SmallBizResource Blog -- Women in Business

Wednesday's Woman: A Roaring Election

Posted by Gayle Kesten Wednesday, Nov 5, 2008, 02:44 PM ET

Whether we woke up today to the first African-American president or the first female vice president, the following would also have historical significance: Working women truly made their mark in Tuesday's presidential election.

As it turns out, President-elect Barack Obama is the one who has a lot of working women to thank. According to the national exit poll, 6 out of 10 working women who voted chose Obama. It would be interesting to see those stats per swing state, but working-women specific numbers weren't available (at least for the time being). As far as overall women voters residing in battleground territory, Obama got their vote 11 out of 12 times. Countrywide, 56% of women voters -- who comprised 53% of all voters -- selected Obama, the poll shows.

And even bigger picture: "Mr. Obama outperformed Democratic nominees of the past eight presidential elections among women, blacks, young voters, moderates and independents...Among the Republican-leaning groups that moved into the Democratic column for Mr. Obama were mothers and Catholics," explains The New York Times.

Analysts had expected voters to include record numbers of single women. "There’s something about being on your own as a woman in this country that is politically significant," Page Gardner, president of the Women Vote Action Fund, told MSNBC. "Unmarried women are at the razor's edge of the economic crisis."

As the exit polls shows, unmarried women favored Obama:

Married women, with kids: 51%
Unmarried women, with kids: 74%
Married women, no kids: 44%
Unmarried women, no kids: 68%

Some more headlines from around the Web that are worth a read:

• Women helped put Obama over the top
• The Pink Mafia Strikes Down Palin
• Women and the young secure Obama's route to victory
• As economy became the bread-and-butter issue, women turned to Obama
• Obama Can Thank Women For Big Part of His Win

As for what's ahead for Sarah Palin, Alaska's governor and perhaps the ultimate working woman:

• Dare You Ask For A Raise During A Recession?
• Julie Watson Smith, The Conscious Character Coach
• Soft Is The New Hard
• Wednesday's Woman: BlogHer Cofounder Jory Des Jardins
• Chilly Jilly Founder Jill Boehler
• Archives

The Wednesday's Woman series is written for today's community of hard-working, small-business women, featuring profiles, industry trends, research, work/life balance issues and other topics of interest. Send your ideas to Gayle Kesten.

Women in Business