Fairdealing woman elected president of National Federation of Democratic Woman, serve on DNC

Cindy Jenks of Fairdealing achieved a position in June that she’d been working toward for 15 years.

Jenks was elected president of the National Federation of Democratic Women (NFDW) at the organization’s annual convention in Albany, New York.

She started with the organization in 2004 when the Democratic Women’s Club of Ripley County was started. Jenks started taking on leadership roles in 2011 when she was the corresponding secretary followed by recording secretary in 2013, second vice president in 2015 and first vice president in 2017.

The NFDW serves as a grassroots voice for Democrat women, Jenks said. The organization works to unite women in the Democratic Party, promote the cause of the Party and encourage women to participate in every level of the Party.

“We have a national convention that we have to prepare for,” Jenks said. “We have regional meetings. We try to unite women.”

Along with her position as president of the NFDW, Jenks will have a seat on the Democratic National Committee, which is responsible for articulating and promoting the Party’s platform. Members also vote, based on the popular vote, which democratic candidate will be the Party’s nominee for president.

Jenks said she will be attending a DNC general meeting in San Francisco toward the end of August where those on the DNC will get the chance to meet all of the candidates.

“I had one executive board meeting, we went to Pittsburgh,” she said. “I met a lot of people. Both of these will be my first meeting to each the executive board and the general session. I’m just learning. It’s a good place to meet. I’m just planning on meeting everyone. I’m excited to meet all of them and, of course, we’re going to support whoever winds up being the nominee. We don’t endorse anybody before the primary.”

She said she doesn’t anticipate any big challenges with being on the DNC, but rather that it’s all about being a big family and meeting as many people as she can.

“I anticipate it being a wonderful experience,” she said.

Jenks said the NFDW plans to focus on pushing for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which has seen continued efforts since it was first introduced in 1923. The ERA is focused on ensuring “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

The ERA was passed by Congress in 1972, but needed to be ratified by three-fourths of U.S. states before it could become an official amendment to the constitution. By the end of the seven-year ratification period Congress allowed, 35 out of the 38 states needed had ratified it. Congress granted an extension until June 30, 1982 but no more states ratified it. There’s been an ERA reintroduced to Congress every session since 1982 to ratify it.

Current efforts for the ERA include two pieces of legislation in Congress. One is to ratify it and the other is to remove the time limit for ratification process so that the 35 states that have already ratified it would still be viable and only three more ratifications would be required.

“Next year, 2020, is the 100 year anniversary of the passage of the women’s right to vote and 100 years later, women do not have equal rights under the Constitution and its unconscionable,” Jenks said. “So we’re going to work on that.”

Jenks said her main goal is to just be a good president for the organization and keep it focused on the ERA and women’s issues. The NFDW is open to anybody who is interested, regardless of sex, she said.

“People who are like minded and have values that resonate,” she said. “We’re a big tent. We do have people who have opposing views and we respect those views. Everybody is entitled to human dignity. In some areas people agree and in some areas they disagree and that’s just the way most things usually are. We want to respect people, give them dignity and we don’t want to alienate anybody because of how they feel.”

At a local level, the NFDW provides scholarships to students, participates in the Random Acts of Kindness and collects toys for the Toys for Tots program in December.

“In Ripley County, we just usually have our meetings, but we have had forums before,” she said. “Just community involvement.”