The Feministing Five: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

For this week’s Feministing Five, we spoke with DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been in the House for ten years, serving for Florida’s 23rd Congressional District. She has been a national leader for reproductive rights and has fought for women’s health care throughout her tenure.

Suzanna Bobadilla: Thank you so much for speaking with us! To get started, you’ve had quite a busy week. Can you explain what’s going on? 

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Well, now that the 2016 presidential nomination process is fully underway on both sides of the aisle, my role as chair of the Democratic National Committee is to make sure that we show voters across the country the deep and stark contrast between the clown chair of the Republican candidates and our candidates. Ultimately, when voters choose who they want to be President of the United States, it will be a Democratic nominee, whoever it is, because of the issues that matter most to them.

That’s my job until we have a nominee — to highlight that contrast, particularly on issues that are going to drive voters’ decisions, like the economy, jobs, health care, reproductive choice, pay check fairness, and LGBT equality.

SB: This past week, you were involved in a public conversation with Rand Paul’s campaign about his stance on abortion. The back and forth had me thinking about a national survey that Vox conducted where 39 percent of Americans wouldn’t define themselves as pro-life or pro-choice, but somewhere outside those boxes. As 2016 gets nearer, how do you anticipate reaching out to those folks? 

DWS: Well, not the way that Ran Paul chose to. When he announced his candidacy, even on the first full day of his campaign, he did all that he could not to answer the question that he was asked about his views on reproductive choice. I think a discussion on reproductive choice will help voters decide who to vote for. The Republican candidates all have very different definitions of personal liberties than ours do — they all support government making decisions that would undo Roe v. Wade.

Our nominee would support a woman’s right to make decisions with her doctor, and that is where the majority of the country is. Most voters don’t think that their government should be involved in those decisions, and most voters think that the protections that Roe v. Wade provided should not be undone. The point that I tried to make during the back-and-forth with Rand Paul was that there have been abortion restrictions that states have made, I don’t agree with most of those, but we do have the rights for a woman to make her own choice in this country and if the Republicans won the election, well, we’ve seen just how far they roll back rights in the past.

SB: As Hillary Clinton just announced her candidacy for 2016, there has been much discussion on feminism and national presidential politics. How do you think feminism will fit into the 2016 election and will it be different than years past? 

DWS: For me, I’m in the sandwich generation of women whose moms were in the midst of the 70s advent of feminism and during my formative years, feminism fell out of favor and it was viewed negatively. A lot of women didn’t want to call themselves feminists. I have two daughters — a 15-year-old and an eleven-year-old — and while they aren’t quite at the stage where they know how to define themselves in that way, if you were to ask young women today and put that same question to my girls about the elements of feminism, they would fully embrace those concepts. They would fully embrace the idea that when they grow up, they should have the same opportunities that their men counterparts have. Of course they would want equal pay for equal work. Of course they should have the right to make decisions about their own bodies. Of course when they decide who they want to marry, it should be equal. Of course treatment in the workplace should be equal. The building blocks and definition and underpinnings of feminism are fully embraced by millennials and younger generations. I think that we have started to come full circle and that those young women have embraced the term.

But honestly — and I have always called myself a feminist and I have never run from that word — I think the label doesn’t matter too much. What’s going to matter in this presidential campaign is that we have a president who is going to embrace policies that ensure everyone can realize every bit of their potential.

SB: In 2008 and 2012, much of the Democratic presidential strategy was built upon coalition forming. When we talk about feminism here at Feministing, we demonstrate how it intersects with issues such as racism, immigration, transphobia, and classism. As the Dems go into 2016, how will they make sure that these types of perspectives are no longer ignored but placed at the center of the conversation? 

DWS: We can do that by shining a spotlight on experiences that face similarly discriminatory treatment. One of the reasons that the LGBT rights movement has come so far so fast is that when the LGBT community embraced who they were and came out it meant that there were family members who knew someone who was gay and they didn’t love them any less. We have been able to educate Americans that they don’t want their loved one treated any differently.

As Democrats, we use personal stories of women to educate Americans on policy issues and we can show the ramifications of harmful policies that Republicans champion.

SB: Let’s pretend you’re stranded on a desert island. You can take one food, one drink, and one feminist. What do you choose? 

DWS: The food would be hot dogs, the drink would be iced tea, and the feminist would be Amy Poehler.

Header image credit: CNN