Founded in 2017, 21 in 21 was born from conversations amongst women members of the City Council who recognized the gap between male and female members.
“[Women members] saw that as a crisis and I think it really crystalized for Speaker [Viverito] when she had to do committee assignments and saw how there were not enough women, not just to Chair but even to be on committees,” says Amelia Adams, the Chair of the Executive Board for 21 in 21.
From there, the women identified that part of the problem as to why women weren t holding public office was due to the difficulties that they face when running for office.A study done by POLITICO, American University and Loyola Marymount University in 2017 found that women are less likely to run for office than men, with 35% of Democratic men reporting they have considered running for office compared to 24% of Democratic women. The disparity is even more apparent amongst Republicans, with 41% of Republican men reporting they have considered
Diversifying the City Council in New York
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Historic Gains for Women Heading to the New York City Council
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NYC Council poised to have a majority of women members
Women are poised to take over the New York City Council.
As the city Board of Elections continues to sift through mail-in ballots and sort out ranked-choice voting from last Tuesday’s primary election, more than half of the open Council seats are leaning toward women candidates. The results aren’t final yet, but if they hold it would represent a significant shift in the makeup of the city’s legislative body.
“I think it will be fairer a fairer, more just governing body,” predicted Elizabeth Crowley, a former councilwoman who’s now waiting on election results to see if she’ll become the next Queens borough president.
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The 21 in ’21 movement, it turns out, may have been too modest a goal. As results from the first round of ranked-choice voting poured in, at least 22 women appeared likely to win their New York City Council primaries and are heavily favored to win as Democrats in November’s general election. That would exceed the goal set by the 21 in ’21 campaign to elect this year 21 women to the City Council, a body that has historically failed to reflect the gender diversity of New York City.
Initial results released by the city Board of Elections on Tuesday night only reflected the first-choice votes of ballots cast in person. Absentee ballots still have to be tallied and some of the closer races will go into further rounds of ranked-choice vote counting. All of that means that some of the initial results could still change, which is why the 21 in ’21 campaign said Wednesday afternoon that they’re “encouraged” by the results, stopping short of declaring an all-out victory.