demonstrated a recognition of the concerns of women of all ages, races, ethnic groups and socio-economic classes;

demonstrated a commitment to equality in employment opportunities and compensation, eliminating discrimination and eliminating sexual harassment in the      workplace;

demonstrated a commitment to parity between women and men in educational and training opportunities, including programs to help girls reach their full potential;

supported the right of all women to safe, legal and accessible abortions, comprehensive reproductive health services, and family planning services;

supported equality for women with respect to health care issues;

supported the rights of women in various forms of the family, such as nuclear, extended, same-sex, and single-parent families; and

demonstrated a commitment to building a more just society by supporting legislative initiatives that advance the above interests.

PWCF: A 22 Year Perspective                                                                                     Top
By Nancy M. Neuman, Former PWCF President
(written in 2004)

When PWCF was founded in February 1982, the deadline to ratify the federal Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was looming. It expired on June 30 and ERA fell three states short of the number needed to ratify. Women like me, who actively campaigned in unratified states, witnessed the betrayals of two, three, and four male legislators who switched their votes at the last minute after promising to vote yes. Like other ERA advocates I believed that progressive women legislators would have kept their promises, unlike the men who were quite willing to trade off the ERA for better committee assignments or highway money.

So I was ready to sign up when PWCF was founded. PWCF also convinced me I could do something about the backlash against the legal right to abortion established by the US Supreme Court in 1973. Pennsylvania legislators passed the Abortion Control Act in 1982, which was overturned by the US Supreme Court in 1986 (Thornburgh vs. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists). The Court found that the “informed consent” provisions imposed upon the woman were “nothing less than an outright attempt to wedge the Commonwealth’s message discouraging abortion into the privacy of the… dialogue between the woman and her physician.”

PWCF was founded in this political environment with a purpose to raise money for women candidates of all political parties who subscribe to the principles of equality embodied in the ERA, are pro-choice, and are progressive on other social issues.

In its first election, PWCF endorsed a Republican challenger to anti-choice Rep. Stephen Freind of Haverford in the primary, but she lost. Freind was infamous for his astonishing statement, later retracted, that a woman who is raped cannot become pregnant because her body creates antibodies against sperm. Two PWCF endorsed House candidates won in 1982: Ruth Rudy (D-Centre) who beat an anti-choice incumbent, and Ruth Harper (D-Philadelphia) who was first elected in 1976. PWCF endorsed Senator Jeanette Reibman (D-Northampton) who won re-election and House candidate Babette Josephs (D-Philadelphia) who lost, but came back to win in 1984. In 1984 the late Roxanne Jones (D-Philadelphia) beat an incumbent to became the second female Senator. She often said that PWCF’s endorsement gave her campaign the credibility it needed to build momentum.

PWCF supports progressive women candidates regardless of party affiliation, a stance that is not without controversy. Republican Alma Jacobs, a founding board member, learned that first hand when nine Republican women in the House accused her of disloyalty. According to the Delaware Times of March 19, 1982, Jacobs was the “center of a growing storm…because she is on the board of the new PWCF [which] has endorsed two Democrats and a challenger to Republican incumbent Representative Steven Friend.”

PWCF has always focused its efforts on General Assembly candidates because Pennsylvania lags most states in the proportion of women legislators. In 1982 women were 4% of the legislature compared to 12% nationwide. Jeanette Reibman (D-Northampton) was the only state Senator, with 11 women serving in the House. The 1990 election produced the biggest increase when the percentage of women rose from 6.7% to 9.5%. Although a record number of women ran in 1992, few of them won. By 2002 the percentage of women legislators was 13.8% with 8 Senators and 27 House members. In 1982 the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) ranked Pennsylvania 45th of the 50 states. In 2002 our ranking is 44th because by comparison to other states our gains are slow, even if they are steady.

By our 10th anniversary, the PWCF board understood that we cannot dramatically change the makeup of the General Assembly in one or two elections, but must work patiently to ensure the re-election of our incumbents and elect a few new legislators in each cycle who will become incumbents on the next round.

In 1997 PWCF started a Campaign School, which is hands-on boot camp for progressive women candidates and those who are exploring a candidacy. Our third school took place in 2001. Graduates leave the School armed with strategy, budgets, staffing methods, and improved fundraising techniques.

Political change over 20 years has made clear that nobody can take for granted public policies that seem to have been settled, such as a woman’s right to legal abortion. We need to encourage progressive women to become candidates and back them up with significant sums of money so they can compete and win. In the long run their success will not only make the legislature more representative, their participation will also improve the lives of women and their families throughout the Commonwealth.