Analyzing the Situation
Democracy without women is incomplete. Ideally, when women were engaged in civil society and government leadership in Colombia, the United Nations successfully pushed for the adoption of the 30 percent quota for women candidates in national elections. This is evident that women can participate in political campaigns and election in multiple ways if the national and local elections offer them support. Specific measures have to be put in place to eradicate barriers present as a result of gender discrimination and other necessary measures to gender equality and empower women. Various challenges may hinder women from effective participation in presidential campaigns. These challenges hinder the achievement of sustained development, democracy, peace, equality, and inclusion in the decision-making process. These include a lack of knowledge, techniques, and tools to advice, change of attitudes and behaviors ideal for improving the political will and commitment of women to participate in presidential campaigns.
Besides, women face under-representation in parliament and other obstacles during political campaigns. Since it is the fundamental rights of women to be equally involved in presidential campaigns and also actively participate in political life, there is a need to introduce strategies that will advocate for an increase in women’s participation in presidential campaigns and political life, introduction of gender mainstreaming international agreements and protocols that would lead to effective and proactive achievement in gender parity within the high-ranking government positions (Wolak, 2020). Still, there are no better commitments that have materialized across the globe into better women protection and support to allow them to participate in presidential campaigns. Therefore, their male counterparts desire to acquire office, hence ignoring women’s concerns in similar positions.
Analyzing the Organization
Women that adopt for presidential campaigns are often affected by conditions that they anticipate from candidacy. The internal environment appears to advantage men over women’s recruitment into political candidates i.e. in primaries are a main political barrier to entry of women in competition. Women lack quotas, which contributes to international underrepresentation. Unless there exists a serious political will that would be an advocate by voters and organized through feminist demand, party leaders tend to commit recruitment efforts that would see half of the candidates being women lose their candidature due to insufficient resources, especially in situations when money dominates politics. In addition to social proceedings heavily impounded in gender perspectives, they become far less likely than men counterparts in business and social networks that channel resources in presidential campaigns.
Public perception and persisting gender roles have proved to be resistant features to feminist critique on the participation of women in presidential campaigns and senior political activities. Even though there is a recent transformation in leadership, implicit biases still exist. Lack of women involvement in high-power positions has affected both men’s and women’s beliefs in the ability of women to partake in leadership roles (Cassese & Holman, 2019).
The external environment which entails competitors, opponents, and supporter make women candidature encounter pitfalls. There is little information on the needs of specific populations and supporters, which never emerge in cumulative survey data. This makes it harder to differentiate because the population survey becomes smaller and smaller. Besides, election campaigns entail recognition of the population distribution across a campaign area, the reasons for voting for a particular candidate, and needs that compel them towards performing certain actions i.e. voter mobilization to alleviate the need.
Establishing Goals and Objectives
The goal is to ensure that women participate fully and equally, access opportunities for leadership at every level of economic, political, and public decision making. The measures to be adopted to increase the public participation of women in politics include increasing networking opportunities for women (Proskurnia et al., 2016). This will, be achieved by conducting orientation programs for those who participate in mentorship and training sessions, building a network for the up-coming women interested in political participation.
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Second, increase women’s participation at the local level. This would include exposing women to how the government operates to prepare them to participate actively in the running for political positions. Women are reluctant to participate in political parties’ leadership. Hence, there is a need for affirmative actions to allow women to gain experience in making decisions within the locality.
Third, making structural changes to achieve equal opportunity with more women participating in political leadership positions. Hence, this will be achieved through educating women and providing necessary information on temporary special measures through the media, political parties on introducing political positions reserved for women, and performing TV shows and articles with equality information.
The fourth goals are to introduce political finance reforms. This would include introducing political finance transparency by reducing the role of money in politics. Political party’s acts have to be amended to offer more funds for political parties that have more women and promote affirmative action strategies on political parties. Lastly, there is a need to change perceptions and attitudes on the role of women in society. This would involve developing gender sensitization and awareness programs that will introduce female and male role models in various occupations to minimize gender stereotypes. This would be championed by civic participation projects within the locality to identify and remove barriers to women’s participation in politics.
Formulating Action and Response Strategies
The actions include encouraging women to take political positions and actively involve themselves in presidential elections. Political parties have to offer candidates aspiring to be politicians, especially women, to identify the need that female candidates need training. The topics that training will cover include civil and women participation in politics, leadership training which imparts leadership roles and skill in women, management and finance, public speaking, roles and responsibilities of women elected in political positions, and how to source for funds, organize and push for their agenda. Besides, there is a need for public speaking and workshops that will allow women, both young and middle-aged women, to speak up their minds and actively air their views in political rallies and workshops (Wolak, 2020). This will allow women to become confident and master the skills of public speaking.
