#ShesConservative: The Forgotten Demographic

Far too many on the left portray conservatism as something only for men. To them – it’s an ideology that wages a “war on women.” Meanwhile, the left paints itself as the only rational champion for women – just look at this election.

But news flash: the left doesn’t get to have a monopoly on the female mind.

On September 12^th, a new campaign launches to remind our nation of that. The hashtag #ShesConservative will become a platform on various social media outlets for women to share why they’re conservative. It will give a face to this demographic that no one can ignore or discount.

The campaign will actually be a three-prong process. There is a series of 24 photos and essays from conservative college women – each one chronicling what it’s like to be conservative and female in a world of liberal education. Emily Hall, a student at Harvard University, wrote that she was “bombarded with liberalism, and I didn’t know how to stand up to it…Educating myself on a number of issues allowed me to remember why I am a conservative and develop logical, factual arguments against the pop-culture liberalism that’s so popular on campus.”

Additionally, there is a powerful video that poses the question: How do people respond when they find out you are a conservative?

It begins with women recounting how time after time they’re brushed off for daring to differ from the liberal agenda. One felt as if she was “really treated as if [her] opinion didn’t matter” – so much for promoting female empowerment. But then it shifts momentum to articulate why these women are passionate and important to the conservative movement. Another woman expressed that this campaign and the organization behind it is, “shattering stereotypes.”

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The third part mixes the voices of college women with women who have already become established in the conservative movement. These women, including Kristen Anderson and Dana Perino, will also share their passions and stories on social media – adding to the faces that show what conservatism looks like. Townhall’s own Katie Pavlich will also be giving her support to #ShesConservative.

The organization behind this empowerment movement is NeW – Network of enlightened Women. It is a group designed for college-aged women to find support and others who share their conservative beliefs. Karin Agness, the founder and president of NeW, said that her organization “educates young women on conservative ideas, cultivates a community of conservative women, and emboldens these women to stand up and speak out on campus and in their communities.” In her op-ed piece on Forbes, Agness stresses the need for this movement because:

“I hear stories semester after semester from women who are frustrated that their campus feminist counterparts mock them, insult them and try to shut them down. From peer attacks on Yik Yak, an anonymous social media app, to very public organized protests against conservative female speakers, conservative women receive the message that they don’t belong.

Conservatives need to take a page out of the playbook of the 1970s feminists who transitioned from ‘consciousness raising’ groups into a larger public movement to cause change and recruit new members. It is time for conservative young women to stop hiding their conservative views and shout their conservatism.”

This campaign will remind the Democratic Party not to count us out. It will show that the biggest threat to women isn’t necessarily the patriarchy – but the fact that people on the left take us for granted. It will remind the nation that conservative women are a force to be reckoned with – and this is what we look like.