The 2012 elections were remarkable in many ways 鈥� from issues, to participation, to outcome. The San Francisco Chronicle shares what Ambika Bist ’15, Rachel Grate ’15, Elizabeth McElvein ’14, and聽Elisabeth Pfeiffer ’15 say the election meant to them as young female voters and future leaders in business and their communities:
Young Republican wants bipartisanship
“I am a 19-year-old Indian American female, and a conservative, from Northern聽California,” . “I am by no means your typical Republican Party member. As a decline-to-state voter, I voted for Mitt Romney in my first presidential聽election.”
Voting with a vagina
“I had a vision of what the future would look like if Republicans gained control of the White House: a future where I couldn’t afford my birth control – or, as Rush Limbaugh calls them, my ‘slut pills,'” . “A world where my doctor could be legally obligated to lie to me if my decisions didn’t align with someone else’s religious聽beliefs.”
Political choice and reproductive justice
“I believe that women’s access to birth control is a social, economic and political imperative,” . “The 2012 election was an unmistakable victory for reproductive justice advocates, but the war on women has not聽subsided.”
The real cost of a college education
“This year, my tuition went up 4 percent – not nearly as bad as at the University of California, but it means that I need to work more to lessen the financial strain on my parents,” . “I worry about my younger sister, who is in elementary school, and how my family will afford for her to attend college if tuition keeps rising faster than聽salaries.”