Political Women: RI-GAP Looks to Add Women to Political Leadership Positions
GoLocalProv News Team
Political Women: RI-GAP Looks to Add Women to Political Leadership Positions
The celebration, at Hotel Providence in Downcity from 6-7:30pm, will feature a one-time performance of Love and Justice, Kavisha Mazzella’s women’s anthem, as Kim Trusty conducts the Rhode Island Raging Grannies and a chorus of women from around the state. RI-GAP Steering Committee co-chairs Susan Farmer, Sue Stenhouse and Myrth York will also address attendees.
The event is free of charge and open to the public.
Seeking to balance the scales
Women are underrepresented in state government and governor-appointed positions nationwide. In Rhode Island only 15 percent of those positions are held by women. To remedy the issue, the multi-partisan Women’s Appointments Project was launched by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Hunt Alternatives Fund. Rhode Island is one of eight states (the others are California, Connecticut, Colorado, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Texas and Maine) rolling out parity projects as Gubernatorial contests heat up across the country.
The nonpartisan initiative is modeled after the Massachusetts Government Appointments Project (MassGAP), which was successful in increasing the number of women in political leadership positions during the tenure of Governor Mitt Romney.
Events begin at 6pm, Hotel Providence, 139 Matthewson St, Providence, 861-8000.