Women Rock The Vote! – Millenial Influx

By: Lillian Mejia-Gautreau

One hundred years ago in 1920, women won the right to vote in national elections. Today, women are not only essential in voting, they are winning elections.

A century after the 19th amendment gave women the right to vote, half of US adults say that giving women the right to vote has been the most important milestone in advancing the position of women in the country.

Women have not hesitated to take advantage of the right to vote and be part of American democracy in every election. Polls reported women having a slightly higher turnout than men. It is no surprise that the votes are swinging in Biden’s direction.

The Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University shows that no nominee for either party has gained as much female support as Joe Biden. Women are very concerned for the state of the world and don’t feel like Trump has done well in handling COVID. They believe that Biden Will handle the economy better.

Women are also seriously put off by the president’s behavior and conduct over the past four years, especially 2020.

According to the poll results indicate that the gap between women’s votes and men’s votes is currently at its widest, while the racial divide between women voters is narrowing. Now in 2020 women are coming together despite racial differences to vote for a candidate who they believe will change America for the better.

For women who do lean towards voting for Trump they typically land on the side of Racial resentment.

The New York Times says, “If President Trump loses his re-election bid, female voters will probably have played a critical role.”

During this election men and women have never been more politically divided.

The Election in 1992 was called the Year of the woman because of the boom in the amount of female senators. The numbers tripled from two all the way to two dozen. Women have a powerful impact when they come together despite all of the injustices and inequality that women and especially women of color face.

The fact that many women are choosing to band together to vote for Biden is making a huge impact in this presidential election.

Despite all the inequality women have faced throughout history and even to this day we continue to create change despite all odds.

Article Links:

https://cawp.rutgers.edu/facts/voters/gender_gap

2020: The Year of the Woman Voter

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.