There are plenty of reasons why fewer women than men run for and are elected to public office, and while those reasons are endlessly studied and even further debated, what is clear is that women’s voices in the legislature, and more specifically, the lack thereof, impact policy.

If the legislature is to be representative, it should be a body as diverse as those it represents. Legislators can be Veterans, students, farmers, business owners, caregivers, school board members, single parents or have no children at all. Of all these possibilities and the many more left unlisted, none is defined by a person’s gender.

Recognizing our differences in gender, acknowledging the differences in perspectives those genders often bring, and highlighting the importance of more gender balance in government does not infer sexism nor imply that one is better or worse than the other.

Though we are the ND Dem-NPL Women’s Caucus, we are not here to bring forward issues that are solely good for women. We have proposed ideas that are good for families, good for children, good for employees and good for employers.

We’ve introduced bills to require doctors to notify women if a mammogram reveals dense breast tissue, to expand Medicaid and workplace accommodations for pregnant women, to reduce student loan interest rates to zero, and to protect victims of stalking. Some of these efforts have been unsuccessful, many are still moving forward, but these discussions would not have received public hearings had it not been for the leadership of our female colleagues.

Our party has made a concentrated effort to recruit and embrace female leadership. As we try to reach that lofty and worthy goal, we’ll also continue to put forth ideas that bring together a wide variety of interests and constituencies — private industry or public employee, young or old, man or woman, Democrat or Republican — to move our state forward.

North Dakota Democratic-NPL Women’s Caucus