The month of March is dedicated to the celebration of strong women who have contributed their success and knowledge to the world. West Liberty University acknowledges this month by honoring the successful women home to this campus and Dr. Danielle Mehlman-Brightwell, assistant professor of communications in the College of Liberal and Creative Arts, is no exception to the long list of females worth celebrating.

Receiving the Best Presenter award at the Fifth Annual International Conference on the Future of Women, Dr. Mehlman-Brightwell sheds light on the empowerment of women in a new decade by studying their involvement in the political realm. Her winning presentation “Women in Power: What motivated more women to run in the 2018 United States Election?” was selected among other presentations from speakers representing over 20 countries. Other categories of work consisted of gender and media, gender based violence, women and workplace, women and health and empowering women.

With an interest in women and political communications and a desire to participate in an international conference, Dr. Mehlman-Brightwell knew the Future of Women conference “would be a good fit” for her research. This was her first time presenting at this conference and her first time participating in an international conference.

“I was so honored to receive this award because I heard from women from all over the world! It wasn’t just the U.S., I got to hear from women in Nigeria, Spain and I heard from women in India. All of these wonderful women had something to say so I’m thankful,” said Dr. Mehlman-Brightwell.

With midterm elections approaching, she felt her research on this topic was timely and notable to share after a never-before-seen increase in women running during the 2018 election. Dr. Mehlman-Brightwell stated that she found an abundance of research dedicated to why women don’t participate in elections and very little research dedicated to the women who do run in elections.

In response to her findings, Dr. Mehlman-Brightwell stated, “I wanted to fill that gap by exploring the reasons why women do run.”

To fill this gap and answer the broad questions surrounding why women run, Dr. Mehlman-Brightwell conducted a qualitative study where she interviewed senators and representatives throughout the state of Pennsylvania. “I chose Pennsylvania because they have an average number of women. They weren’t the lowest in the United States, but they weren’t the highest.”

The results of her study indicated two main trends among the women who ran: access and support. In terms of access, Dr. Mehlman-Brightwell explained that many women expressed that the timing was right because events like the Brett Kavanaugh case and #MeToo movement was circulating which fueled an incentive to run. Another large reason behind the increase in election involvement for women was the support they received from friends, family and other women. Despite barriers stemming from stereotypes and socioeconomic challenges, Dr. Mehlman- Brightwell stated that most of the women interviewed found ways to work through these barriers to run in the election.

With the 2020 election showing tremendous growth, Dr. Mehlman-Brightwell is curious to see the growth rate following the 2022 midterm elections. “Research is suggesting that more women are trading off their occupations right now because they don’t have steady childcare due to COVID-19 shutdowns and this might change once COVID-19 gets into pace. I’m curious to see in the next midterm election: will these rates continue to grow or is COVID-19 going to hinder that trend?”

Other presenter awards went to:
Dr. Sarwat Nauman (Institute of Business Management, Pakistan)
K.C. Sony, Pita Y. (University of Bern, Switzerland)
Elizabeth Mngusen Kembe (Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Nigeria)
G. Jonastasya (California State University, United States)
Dr. Rachana Pandey (Vasanta College for Women, India)

To view the award ceremony, click here.

Among her newest title of Best Presenter, Dr. Mehlman-Brightwell holds a Ph.D in communications media and instructional technology from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She also serves as the director of the student-run newspaper, The Trumpet, academic liaison to Topper Station, WLU’s streaming service, co-executive producer of Newsline 14 and a communications and broadcasting professor in the College of Liberal and Creative Arts.

For more information regarding the 2022 International Conference on the Future of Women, please contact Dr. Mehlman-Brightwell at [email protected].