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The Female Advantage

© Hunter

Women have many natural advantages over men in running for office.

Let's take a look at some of them . . .

1. It is pretty tough for a male opponent to attack a woman, as it might backfire on him. The public might think that he is a bully and if he comes back with a mild response, he will look like a wimp. A woman candidate should take on her male opponent with a continuous barrage of strong arguements, with fair but critical information about his past and his experience.

2. A woman in a campaign is in most cases a unique situation and the press is likely to be interested. Women in what is perceived traditionally male arenas are still considered novel. Instead of worrying about the press presenting you as a woman, make use of the differences and always stay accessible to the media. Remain open and personable and do not lose your temper. Handle bad press with a sense of humor and have someone other than the candidate complain about it.

3. You will need to feminize your material. By that I mean that you should use personal endorsements of women in your ads and pictures of women on your brochures. Women in recent surveys have been found to be more willing to listen to a woman, so speak to women in your text and speeches, as well as the men.

4. It is a well known fact that women control most of the money today, but it is also a fact that men contribute far more money toward politcal campaigns in this country than women. Therefore, the greatest untapped group you should target are women. They are far more apt to relate to the issues you raise, your style and the goals you want to achieve.

5. As a woman, don't be afraid to offend men. You have to play on their field and run on your merits. Some of these men will have good strong records in support of women's issues, however, because of the under-representation of women in Congress, we cannot compromise ourselves out of the race because of it.

6. Target women as a voting block. Begin with organizations that cater mostly to women and those that are women's organizations. Even organizations that refuse to take a position on issues or candidates will most of the time allow you to speak to them. Contact the businesses that employ mostly women, and address issues of importance to them.

7. Women's campaigns seem to attract a lot of volunteers, but you may have to make the effort to go out and recruit them. Write a volunteer plan of how many people you will need for which projects and how you can use the volunteers you have to get more

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