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Jan

27

Colorado women rule! With 40% female legislature


From the Rocky Mountain News:

But the real story is Democratic women. They outnumber Democratic men in the Senate and were able to win two leadership races expected to go to men. Half of the 38 Democrats in the House are women.

Their numbers are such that gender is almost a non-issue.

“It has taken a long time, but people are used to the idea that women can be in these positions,” said Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, elected to the House in 2008.

“It’s commonplace for us,” said Speaker Terrance Carroll, D-Denver. “And I’m glad it is. I think having so many women lawmakers is a great thing.”

That bolded sentence represents wisdom that people who have studied leadership and diversity in leadership will tell you almost any time you give them a chance.  One or two women is often seen and/or felt to be token and can lead to competition rather than support.  That is what some research on women on corporate boards has shown. But when you start to increase above that level, you enter a completely different level of being able to work in groups and dispersed among all subgroups within a larger organization and then you can really have an impact in terms of having a different perspective, a different life experience and a different approach to many issues compared to male counterparts.

The breakdown, the also-rans and the bottom dwellers:

Colorado has the highest percentage of women state lawmakers in the nation. Forty of its 100 lawmakers are women.

* COLORADO SENATE

21 Democrats, 12 are women
14 Republicans, 1 is a woman [that is the same thing in our state senate - but worse: Ohio's state senate has 21 Republicans - out of a total of 33 seats - with just 1, out of 21!!! being held by a woman, Karen Gillmor, who actually served two state senate terms in the 1990s and then was elected in 2008; her husband was Congressman Paul Gillmor who passed away in 2007]

* COLORADO HOUSE

38 Democrats, 19 are women
27 Republicans, 8 are women

* STATES WITH HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN LAWMAKERS

Colorado, 40.0%
Vermont, 37.8%
New Hampshire, 37.3% [the state with the majority female state senate]
Minnesota, 34.8%
Hawaii, 32.9%

* STATES WITH LOWEST PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN LAWMAKERS

South Carolina, 10.0% [the state with a senate chamber that has no women]
Oklahoma, 11.4%
Alabama, 12.9%
Mississippi, 14.4%
Kentucky, 14.5%

Source: Colorado General Assembly; National Conference of State Legislatures

The other notable piece of information from the article:

[Policy specialist with the National Conference of State Legislatures, Katie Fischer] Ziegler said one reason Colorado might be leading the nation is that the White House Project, a national, nonpartisan organization that pushes to put women in leadership, has been “very active in Colorado.”

“They did a lot of recruiting,” she said.

So let’s go Ohio – I did my part, being on the steering committee and speaking at and attending Ohio’s very first White House Project Go Run! in June 2008.

Yes Pecan!

Or, um, if you don’t have dessert on your mind, yes we can. (But I so have to try that Yes Pecan! because seriously, butter pecan has always been one of my most favorite ice cream flavors.)

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:31 pm January 27th, 2009 in Elections, Gender, Government, Ohio, Politics, Sexism, Statehouse, Women, democracy, leadership 

Comments

4 Responses to “Colorado women rule! With 40% female legislature”

  1. 1 Jason on January 27th, 2009 8:33 pm

    I think Colorado will see some great things as a result of this diversity. Way to go.

  2. 2 Ben K on January 28th, 2009 3:01 pm

    I like that ice cream, but cant buy it now for obvious reasons…..

  3. 3 Jill Miller Zimon on January 28th, 2009 3:06 pm

    Ben – We’ll sneak some to you in a different container, ok?

  4. 4 Of TIME’s 10 More Scott Browns, Just 2 Are Women : Writes Like She Talks on February 2nd, 2010 2:49 pm

    [...] And those two, Kelly Ayotte for the New Hampshire Senate and Jane Norton for the Colorado Senate, are in states that are already leaders in getting women to run and win and lead (i.e., New Hampshire’s majority female senate and Colorado’s legislature being 40% female). [...]

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