women elected to congress. we had never seen anything like that before and we have never, i'm sad to say, seen anything like it since. and we saw women running at that point for 39 open seats. that's the most open seats that women have ever run for at one time in the general election. so, kind of keep that number in the back of your head, because open seats are critical. open seats are where you make change, when the incumbent is out. incumbents win 95% of the time, men and women. so, it's critical that we are finding women to run in those open seats. so, just keep that in mind. so, after 1992, when we saw this spike, ever since then, we have been basically flat-lining at the state legislative level. we have seen almost no increase in the number of women who are running for state legislatures and relatively no increase in the number of women serving in state legislatures. from about 1994 to now, we've

gone from about 22% to 24% in state legislatures. i love this 17%, it's a real reminder, because i think that what happens out there is we see these big, famous names, right? you see nancy pelosi and you see hillary clinton and you see michele bachmann and you see condoleezza rice, and people think it's missioned accomplished, there are women everywhere, there are plenty of them. but the reality is, we're talking about 17% in congress, 24% in state legislatures. of all of the governors in this country, only six women. and that's down from the record. we've been going down in statewide elected office consistently. so, we see this kind of flat-lining, and we all sort of moan, what can we do? and we looked at the year 2012, and we said this is another year of opportunity. and we thought about this at the center and with our partner, mary hughes out in california, a

while ago, and we've been working on something called the 2012 project, to take advantage of 2012. because let's look at this year. it's a redistricting year, once again, after the census. every state legislative line, every congressional district redrawn, creating new open seats, making incumbents a little less entrenched because their districts and their constituents are different, more retirements than we normally see. and so, we see some similarities there. it's also a presidential election year. that we only get every 20 years. redistricting every ten. presidential cycles and redistricting every 20. and in presidential election years, what we see are more voters and voters that are less tied to their party. so, they're not -- they're what we call occasional voters. they don't vote that kind of straight party line. it makes it a little bit of a benefit for newcomers. and unfortunately, women are still newcomers.

so, what we have been doing is going out around the country trying to engage and inspire more women to run in 2012. but what we were missing in this cycle and what we had in 1992 was that galvanizing moment. and i think that's a little of what we have started to see now, and we have to keep it going, right? we saw what happened when women came before, when women tried to speak at the house hearings and women's access to health care was being restricted, women's access to contraception being restricted, and it's making people mad. and what i'm loving -- and i don't know if all of you are following this, i certainly am -- what's happening in the state legislatures across the country. so, we are seeing all around the country, not just the horrible legislation, but we're seeing women legislators using the

platform that they have to speak out. so, i'll read you just a couple of the pieces of -- if you can hand me that. we've got some great legislation that women are putting forward around the country, and it's not that they expect it necessarily to pass, but they want to really show what's going on and use their voice, and this is why we need more women in office. so, in virginia, senator janet howell proposed legislation mandating rectal exams and cardiac stress tests for men seeking erectile dysfunction meds. [ cheers and applause ] in georgia, we saw representative yasmiyn neil, who wrote a bill outlawing most vasectomies because they leave thousands of children deprived of birth.

in ohio, senator nina turner would compel men to get psychological screenings before getting prescriptions for impotence meds. and i'm quoting her now -- "we must advocate for the traditional family," turner said, "and ensure that all men u using these inhibitors are healthy, stable and educated about their options, including celibacy as a viable life choice." [ applause ] in illinois, state representative kelly cassidy proposed requiring men seeking viagra to watch a video showing the treatment for persistent erections, an occasional side effect of the little blue pill. and as she explained, it's not a pretty procedure to watch. so, this is happening around the country in response to this, and this is just, i think, another

example of the anger that we are seeing out there. and so, we really have to work to kind of galvanize around this issue and not let it pass and not let it go. and i think there's some good news about the numbers as we move forward. now, so far, 24 states have had their filing deadline. so, these numbers are still very preliminary. there are, you know, 26 states, 27 states left to go here. and so, we need to make sure that we're monitoring this. but right now, we have 37 women who are filing or planning to file for the united states senate. that number -- [ applause ] at this time -- now, i want to say that the record was set back in 2010 with 36. so, if all of these women actually do file, we will have beat the record, but only by one. but at this point in the cycle, with about the same number of states having filed, in '08, we

had 11 women, and in 2010, we had 28 women. so, we are ahead of the game at the u.s. senate level. but here's where i think we really want to watch this, is in the united states house. right now, we have a total of 270 women who are considering filing or have filed for the united states house of representatives. at this point back in 2010, we had 227 women. and in 2008, we had 184. the ultimate record was set in 2010 with 262 women. but we're, again, ahead of the game, but we are really ahead of the game in what i consider the most important kind of race that women can be in, and again, that goes back to those open seats. so, remember what i said about 1992, year of the woman, but also the year of the open seat, okay? so, right now, women are either filed or say they are planning to file for open seats.

