Inspiring Woman on a Mission: Erin Loos Cutraro

Women are half the population - but only serve in 24 percent of the more than 500,000 federal, state and local elected offices.

Statistics show that when they run, women do about as well as men in political races. The problem is they aren’t encouraged or recruited to run at the same rate as men, and often are unaware of the resources available to help them if they decide to get into the political arena.

That motivated Erin Loos Cutraro, CEO of She Should Run, to co-found the nonprofit back in 2011.

She Should Run serves as a starting point for women leaders considering a future run for office. It gives them a community in which to network and helps expand the talent pool of women seeking election by providing resources and growth opportunities.

On the mission page of its website, She Should Run states: “We believe that women of all political leanings, ethnicities, and backgrounds should have an equal opportunity to lead in elected office and that our democracy will benefit from the varied perspectives and experiences that women bring to leadership.”

The group has a very public and ambitious goal: to get 250,000 women to run for office by 2030.

She Should Runs approach ranges from the practical to the cultural.

It has an “Ask a Woman to Run” online tool that allows individuals to tell She Should Run about women leaders they think should run for office. She Should Run then reaches out to those woman, shares what their nominators said about them, and encourages them to think about a political office. If the woman is interested in learning more, she’s invited to join She Should Run’s community of 40,000 women currently contemplating a campaign. (Women can also nominate themselves to run for office on the website).

She Should Run also offers an incubator that focuses women on why they want to run, the impact they will make if elected and demystifies the resources available once they make a decision to run. At this point, the incubator has helped more than 18,000 women to make the decision to pursue political office since the 2016 election!

On the cultural side, She Should Run is not only trying to reach women who are eligible for political office now; it is reaching out to younger generations of girls so that they see the possibilities and potential they have for leadership.

This includes a partnership with Mattel, maker of the Barbie dolls, that in 2016 launched the first-ever President and Vice President Barbie set to help more girls to envision the possibilities of leadership from a young age.

(Barbie has actually made a run for the White House before, but 2016 was the first year she was part of an all-female ticket).

In addition to the two dolls, Mattel and She Should Run developed a “You Can Be a Leader” activity kit that can be given to young girls so they can create their first campaigns. 

The kit lets girls know the qualities that leaders should have, like speaking up and taking a stand for what they believe it. It helps them write their first speech, make a campaign button and invites them to draw themselves as a leader.

There’s also a parents’ course through She Should Run’s incubator with additional tools and activities to help talk with girls about how they can become leaders - as well as the obstacles they might face on that journey.

This year is a historic one in the United States, with more women running for major political offices than ever before. She Should Run is working to keep that momentum going at all levels of government, until women reach parity in political power.

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