In an upscale Mexican watering hole this past Thursday, something radical was happening.  Members and advocates of Emily’s List, a million-strong online and offline community that works to elect more women to public office, gathered for the evening at Moe’s Cantina to eat mango salsa and “meet and greet” each other.  The get-together coincidentally wound up taking place in the midst of a contentious Congressional debate about birth control, which Emily’s List President Stephanie Schriock says would not even be happening if there were more women in Congress.  (Currently, only 17% of the decision-making body is female.)

While their mission statement may sound avant-garde to some, Emily’s List has actually been doing this work for 27 years now.  The organization is structured similarly to the well-known MoveOn.org, except that Emily’s List was doing it first.  Back in the beginning, they got word out through traditional paper mailings, but they’ve grown along with technology and are now operating primarily through the internet.

If you log on to their website, you’ll find action items like “Tell the GOP that women’s health decisions should be made by women” - referencing that day’s House Committee meeting on contraception, in which not one woman was allowed to testify.  An information sheet distributed at Thursday’s gathering disclosed some shocking facts: The U.S. ranks at a disheartening 69th place in the number of women in the national legislature.  Afghanistan ranks 30th, impoverished Nepal ranks 18th, and Bangladesh, which ranks 62nd place, has already had a female prime minister.  Meanwhile, in 2011 alone, 900 state laws restricting abortion were introduced in the United States, the most in any year since Roe vs. Wade, and more than double the previous high.  87 of those laws were enacted.

So what does Emily’s List plan to do about all this?  Recruit and train more Democratic, pro-choice female candidates for office and provide them with strategic and financial support, Schriock tells me.  27 years ago when the organization was founded, not a single Democratic woman had won a seat in Congress in her own right (not by being appointed or by filling the seat of a deceased husband).  In contrast, the United States saw a historic number of women run for Senate last year - no doubt, Emily’s List had more than a little to do with the shift.  This election cycle, the group is backing several female candidates, including Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, Claire McCaskill in Missouri, and Illinois’ own Tammy Duckworth in the 8th District race against Tea Party Republican Joe Walsh.

In attendance at Thursday’s event were several of Chicago’s prominent women and men: Former State Senator Alice Palmer, State Representative Antonia Berrios, Alderwoman Michele Smith, Aldermen Joe Moore and Joe Moreno, and City Treasurer Stephanie Neely, to name a few.  Also in attendance were all types of people from the city who were interested in learning more about the organization.  One man I spoke with, who preferred to remain nameless, didn’t even know what Emily’s List was before the event, but he came because he has two young daughters and he wants to know more about empowering them to be strong women.

Schriock told me that’s exactly what the goal of this get-together was: to introduce the organization to new people in Chicago.  She says that Emily’s List has an amazing base of supporters, but a lot of people still don’t know about the group.  She was very excited to see the packed room about a quarter full with men, since they’re looking to gain a more diverse group of backers.  Especially hoping to expand to the younger generations, they reached out through Facebook to get people out to their Chicago meet and greet.  The DC based outfit is also hosting similar events throughout the country.  If you missed this one, you can still support Emily’s List and help bring more women into national leadership positions on their website, EmilysList.org.