PASSING THE TORCH
By Bettina Duval, Founder, The CALIFORNIA LIST
We began 2006 celebrating the victories of newly elected female leaders in Chile, Liberia and Germany. This month we mourn the passing of three women: Betty Friedan, Coretta Scott King and Wendy Wasserstein. In their own way, each helped permanently transform the social fabric of the United […]

CONGRATULATIONS TO GERMANY, LIBERIA, AND CHILE
By Bettina Duval, Founder, The CALIFORNIA LIST
It is a new day for women in politics. Germany, Liberia, and Chile have all placed women in positions as head of state. Even Iraq’s new parliament will be 25% female!

Last November, Germans elected their first woman president, Angela Merkel, to lead them out […]

“Women are like tea bags - They never know how strong they are until they get in hot water.” Eleanor Roosevelt
IS THE WATER HOT ENOUGH YET?
By Bettina Duval, Founder, THE CALIFORNIA LIST
Who knew that the inspiration for our newsletter would come from the inside of my iced tea’s bottle cap? The quote above made […]

PARENTING TEENS AND PROPOSITION 73
I recently asked my 15-year old daughter whether she would tell me if she found out she was pregnant. Her answer: “No.”
Shortly after that conversation, I was talking with a CALIFORNIA LIST member who told of having an abortion when she was 15. “I do not know a single woman who […]

ONE HOUSE - ONE AMERICA
The powerful hurricane that devastated the Gulf State communities has the power to transform America… for the better.
When Hurricane Katrina washed away the city of New Orleans, it exposed America’s bleak secret: even at the best of times, millions of Americans are just barely getting by. When a natural disaster like […]

CARPOOLING, POLITICS AND THE SUPREME COURT
By Bettina Duval, Founder
It is back to school for my four children. So, between trying to figure out what message will encourage you to join The CALIFORNIA LIST and support our endorsed candidates, I also have to figure out my carpool schedule: Maybe Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, and his […]

When Sandra Day O’Connor announced her resignation, I was filled with sadness, surprise and a sense of urgency to build The CALIFORNIA LIST so that there is a vehicle to give women power.
Extremist leaders have the opportunity to control the law of the land for the next few decades. Our Supreme Court can […]

AMERICA’S WOMEN ELECTED OFFICIALS: GOING, GOING…
One year ago, this newsletter drew attention to the fact that the United States ranked 58th in the world in the number of women elected officials.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union recently released its 2005 study of the number of women holding elected office in 185 countries. Its findings: The United States’ ranking […]

WHAT ABOUT OUR PIPELINE TO HIGHER OFFICE?
First the good news: California is represented by two Democratic women in the United States Senate, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and by 18 Democratic women in the U. S. Congress.
Now the bad news: California will lose nearly half of the State Legislature’s 37 elected women in 2006, and […]

31-23 = 8 in 2008
California stands to lose almost three-quarters of its Democratic women legislators by 2008, and there are no women holding state executive office seats. Next year, 15 experienced Democratic women lawmakers must leave office because of term limits:

Assemblywoman Wilma Chan
 
Assemblywoman Barbara Matthews
 
Senator Martha Escutia

And in 2008, another 8 will be forced out […]