70 women are planning to run for open-seat races in the united states house. back in 2008, at this point, only 32 women were saying they were filing for open seats. and in 2010, 37. this is the number to watch. this is what we have to keep our eye on. we have been looking at this, at the 2012 project now at the center for american women and politics for about two years. we have been going out and talking to women all over this country, women who are engineers and scientists and women in business and finance, organizations of women of color, leaders in the non-profit community, and we are saying to them, now is the time. why not you? why not now? run for office. this is the payoff, is the increase in the number of women who are saying they're going to run. and now we have, i think, the galvanizing issue where we are seeing the difference that women can make, we are seeing what happens when women's voices are

not at the table. there's that great line, you know, if you're not at the table, you're probably on the menu? well, we need to make sure, we need to make sure that we are all at the table. and so, as i look out in this room and to the folks watching this on c-span, if you are in one of those states where there have not been filings, i hope that you will consider running for office or that where there is an open seat or a vulnerable incumbent, that you will identify a woman who you know who could run, because that's what we need to do. and if you are in a state that already, the filing deadlines have passed, find a woman. go to our website. we keep track of all the women who are running for office around the country. find a woman who is running, support her. if it's not somebody in your state, find her in another state. but we need to get more women elected. our tag line for the 2012 project has been don't get mad, get elected. and i think that's absolutely true.

and if it's not going to be getting you elected right now in 2012, maybe in 2014 or 2016, i would say don't get mad, get a woman elected. so, thank you very much and i hope that sets the stage for you quickly. >> i knew that she could do it. she has all those numbers and figures at her fingertips. did you have the deadlines on your website so -- >> yes, all the filing deadlines are our website. >> the mike. >> oh. we have an election tracker. if you go to the cawk website or to the 2012project.us, we have something called the election tracker and we have all the filing deadlines for each of the states and we have links to each state and the women who are running for congress. and then as soon as the state legislative elections are held, the primaries, we will have all the women who are running for

the state legislature, post primary. >> great, okay. so, now you've set the stage. and dr. e. faye williams is our next speaker. the national congress of black women, which began, i believe -- i'm saying 28 years ago. and its mission has been to encourage more african-american women, more women of color to run, because all the data that you hear on women as a whole, as you know, the underrepresentation of women of color is even worse. but they've also broadened their mission. you do other things besides this. but dr. williams has done the mission impossible, too. she's not only now taken over after c. delores tucker, who was the founder, which was tough enough, but she also has run for congress. now, she did not take an easy

sight. she ran for congress from louisiana. and that was quite something, because you only lost, i think by 500 votes? >> yes, 0.6%. >> 0.6%. can you imagine? but that didn't stop her. she kept going on -- [ applause ] and she's had a career of encouraging other women to run and for all of us to fight for our women's rights, civil rights, and wherever there is a social justice cause, dr. williams is there fighting for all of us. e. faye? >> thank you, ellie. is there anybody left here who doesn't understand that there is a war against the women? we know that the first shot was fired by the far right, but let me tell you this afternoon, it's not no who fires the first shot, it's the one who's still standing when the war is over.

we women plan to be still standing. sojourner truth, a woman whose memorial we had the honor of placing in the united states capitol, making her the first african-american woman standing there with a permanent memorial, she said that if the first woman could turn this world upside down, surely, all of us together could turn it right side up again, and we intend to do just that because we are on the same team. rea before me talked about fighting for issues that are issues of all people, not just what we consider our personal issues, because the time comes when we need to unite, and we want somebody to help us with what we do consider our issue. and you've heard about the young minister who was there and said,

i said nothing because i was not involved. and then they came for me, and there was no one left to be involved. so, we must form our coalitions. we must collaborate on those issues that are all of ours. we must begin to learn how one issue impacts the other. now, we are not playing football. i understand that and i've attended a whole bunch of football schools. but sometimes, i think some of those people out there who are working against our best interests believe that, indeed, women are a football field, and they can just form their little "t" formations, you know, they can say one thing to us and then do another, but we are ready because we are on the same team, and we women understand what teamwork means. it used to mean that we did everything. but each of us has got our role

to play now, and that's what makes us stronger, because when we collaborate, we can make everything that we do mean something. if you want to eliminate once and for all pre-existing circumstances and conditions, like being a woman, then we're on the same team. if you want to ensure equal pay for equal work, then we are on the same team. if you want to make sure that your child can stay on your health plan until they're 26, then yes, we are on the same team. yes, if you want to have access to affordable health care, you want everybody else to have it, then we are on the same team. if you want to preserve social security as we know it, we are on the same team.

