Campaign seeks to double number of women in elective office by 2022
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Deborah Walsh, of the Center for American Women and Politics, says that, although women win at the same rate as men in comparable races, the number of women in Congress rose from 6 to 16.8 percent in the last 20 years. SHFWire photo by Robin SiteneskiEditor’s note: This is the first of several SHFWire stories that will focus on the 2012 elections in Pennsylvania and Virginia, both battleground states.
WASHINGTON - The number of women in Congress rose 3.2 percent over the last 10 years, a rate so slow that Political Partity is starting a campaign to double the number in the next 10 years.
A report found that Colorado has the most women in its legislature, 41 percent. South Carolina ranked last, with 9.4 percent.
Deborah Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics, said at a press conference last week that studies prove women win at the same rates as men in comparable races.
“The challenge is to make women run,” Walsh said. For her, disbelief in the political situation might keep some women from running.
“They’re thinking, ‘I’ll try to solve the problem from the outside.’ But the reality is that ultimately they have to be in office to create a systematic change from something as simple as a sidewalk or as complex as a war,” Walsh said.
Virginia was 38th with 19 percent of legislative seats held by women, and Pennsylvania ranked 42nd with 17 percent.
Women held 90 of the 535 seats in Congress in 2011, or 16.8 percent, according to the Center for American Women and Politics, a research group at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
There were 73 women, also 16.8 percent, among the 435 representatives in the House – 49 were Democrats and 24 were Republicans. Women held 17 of the 100 seats in the Senate, 12 of them were Democrats and nine were Republicans.
Nationally, women held 71 statewide elected executive offices, or 22.4 percent of the 317 available positions. In state legislatures, women held 23.7 percent of the available seats.
Virginia had no women among its representatives and senators in Congress. Women held 27 of the 140 seats in the State Senate and House of Delegates. Eight of the 40 seats in the Senate were held by women, one of them a Republican, and 19 of the 100 positions in the House, including 13 Democrats and six Republicans.
For the state’s Democratic Party Chair Brian Moran, Virginia’s position in the rank is “unfortunate.”
“I think women bring an extremely important perspective to public policy. As a former member of the House of Delegates, I always appreciated the perspective that a woman can bring to a number of issues. Not only those that uniquely apply to women’s issues but those that well beyond that of the economy, education,” Moran said.
He said that the party actively recruits female candidates for local and statewide office and that “typically, some of the best candidates are women. … I think it’s important to balance the ticket with gender and race.”
In Pennsylvania, women held 11 of the 50 seats in the Senate, six Republicans and five Democrats, and 33 of the 203 seats in the House, 19 Republicans and 14 Democrats.
In Congress, the state had no female senator and one female representative.
Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair Jim Burn said there is “room for improvement. … It’s not about parity, it’s about qualified candidates.”
He said the party not only encourages women candidates to run but also is willing to help anyone who could improve those statistics.
“We have seen time and time again a strong woman candidate with exceptional qualifications does very well in county races and in statewide offices,” Burn said.
For Walsh, the party structure in Pennsylvania makes it difficult for women to run.
“You have a very strong party system, which keeps newcomers out, and women are still seen as newcomers,” Walsh said.
She said women run for public office for different reasons than men.
“Women are very engaged in their communities. It’s not because they always wanted to be in politics but they want to solve a specific issue,” Walsh said.
She and her group support the Political Parity initiative to try to double the number of women in Congress by 2022, which she admits is a small number.
“As disappointing as it is, you have to remember that in 20 years we managed to go from 6 to 16.8 percent,” she said. “We’d all like to see real parity, but I would not imagine that is going to happen by 2022.”
Rob Gleason, chairman of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, and Patt Mullins, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, did not respond to several requests for interviews.
Reach reporter Robin Siteneski at siteneskir@shns.com or 202-326-9868. SHFWire stories are free to any news organization that gives the reporter a byline and credits the SHFWire.
