Changing the Status Quo

• Author: Caroline Rothstein
• Pages: 9-10

1881 Initiative aims

to increase the number

of female AGs

Opening

Statements

EDITED BY LIANE JACKSON

LIANE.JACKSON@AMERICANBAR.ORG

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MEANS FOR AG

JULY 2018 ABA JOURNAL || 9

Changing

the Status

Quo

GENDER POLITICS IN AMERI CA HAS COME

FRONT AND CENTER SINCE HILLARY CLINTON

LOST THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION a nd the

Me Too movement sparked a national discourse.

While women represent half of the U.S. population,

the country is ran ked 104th out of more than 190 for

women’s representation in government, according to

the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and repre sentation at

the state capital level is p erhaps the most bereft.

Women make up one-fi fth of C ongress and 22 per-

cent of mayors in cities with populat ions above 30,000.

Eight of the current 50 state att orneys general are

women: fi ve of the 23 curr ently held Democratic seats

and three of the 27 Republican.

Amid a broader push for female cand idates at every

governmenta l level, the Democratic Attorneys Genera l

Association has lau nched an initiative to elect more

women to an underestimated p osition: state attorney

Tatewin Means of South Dakota

is the fi rst indigenous woman to

run for state attorney general.