Women make up half of the population but are underrepresented in elected government positions. Underrepresentation exists at every level of government: federal, state and local.
Last year, the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University researched the number of women mayors or women performing mayoral duties in cities or town with populations greater than 30,000. Its study found just 26% of those positions were held by women.
Voters in Cleveland and Akron have recently given the reins of power to new generational leaders in Justin Bibb and Shammas Malik respectively. But Cleveland has only elected one woman as mayor in its history. Akron has elected none.
We'll begin Wednesday’s “Sound of Ideas” with a discussion on the hurdles and barriers women face in running for office.
Later in this hour — innovation and efficiency often lead to products being made improved over time and sold for a lower price. But that's not how it works in the U.S. healthcare system, according to prominent health economist Jim Rebitzer, who will be speaking at Case Western Reserve University Wednesday afternoon.
Together with his twin brother Robert Rebitzer, who's also a healthcare consultant, Rebitzer wrote a book called, "Why Not Better and Cheaper?" that explores why there are not a lot of incentives to lower healthcare costs, and that developing new lifesaving innovations is not always valued. The result, they say, is our society is poorer and less healthy than it ought to be.
Finally, we'll end the show with a discussion on the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winners. The 89th class of winners was announced Tuesday night at the Cuyahoga County Public Library’s Parma-Snow branch.
Guests:
-J. Cherie Strachan, Ph.D., Director Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, University of Akron
-Kim Thomas, Mayor of Richmond Heights
-Janet Weir Creighton, Stark County Commissioner, Former Mayor of Canton
-Jim Rebitzer, Ph.D., Peter and Debra Wexler Professor of Management, Boston University Questrom School of Business
-Kabir Bhatia, Senior Arts Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Nicholas Roman Lewis, The Cleveland Foundation
