By Kathy Groob, ElectWomen Founder– Women are topic number one during this week’s Republican convention.  Courting the female vote, keynote speaker Governor Chris Christie spoke at length about his mother’s strong influence on his life. During Ann Romney’s speech on opening night, she shouted, “I love you women!”  Prominent female speakers excited the crowds on Wednesday with Congressional candidate Mia Love, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

Holding an overwhelming lead among female supporters, The Democrats will feature over a dozen women speakers at their convention next week on Charlotte.  Featured speakers include Governor Bev Perdue, Governor Jennifer Granhom, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, Caroline Kennedy, Georgetown Law School Graduate Sandra Fluke, Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Massachusetts senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, and of course Michelle Obama.

The Democratic Party just announced that Sister Simone Campbell, an outspoken advocate for the poor and elderly, would speak during next week’s convention.

New York Times – Sister Campbell is the executive director of Network, a liberal Catholic lobbying group in Washington.

After the Vatican accused the country’s largest umbrella group of nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, of straying from church doctrine, many of its members were reluctant to speak publicly.

But Sister Simone, already a public figure, gave scores of interviews defending the group.

She said that she organized the “Nuns on the Bus” tour with the dual purpose of raising awareness about the Ryan budget and calling attention to the work that American nuns perform every day providing social services to poor and vulnerable people.

The nuns gave her a standing ovation when she was introduced earlier this month at a meeting of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Sister Campbell said in an interview at the conference that she and Mr. Ryan had a private meeting after the bus tour back in Washington.

She said that they did not see eye to eye on what Catholic teaching says about the government providing a social safety net for the poor: “We agreed that we would agree to disagree.”