Dr. Nancy L Cohen is a historian, political activist, and best-selling author of four books, her most recent being Breakthrough: The Making of America’s First Woman President. She is a leading national expert on women and American politics. She currently serves on the Los Angeles County Commission for Women and an elected executive board member of the Association of California Commissions for Women. I had the honor of hearing Cohen speak at the College of Saint Elizabeth in Morris County, NJ, on Monday, January 23, 2017.

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On the rainy Monday evening of January 23rd, I drove cautiously through the beautiful, winding campus of the College of Saint Elizabeth (CSE). Tired and frustrated with the dark and miserable weather, part of me debated just turning around and going home. But thankfully, my conscience got the better of me. Zipping up my raincoat, I made my way into the Annunciation Center. There were a few women and nuns milling around, but a majority of the people in the building were downstairs in one of the lecture halls. I walked down the stairs, shaking off my raincoat, and found a seat in the middle of the hall, as close as I could get to the front.

Despite the awful weather, the turnout for the lecture was astounding. Members of CSE faculty found themselves scrambling to find more chairs as the time grew closer and closer to 6pm. The positive hum in the room was incredibly palpable - everyone could feel the exciting energy emanating throughout the room.

A few minutes after 6pm, Dr. Monique Guillory, Vice President of Academic Affairs, stood up and gave an introduction to our speaker. A brief synopsis of this is included in italics at the start of the article. As Dr. Guillory continued, I felt my excitement growing. Dr. Nancy Cohen is an expert in everything I am passionate about - political science, political and social activism, feminism, millennials, social movements… The list goes on. As a feminist and aspiring political science major, in the short hour and a half lecture, Nancy Cohen became one of my biggest role models.

The lecture consisted of two coherent parts, with a question and answer session afterward. The first part, Are We Ready to Elect a Woman President? was centered around the 2016 election and the surprising Donald Trump victory, which was not predicted by the polls. As Cohen described, she believes this election was not based on sexism but instead on backlash… or rather, blacklash. The fact that an African American male was president for 8 years made race extremely salient in this election, especially since he was the first of his kind. Dr. Cohen believes this election was not driven by sexism but rather by xenophobia and racial resentment. She insisted that had Hillary Clinton been Henry Clinton, he still would have lost the election. The blacklash took a highly gendered form, but it was more racially fueled than gendered, which was very surprising to me. However, despite this blacklash, this election put women back on the forefront.

In this part of the lecture, Cohen also provided some very interesting statistics, many of which some of you might already know.

1. There were an estimated 170,000 people who attended Trump’s inauguration - a large difference compared to Obama’s first inauguration which had a record blowing 1.8 million in attendance.
2. The Women’s March in DC the day after had around 500,000 people in attendance, an estimated 3 times more than the inauguration the day before. Worldwide, there were an estimated 3 million people.
3. 75,000 votes in the swing states could have changed the entire outcome of the election. Keep in mind, 75,000 votes is less than the size of Morris County. Roughly 500,000 people live in Morris County alone. The amount of votes in the swing states which would have changed our president is only about 15% of the residents in Morris County. Additionally, 75,000 votes is less than the population of Trenton, NJ, which currently sits at around 84,000.

In the second part of her lecture, Cohen chose to focus on Millennials and Movements, mainly ways everyday citizens can become involved in politics following the election. These tips are helpful whether you support President Trump of not. Civil disobedience is a basic right of Americans, but it isn’t always the best way to go. Here are Dr. Cohen’s top suggestions for how to make the change you want to see.

1. Electoral Involvement
   1. Although a majority of Americans don’t see themselves fit to govern, running for office (no matter how small) for those who can is a way to get involved.
   2. Call, email, write a letter to your local Congressman. They have to listen to their constituents, and telling them exactly what you want as the citizen they represent can help them to make more informed decisions about what their citizens want.
2. Defend the Vulnerable
   1. Stand up for anyone in the crosshairs, anyone being targeted or treated unfairly by the government. Especially if you yourself are not likely to be targeted (i.e., a white male, upper class citizens, etc).
   2. Practice civil disobedience, but get trained first! Civil disobedience can be really dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, but there are plenty of people out there who do and will be happy to help you. Check out this website to start.
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Speak Up
   1. This is YOUR government. Speak up for what you think is right, and speak out against what you think is wrong.

Following the question and answer session, I approached Dr. Cohen to talk one on one about a few questions I did not have the chance to ask during the session. My first was about millennials and Bernie Sanders. Some claim that because so many millennials supported Senator Sanders, once Hillary won the Democratic nomination, her voter turnout for millenials was uncharacteristically low. However, millennials continue to have the lowest voter turnout out of any age group. Additionally, many claim that Hillary lost because she was female and not male, so there have been claims that had Sanders gotten the nomination, he would have been able to defeat Trump like Hillary couldn’t. Cohen immediately shut me down. She reiterated what I wrote about earlier in the article: Hillary lost mainly because of blacklash, and Sanders’s extreme left-wing liberal ideals could have never allowed him to defeat Trump.

My second question was about our next woman president, more specifically, when we would finally get to see a woman president. For some, Trump’s election is a regression in government and society. His conservative views are more contingent than those from a time period long before today, and they’re so different from any of the presidents we’ve had in the 2000’s, including Bush. If we really are regressing back to a time where birth control isn’t allowed and racial slurs are still used regularly, are we going to have to wait another 200 years before we see a female president?

However Cohen assured me that the opposite effect will most likely take place. At the Women’s March in DC on January 21st, three prominent women senators made speeches, and Cohen stated that they appeared to be competing with one another with their speeches alone. Not even a day after Trump’s inauguration we’re seeing women getting ready to take the ballot back. They’re gunning for it. And you never know, maybe next election we’ll see two women on our ballot - not just one.

If you haven’t heard of Dr. Nancy Cohen before now, look her up. She’s one of the feminist activists we need to follow. Not only that, her advice about how to influence our government applies to all citizens, regardless of political affiliation. Getting to hear her speak this past Monday was one of the most invigorating experiences of my life so far and I’m extremely grateful for what she has taught me.