Woman Seeking Women—For Politics

Thu, January 17, 2008 - 3:21 PM

In a year with a female presidential contender and women turning out to vote more often than men, a new site called CitizenJanePolitics has seized the moment to inspire further female participation.

Patricia Murphy, 36, a former communications director for Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., launched the site in November to add a new voice to online political reporting. She’s not pushing any candidate or party – just involvement.

“I wanted to see something not only fun and engaging, but aimed at women,” she said. “I didn’t see it, so I started it.”

On top of her penchant for humor and a writing style reminiscent of a woman chatting with her friends, Murphy gets in her digs at the pundits with her weekly “Sunday Show Scorecard." Her question – if women make up more than half the voters, shouldn’t they be at least half of the voices in political discussions?

A recent post chastised CBS’ “Face the Nation” for failing to have any female guests on its Sunday broadcast after the New Hampshire primaries.

Murphy asked, "Without a woman, isn’t it hard to discuss the women’s vote that made the difference in New Hampshire?"

There is plenty of opinion on the media, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find much political slant on the pages of Jane. Murphy says readers have enough opinion out there already. She’s more interested in pushing women into the political process than toward a specific candidate.

Her call for action to fellow “Janes,” as she calls her readers: “There’s no better place for drama, intrigue and things that affect your life, and now there’s a Web site for it.”

--Neil H. Simon