Women's GOP group first in U.S.

Junior Lindsay Kerrigan wants to see more women involved in politics. \n"A lot of women trap themselves in the secretary role," she said. \nBut, despite campaigning for the empowerment of women, Kerrigan, who is also a columnist for the Indiana Daily Student, is no cookie-cutter feminist. She is the president, and one of the founders, of the new IU Republican Women's group. This organization, along with a similar one at Purdue University, is the first club for Republican women on a college campus. \n"What we're trying to do is get women involved in all forms of government," Kerrigan said.\nBut, even as this group forms, its members realize that among public perception, it is the Democrats and liberals who are normally seen as championing women's empowerment.\n"We are starting this group for that very reason," said junior Julia Aud, the group's vice president. "We need to debate that common idea that if you're a female, you should have liberal ideals. We wanted to give the women of this campus a different avenue for leadership." \nThe group caters to conservatives who want more women to serve in public office and more women involved in politics, but who disagree with many of the ideals of "modern feminism." \n"The feminist movement is over-concentrated on reproductive rights," she said. "But the feminist movement is really about women's suffrage."\nKerrigan, who describes herself as a "traditional feminist," is a conservative in the most academic sense of the word -- her groups primary focus is getting more women involved in politics and in political office, the initial goal of the feminist movement, as she sees it.\nSome of the specific issues which the Republican women's movement about are housing, education, opposition to same-sex marriage and health care, she said.\n"These are the hot-button issues that females have a lot of compassion toward," Kerrigan said. \nConservative women already have several good role models in Indiana government, like Secretary of Commerce Pat Miller and Lt. Governor Becky Skillman.\nOn July 28, Kerrigan and five other members of the new group traveled to Indianapolis to help jump start their organization. They met with the vice-president of the National Federation of Republican Women, the president of the Indiana Federation of Republican Women, and their six colleagues at the Purdue University Republican Women's group. They also attended a convention for young conservative women where Skillman spoke. \n"She was really proud that these groups were forming," Aud said. "She talked about how many women she and Governor (Mitch) Daniels had appointed to positions in Indiana government."\nIn Indianapolis the six-woman delegation from IU voted on the group's bylaws and officers. They chose to adopt all of the bylaws of the IFRW -- their parent organization -- with one notable exception.\nThe IFRW requires that all of their members voted for the Republican presidential candidate in the most recent election, but the IU women decided not to include this rule.\n"I'm very very proud of our girls for deciding to do this," Kerrigan said. "We realized that as college students we are all still developing our political ideas"