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Higher learning institutions will have offer opportunities to women and center on politics and public life to prepare them for leadership responsibilities. The ministry of gender will have to appoint women to seats to expose them to the public and increase their experience in decision making roles. Besides, I recommend that researchers conduct studies on why active women fail to run for political office. Through this, the challenges that such women face will be identified and addressed, after which, they will be encouraged and supported to understand their political mandate to allow them to participate in politics with the strategies to help unify women’s politics will assist in recruiting more women to take the challenge and run for political seats.
Developing the Message Strategy
Online social media has become popular and increase to be popular among the public. The campaign on women’s participation in presidential awareness will be communicated and shared through online social media. This will allow voters to obtain information and list the candidate’s political ideas through online media programs. As committed citizens, social medial will offer women freedom of expression and active participation in public life. Its costs are low, which will be in line with their budget; hence social media will serve as an equalizer for female participation in politics. Online political communication will offer women control over their messages in case their status is constrained by the political party. Since the primary audience consists of voters, competitors, politicians, and the entire public, social media would be necessary during the campaign period. It allows women to improve communication strategies during campaigns and voter outreach plans.
Besides, participation in community sports programs will reframe people’s mindsets and foster leadership skills among women. More women would be recruited in Peace negotiations and programs in humanitarian roles that will promote women’s leadership and decision-making roles and change the public perspectives on women’s leadership roles. This will be done by taking a piece of information on how women have performed using examples. This will adjust the public and voters’ views on women’s leadership. Moreover, door-to-door advocacy on the issue will be conducted, and materials that talk about the rights of female participation in presidential campaigns will be emphasized with a help-line established to report vote coercion cases with various TV shows organized to promote women’s leadership.
Selecting Communication Tactics
It is essential to ensure that the target audience and the public get to know and understand the message being relayed. For this reason, it is essential to determine the best communication tactic that will ensure all the targeted members receive the message loud and clear.
Various communication tactics can be deployed, including; traditional media such as television, radios, newspapers, and other modern communication methods such as social media. With many organizations using social media as an advertising tool to reach the youth and young adults, the same must be deployed in this proposal.
To determine the best communication tactic for the targeted audience, one has to analyze the target audience. In our case, the message needs to be relayed to politicians, businesspeople, and the general public. For this reason, traditional forms of media can play a vital role in disseminating the information. Most adults still prefer the traditional forms of media such as television, radios, and newspapers. Therefore, the campaign can be put on national television, where the agenda’s benefits are highlighted and explained to the viewers. In addition, the radio is another great channel to relay the message to the public. Other great platforms for spreading the campaign include newspapers and social media since detailed information about the campaign can be written down to allow the public to get an in-depth understanding of the campaign (Proskurnia et al., 2016).
Campaigns need to be a continuous process where the target audience are constantly reminded. In our case, going for billboards and adverts in the media will ensure the public continues to remember the campaign. It is essential to ensure that the public’s opinion is encouraged. For instance, conducting speeches on television or in public meetings is a great way of communicating the message. However, continuous advertising ensures the public does not forget.
Implementing the Strategic Plan
After the target population have heard and understood what the campaign entails, it is essential to proceed to the implementation stage. This stage ensures that the campaign is fully realized and put to action. The first step in this phase is to create a budget for the campaign. Telling and spreading the campaign to the people is one thing, Ensuring that the campaign achieves its objectives is another thing. During the implementation stage, it is vital to have an implementation plan, to ensure that all the objectives have been reached and that the target audience has the relevant information. Creating a budget and a timeline is essential to ensure the campaign does not get stalled halfway due to diminished resources. For this campaign, it is essential to decide the project into several milestones or parts. This makes it easy to track all the campaign’s progress and ensure everything is going as planned (Freelon, 2017). This acts as a campaign plan book, which is vital to ensure the team or campaign does not get out of context.
It is essential to research the best campaign platforms at this stage, which is friendly and effective. Since the campaign will involve multiple presentations and repetitions, it is crucial to ensure the campaign is cost-effective and reaches the targeted audience. One way to determine whether the campaign is reaching the target audience is by analyzing the feedback that is being received. For instance, social media can start a hashtag, where members of the public can contribute through the hashtag to air their views, comments, and even suggestions. If the hashtags start trending on social media platforms, it is a great sign that the campaign is reaching the public. Identifying cost-effective campaign mediums can significantly help save, which can then give room for more activities and expenses.
