Women’s History Month: Will We Elect a Woman President in 2020?
2020 will be the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guaranteed and protected women’s right to vote.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Marianne Williamson have all thrown their hats into the ring for the Democratic presidential nomination, and more may announce their intentions in the weeks ahead. Will 2020 be the true “Year of the Woman,” with the nation’s first woman president elected 100 years after women’s suffrage became law?
If you are interested in exploring this question, two expert scholars are available to provide commentary.
Who
Belinda A. Stillion Southard, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Communication Studies, University of Georgia
Belinda A. Stillion Southard’s research specializes in areas of rhetorical criticism, public address, and women's rights rhetoric. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication and a Women's Studies Certificate from the University of Maryland. Her research and teaching interests are grounded in the public address tradition and are guided by questions regarding gender, transnationalism, and citizenship. Her first book, Militant Citizenship: Rhetorical Strategies of the National Woman's Party, 1913-1920, won the 2012 Marie Hochmuth Nichols Award, presented by the Public Address Division of the National Communication Association. It also received an Honorable Mention designation for the 2012 Winifred Bryan Horner Book Award given by the Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition. Her most recent book, How to Belong: Women's Agency in a Transnational World (2018, Pennsylvania State University Press), centers on how women conceptualize belonging in the contexts of regional movements, the nation-state, and supranational organizations.
Tammy R. Vigil, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Communication, Boston University
Tammy R. Vigil’s research interests include political campaigns, political rhetoric, persuasion, and women as political communicators. Dr. Vigil’s books include Moms in Chief: The Rhetoric of Republican Motherhood and the Spouses of Presidential Nominees, 1992-2016 and Connecting with Constituents: Identification Building and Blocking in Contemporary National Convention Addresses. She has also published journal articles and book chapters on the rhetoric of Michelle Obama, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George W. Bush, and on national nominating conventions. Dr. Vigil formerly served as Associate Dean of the College of Communication at Boston University and is a past winner of the Wrange-Baskerville award given annually by the Public Address Division of the National Communication Association.
Contact
To schedule an interview with either of these experts, please contact Sandra L. Rodriguez at srodriguez@natcom.org or 202-534-1104.
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