Many will 'stir the pot' to mobilize women voters

EAST BRUNSWICK - Dozens of women in New Jersey will join thousands around the country who plan to gather around kitchen tables, at coffee shops, in break rooms and in bars Oct. 10 to talk about the issues that matter most to them and urge women to vote Nov. 7.

These "Stirring the Pot" gatherings are already planned in 46 states including New Jersey. An initiative of the AFL-CIO and Working America, these dinners are designed to re-energize women and mobilize them to vote by gathering with friends, neighbors or co-workers in casual settings to talk about the everyday issues women really care about.

Results of an online survey this summer showed that women feel that politicians are out of touch with the real concerns of women and families throughout the country, according to the AFL-CIO.

"Voting is a very important issue to me, so when I first heard about these dinners and the fact that through them we can encourage more women to vote, I decided to volunteer to host a dinner," said Stacy Feldman, an East Brunswick resident who will host a Jewish intergenerational event by asking her Jewish friends to bring their mothers and daughters. "I'm interested to learn about which issues we agree and on which we differ."

Feldman is having her guests over for dessert and is tying the event into the Jewish celebration of Sukkot. She and her guests will have dessert and their discussion outside in the sukkah structure that her family will construct.

The events are an outgrowth of an online survey, "Ask a Working Woman," conducted this summer by AFL-CIO and Working America. The survey results demonstrated that women from all parts of the U.S. are frustrated by the failure of elected officials to act on basic, quality-of-life issues that threaten the country's economic security, according to organizers.

"Women are getting squeezed between stagnant wages and soaring costs, between the need to be involved in our kids' lives and inflexible work schedules ... and most of us have had just about enough," said Meagan Jeronimo, a legal secretary in Houston, Texas, and a co-chair of the "Stirring the Pot" dinners.

More information is available at www.stirringthepot.org.