Evaluate the Strategic Plan
One of the ways to evaluate the progress of the campaign is to analyze the public’s perception of women’s role in leadership.
Having the public change its wrong perception about women in leadership positions is one of the objectives of the campaign. For this reason, analyzing the change in the public’s perception will go a long way in ensuring that the campaign is achieving its goals. This information can be obtained from the public through a survey or different forms of surveys, where before and after results will be evaluated to determine the change in perception.
The data collected from the post-campaign awareness survey will be tabulated and compared to determine the extent of change.
Another indicator that the campaign is working is when there are structural changes being implemented to ensure women are included. For instance, if the government decides to have more women in the House of Representatives after the campaigns, then it is a good sign that the campaign is working. This information can be obtained through observations of the various indicators that the campaign is working.
Another strategy to evaluate the success of the campaign is through increased roles in women’s participation in business, political, and leadership positions.
Suppose we can observe more women being promoted, elected, or assigned various leadership roles either in politics or other social functions. In that case, it is a good indication that the campaign is working. Since such an outcome will take some time for fruition, it is essential to have a progress report, where the progress will be noted down for evaluation.
Another evaluation technique is looking at the women’s motivation during and after the campaign. Since the campaign seeks to empower women in US political life, seeing more women coming out to compete for various political seats is a great indication of its success.
Women in Power
One of the women in American politics and leadership positions is Janet Ann Napolitano. She is an American lawyer, a university administrator, and an American politician. I think that Janet can be a role model for many United States girls and women. Her success journey and entry into the political leadership environment highlight how hard work can lead to success. She has served as the first woman in many offices in Arizona. Her political life started after being elected as the first woman in the Attorney General of Arizona from 1999 to 2003. After that, she was the Governor of Arizona until 2009, where she served as the Secretary of Homeland Security for five years, under Barack Obama’s presidency.
After her term, she was appointed the University of California president from 2013, where she stepped down this year in August. Janet’s track record is to be admired by all, considering how she acquired another job soon after serving her term. For such reason, she was ranked by Forbes as the eighth most powerful woman in 2013. Her success in politics and popularity in the United States made to list her most likely to become the first female president in the United States.
Another woman that I admire is Condoleezza Rice, born in 1954, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where it was racially segregated. Despite the tough situations in Birmingham, she was able to study to get a degree, masters, and Ph.D. She is an American diplomat, professor, civil servant, and political analyst. One of the appointments that made her popular is where she served as the United States National Security. She also served as the United States National Security advisor. It is essential to note that Rice became the first woman to serve as a National Security Advisor. For a Black American female to rise in the political leadership ranks, especially in matters that deal with national security, she is an inspiration to many black females (Wolak, 2020).
Women Empowerment Organization
One of the most popular organizations fighting for women’s rights is the ACLU. The American Civil Liberties Union, rights for women’s rights, and even take to court some cases that relate to women’s rights being afflicted. The union focuses on gender equality, women’s education, and women’s rights in the workplace. Founded in 1920, ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to ensure women’s rights and liberties are guaranteed, as per the United States Constitution and laws. If a woman is being victimized or discriminated against in their workplace, the organization can take the employer to court to ensure the woman’s rights are upheld. Some of the current issues the organization is addressing include women’s rights in education, the workplace, and violence against women, among others (Wolak, 2020).
Another nonprofit organization is Girl Up, which was developed and founded in 2010 by the United Nations. The organization works to defend women’s rights and preventing gender inequality by promoting leadership development training sessions. The training sessions are aimed at school-aged girls and women. According to their website, there are more than 75,000 registered females in over 50 US states and more than 125 countries. The organization seeks to inspire a generation of girls equipped with skills and knowledge to seek social change and be a force for gender equality.
References
Cassese, E. C., & Holman, M. R. (2019). Playing the woman card: Ambivalent sexism in the 2016 US presidential race. Political Psychology, 40(1), 55-74.
Freelon, D. (2017). Campaigns in control: Analyzing controlled interactivity and message discipline on Facebook. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 14(2), 168-181.
Proskurnia, J., Mavlyutov, R., Prokofyev, R., Aberer, K., & Cudré-Mauroux, P. (2016). Analyzing large-scale public campaigns on Twitter. In International conference on social informatics (pp. 225-243). Springer.
Wolak, J. (2020). Descriptive representation and the political engagement of women. Politics & Gender, 16(2), 339-362.