The Rhode Island Democratic Women’s Caucus Executive Committee is writing to encourage future Governor McKee to appoint a woman to be the next Lieutenant Governor. In Rhode Island, women make up over 51% of the population, yet upon Governor Raimondo’s departure, only 1 in 9 –a mere 11%– of top federal and state elected officials will be women.
COVID-19 makes it even more urgent to have a woman as the Lieutenant Governor. The economic effects of the pandemic have fallen disproportionately on women – with about four times as many women as men dropping from the labor force in September 2020– likely due to the child care and school crises.
We cannot expect to achieve the best policies when more than half of Rhode Islanders are not represented in top leadership nor involved in important policy making. By tapping the full talent pool this state has to offer, there is no problem we cannot solve.
Part of the explicit mission of the Women’s Caucus is to work for “equal representation of women at all levels of government.” We urge future Governor McKee to appoint a woman to be the next Lieutenant Governor.
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