Women and Granite State Governmentby: Dean BarkerWed Nov 12, 2008 at 05:50:48 AM EST |
While I was thrilled to see the state senate make history with its first ever in US history female majority, this line from Kathy in the Globe article on it pretty much summed it up the feeling on the ground for me:
"It's great," said Kathy Sullivan, the state's Democratic national committeewoman. "But nobody's like, 'Oh my God, this is so revolutionary.' It's sort of matter of fact."But what I didn't at all realize was some of the other high water marks, both present Democratic women will hold four of the top seven offices in the Granite State...Today, roughly 150 of the state's 424 legislators are women, putting it about 10 percentage points ahead of the 24 percent of state lawmakers nationwide who are femaleand past: 26 years ago, Republican Senate president Vesta Roy briefly served as acting governor after Hugh Gallen fell ill and died, making her the country's first GOP female chief executiveAlso, Dante Scala makes a great point in the article, that our enormous, volunteer-esque legislature opened up more opportunities for women earlier than in other states. To me, this history, combined with how little fuss the civil unions bill caused after it became law, speaks volumes about the socially libertarian spirit in our state. And it also has me wondering what major office Kelly Ayotte will run for next cycle. |