Single women have political life beyond shoes

Men, have you ever looked a woman in the eye and tried to decipher her thoughts, only to… Men, have you ever looked a woman in the eye and tried to decipher her thoughts, only to realize that you have no idea what she’s thinking? Is she angry or happy, confused or bored, suffering or thriving?

If you’ve done this before, you have a lot in common with Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and President George W. Bush. Well, maybe not with them but at least with their campaign staff. W is for women, and so is John Kerry. They even have wives and daughters to prove it. So how did women, who have been essentially ignored as a voting bloc in past elections, become so important in this election?

One answer is Carrie Bradshaw. Kerry and Bush want single women to strap on their Manolo Blahniks and head to the voting poll on Nov. 2 before they head to happy hour. In 2000, an estimated 22 million single women who were eligible to vote did not vote.

If single women voted at the same rate as their married counterparts, more than 6 million more single women would have voted. If a massive voter mobilization effort had been in place for those wild single women of South Beach, Fla., the election may have turned out differently.

Not all single women, however, can be grouped into one giant block. Next in line behindCarrie Bradshaw at the voter registration table is the waitress at your favorite restaurant, the single mom on the bus who takes her kids to daycare, the Vice President of a Fortune 500 company and your professor. As voters, single women are not as easy to categorize as “NASCAR Dads” or other groups, simply because it seems the only thing 22 million single women would have in common is martial status.

But nonpartisan groups like Women’s Voices. Women’s Vote have shown that a large number of single women do have more in common: They agree that the country is headed in the wrong direction and that politicians don’t care about their issues. Women’s Voices recognizes this problem, and has been targeting single women and educating them about issues that matter to them but that candidates usually don’t address directly, like the wage gap and healthcare specific to single-income households.

It makes sense — can you name any single, female politicians?

Another reason Kerry and Bush are paying attention to women is a question, a big old question that can decide elections. Women make up 62 percent of undecided voters, according to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Soccer moms are a phenomenon of the past. Now “Security Moms” driving SUVs instead of minivans are the hot new demographic. National security is the most important voting issue to these women, who worry about the safety and security of their children. The founder of Security Moms 4 Bush in a statement declares that “I am just a mom … a mom that dreams of a day when all mothers will again feel safe.”

Other pollsters, however, say that the “Security Mom” is a myth, and that this group is made up of affluent, white women who would have traditionally voted Republican anyway.

I can’t imagine why single women wouldn’t vote in this election. Yes, I’m talking to you, single college women.

Put down your Cosmo or your organic chemistry book on Nov. 2! Take 10 minutes to vote, 10 minutes to have your say in your country’s future. You don’t care about the economy? You’ll be entering to job market soon, and then you’ll suddenly care a lot about the economy and whether or not your male equivalent is making more money than you are. Then you’ll also care about healthcare and the rising cost of graduate school. You should already care about your body, which is always an issue that politicians love to debate.

Maybe, if we start voting, we’ll have a handful of single women in elected office. Then everyone will be talking about single women, and not just Carrie Bradshaw.

E-mail Jen Stephan at jls259@pitt.edu.