if you are one of the 99% or care about the 99%, then we are on the same team. if you want to see more women like nancy pelosi and amy klobuchar and carolyn maloney and barbara mikulski and all of these wonderful women, then we are on the same team. if you want to see another shirley chisholm rise, we are on the same team. if you want to let more women serve on the supreme court like elena kagan and sonia sotomayor, then we are on the same team. if you want to see more women like hillary clinton over at the secretary of state, being head of that office, then we are -- >> on the same team! >> if we want to see more melissa harris-perrys and rachel

maddows on television telling our story, we are -- >> on the same team. >> if you want a fair pay act in your lifetime we are -- >> on the same team. >> if you want to see the tea party disappear, we are -- >> on the same team. >> if you want to reach that 51% that you heard about this morning in the united states congress, then we are -- >> on the same team. >> all right. if we want a congress that's responsive to our needs, then we are -- >> on the same team. >> if you want to keep title 9, as our sister spoke about this morning, arlene, then we are -- >> on the same team. >> -- on the same team. all right. if you want the equal rights amendment ever to happen, we are -- >> on the same team. >> if you want to put down divisiveness, you want to put down sexism, you want to put

down home phobfoe homophobia, y to put down racism, you want to put down taking action against people and not giving them fair oppounities who have physical or mental disabilities, then we are -- >> on the same team. >> all right. if you want to put down ignorance of people who are supposed to be educated but don't act like it, then we are on the same team. my sisters, if you want to exrience concepts like truth and justice for all, equality for all, fairness for all, then we are on the same team. we've been through the fire, my sisters, but one thing that is clear to us is that we're not going to go back because we are on the same team. if we are on the same team, then it seems to make sense that there is something we have to do. how do we do it in 2012?

because we can't wait, as dr. martin luther king said, we cannot wait. it's time for us to do it now. so, we cannot just get mad, because as my friend, dick gregory, always says, when we get angry, plain old anger can consume and destroy us. but if we are on the same team, there are some things we must do immediately. we can't just get mad at old fruity-newty. we can't just get angry with old tricky ricky and all the stuff he's saying. we can't get mad at the other people in the races that aren't for us. you know who they are. but everything that they say is something that we've got to listen to, because somehow, it's connected to preventing women from doing something. it's against our interests. so, some of the positive things, you've heard them all today, and we're just going to rush through them. instead of getting just plain

old angry, every time somebody comes on and says something crazy, just go and register another friend, somebody who just hadn't made it to register yet, somebody who just didn't get a chance to vote before, somebody who didn't have the money to go and find that birth certificate, somebody who just doesn't even know where the courthouse is or where they're registered to vote. let's make our anger mean something if we're really on the same team. let's put our dollars where our mouths are instead of cussing somebody out. let's just go and send a dollar to people like elizabeth warren or other people who -- well, ecan't do that, but you know the people who support our issues. let's make sure we do that. if you want to be on the same team with us, be sure that you motivate somebody to vote who didn't even plan to vote. we want you to explain to somebody how the affordable care act works, what is in it,

because we know when people understand it, they like it. when they're asked individually if they want the pieces that are in that act, they then say they want it. but when you just ask them if they support the act because they've heard it so much, about whatever care and all that kind of stuff, i just add an "s" on it, you see, and say cares. but anyway, the vast majority of us are concerned about our brothers and our sisters all across this country, all across this world, but we can't do it if we don't have a congress there, and we need a senate one of these days before long where 51% means something, because right now, they can get 51% and they still haven't done anything. but since we are 51%, let's make the senate mean something for us, too, because that's a stupid law and they've got rule and they've got to change that. you know, if we are silent about what's going on out there, then

