 2020, six women (all Democrats) ran for president, one of which achieved another historic first as the first woman vice president.

“That’s not to say that there are still issues of sexism that are out there. That’s not to say that Kamala Harris has to be 10 acts better,” Martin says. But at least now there’s a softening to the idea of a woman president, and that alone is progress, she adds.

Eaddy says it will be important to watch how white women shift this election. The group favored former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020, but Eaddy cited the “White Women: Answer the Call 2024” meeting as a sign that this year is different.

“[The call] was a reckoning of sorts where white women themselves took responsibility for how they voted in the past, and took responsibility for not just sitting out but taking action this election,” Eaddy says.

Initiatives on women’s health care will continue to see bipartisan support, regardless of administration

Mala Adiga, policy director for the Office of the First Lady, says that there is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm surrounding women’s health research.

“Because this issue is so bipartisan, the work can continue and will continue,” Adiga tells moderator Lauren Egan, White House reporter at POLITICO.

Women’s health research remains underfunded, Adiga says, pointing to conditions that uniquely or disproportionately affect women, such as menopause or Alzheimer’s.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden announced $110 million in awards to the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, which aims to improve and increase research surrounding women’s health.

“Our daughters are going to have those answers in a way that I don’t have now, and that my mother didn’t have. And it is very exciting to be a part of this work,” Adiga says.

POLITICO Special Report

A woman casts her ballot on the second day of early voting in the 2024 presidential election in Chicago, Illinois.

Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images

Dems see signs for optimism in gender gap in early vote by Megan Messerly and Jessica Piper for POLITICO: “Across battlegrounds, there is a 10-point gender gap in early voting so far: Women account for roughly 55 percent of the early vote, while men are around 45 percent, according to a POLITICO analysis of early vote data in several key states. The implications for next week’s election results are unclear; among registered Republicans, women are voting early more than men, too. But the high female turnout is encouraging to Democratic strategists, who expected that a surge in Republican turnout would result in more gender parity among early voters.”

‘Just Because It’s Legal Doesn’t Make It Right’: The Ultimate Government Insider Contemplates Life Outside by Erin Banco for POLITICO: “Over the years, [Avril] Haines has become the ultimate government insider — with a lawyer’s rigor and the touch of a diplomat — but little known to those outside of government. What has made her invaluable to bosses from both parties in a variety of branches of government — the State Department, Barack Obama’s White House, the CIA and now as the Director of National Intelligence — has been her ability to subordinate her personal views to the professional demands of the institutions she has served.

But now, some 20 years into her career, Haines, 55, is beginning to question whether Washington is a place where she can effect the greatest good.”

Women at war: How Ukraine’s arms industry is replacing missing men by Veronika Melkozerova for POLITICO: “Unlike Ukrainian men of fighting age, women have the right to flee the war-torn country, and millions have already done so. But many others have chosen to stay, some volunteering for the military while others step in to fill gaps in the economy caused by the absence of so many men.”

Number of the Week

One third of women who have experienced pregnancy reported not receiving care relating to physical, mental or emotional changes resulting from pregnancy and/or childbirth, according to new polling from the National Women’s Law Center.

Read more here.

MUST READS

Anti-abortion protesters hold signs featuring an outline of Arizona that read, It goes too far and No on the Abortion Amendment.

Ross D. Franklin/AP

Why abortion referendums are also about the economy by Pallavi Gogoi for NPR: “With abortion rights on the ballot in 10 states this year, not to mention some candidates who see women's purpose in society along traditional lines, many Americans will be casting a vote with consequences for women's role in the economy.

The link between reproductive choice and personal finances is clear for people like Janet Yellen, who is the United States' first female Treasury secretary and is considered to be one of the world's premier economists. At a Senate hearing shortly before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Yellen testified that access to reproductive health care, including abortion, over the previous five decades had enabled many women to finish school and advance in the workplace.”

Can Men in China Take a Joke? Women Doing Stand-Up Have Their Doubts. by Vivian Wang for The New York Times: “The battle over women’s jokes reflects the broader paradox of feminism in China. On the one hand, feminist rhetoric is more widespread than ever before, with once-niche discussions of gender inequality now aired openly. But the forces trying to suppress that rhetoric are also growing, encouraged by a government that has led its own crusade against feminist activism and pushed women toward traditional roles.”

Lisa Blunt Rochester isn’t just running to make history — she’s running to make a difference by Candice Norwood for The 19th: “As [Lisa] Blunt Rochester walks through her old neighborhood in Northwest Wilmington on a picturesque October day, a mix of people — most of them Black — call out to her from their yards or pull their cars over to say hello. Until Blunt Rochester, many of the residents in this community had never seen someone who looks like them in the halls of Congress. Eight years ago, Blunt Rochester made history as the first Black person and first woman elected to represent Delaware in Congress. Now, she’s aiming for a seat in the U.S. Senate.”

She said she had a miscarriage — then got arrested under an abortion law by Melina Mara for The Washington Post: “Even before Roe v. Wade fell, a broad consensus had emerged across much of the anti abortion movement that women who seek abortions should not be prosecuted. The abortion bans that have taken effect since Roe was overturned, as well as abortion restrictions that existed before the 2022 Supreme Court ruling, do not allow women who terminate their pregnancies to be punished, instead targeting doctors and others who help facilitate abortions.

But those measures don’t tell the full story. In rare and often little-noticed cases, authorities have drawn on other laws to charge women accused of trying to end their pregnancies. Some prosecutors in both red and blue states have used sweeping statutes entirely unrelated to abortion — like child abuse, improper disposal of remains or murder — while others have relied on criminal laws written to protect a fetus. In Nevada, [Patience] Frazier would eventually be charged with manslaughter under a unique 1911 law that supplements the state’s abortion restrictions, titled “taking drugs to terminate pregnancy.”’

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

A quote from former President Donald Trump at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin reads, I’m gonna do it whether the women like it or not, I’m gonna protect them.