we are told by dr. martin luther king again that silence gives consent, and surely, we are not consenting to all of the things that are happening to us in this most recent war against women. again, we must collaborate now. we must stop all the foolishness about being angry with somebody because they didn't do one thing that we wanted. we've got to look at the whole picture. we've got to look long range. we've got to think about who is usually there with us, who is generally there with us until we can put somebody there that is with us all the time. we women are a majority. but you know, sometimes, we act like we're just a little part of the constituency of what it is out here that's voting. we are the majority. do we know what the majority means? we've got to start acting like we are in charge. now, the people who are against us aren't hiding. it's not difficult to find them. all we have to do is listen to cbs, nbc, abc, msnbc, even that

other station over there, and you'll find out who the real enemies are. so, we just have to say, no, no, no, no, no, we won't go back! and we've got to mean it when we say it. we've got to tell them we have come too far, we have suffered too much, we have struggled too much. so many of our women friends have died waiting for things to happen. while they worked, we were not always there with them, but we must be with women today who are for us, and we must know who those people are who are against our best interests. again, as i conclude, i bring to you a remark of sojourner truth who said that she suffered so many indignities, but those indignities never stopped her, because she was fighting for dignity. and like many other women, susan b. anthony, liucretia mott, stanton and others, she was fighting for us to get the right

to vote, and we won't go back. there was gloria steinem, ellie smeal. we've grown up on shirley chisholm, kim gandy, patricia ireland, terry o'neil, harriet tubman before them, ida b. wells-barnett before them, ella baker before them. all of these are women who have fought too many battles for us to go back. so, we won't go back. it's time for us to take our own stand and stand the ground for women and insist that we won't go back for any reason. so, we've got to get it on when we leave this conference today. we can't wait for the summer. we can't wait for november. we've got to get it together now. i want you to know that it is time that we understand that all, each of our interests is somehow related to all of our interests. so, the far right, as i said earlier, may well have shot the first shot, but it's the one who's still standing when the

last shot is fired. and women, we intend to be there because we are a team. thank you. i love you. god bless you. [ cheers and applause ] >> i forget that e. faye is also an ordained minister. >> can you tell? >> and to hear her voice ringing there in indignation. we're going to throw open -- we have a little time, not much, for q&a. the reason i stopped some of the candidate stuff is that we're here as a non-profit organization. and so, basically, we want to keep it in the philosophical range, especially with eagleton

institute standing right here, encouraging more women to run. anyway, i also want to -- for those of you who were not here before, we have an historic figure in our audience who might want to say something about running. carol moseley-braun, who was obviously the first african-american u.s. senator, is attending, which we're very honored with her attendance. she is on the national advisory board of n.o.w. and obviously, she ran for president of the united states. so, she knows something about running. and if you want to go to a mike, carol, could i encourage you to, or? yeah. [ applause ] >> good. take hold here. right now, she is running a -- she's an expert on food, organic food. and you ought to hear her on

this subject. my grandson happens to have this terrible peanut allergy, and she was telling us about the food processing. i mean, this woman's got a lot of hats. she's been elected statewide how many times in illinois? lots. and she is -- i' never forget when you first took the floor. this might be a little known detail of why it matters when women are there. you took the floor, and she had her pin on, right? first african-american woman to take the floor. and they stopped her. remember this? at the gate, at the door. sergeant at arms stopped her and said she couldn't enter the floor. she said, wait a minute, i just got elected today. i got my pin on and the whole thing. anyway, she had pants on. this wasn't 100 years ago.

this is 1992. and women were not allowed to wear pants. and so, do you want to tell the rest of the story or should i? i mean, this made a difference because she refused to get off the floor. she stayed on the floor. and one of the reasons that women can wear pants is senator and ambassador carol moseley-braun. >> well, first off, ellie, i want to thank you and the feminist majority for this conference. this has been just a magnificent opportunity to get energized and inspired all over again. we've been calling it old home week because you see so many women, so many warriors, people who have been out in the forefront making the case that equality is an american value and women hold up half the sky, and we're entitled to be participants in the governance of this country just as anybody

else. and so, you are making the case, and all these wonderful people. and i love the fact that you bring the young women into the conversation, because many of them really need to know that this is not just a battle that's going to be over with tomorrow. it didn't just start yesterday, and that we have to all work together. in dr. faye's language, we have to be a team to make certain we come together and make these things happen. i want to tell a quick story. this is called a point of personal privilege since i have the mike. worst thing you can do is give a politician the mike, right? i first met ellie fighting for the equal rights amendment in the state of illinois. it was 1970 -- right? because my apartment was right across the street from the capitol, we became the war room for the passage of the equal rights amendment. and we took on -- this was the very beginning of the other lady who will not b