Sisterhood is powerless in Jersey politics
Report ranks state near last in female participation
in government,
and even voting lags
BY TOM HESTER , Star-Ledger, Posted November 8, 2004,
From the Web November 29, 2004
New Jersey ranks last in the nation in women's participation in politics, a study released yesterday concludes.
The study by the Institute for Women's Policy Research, a non-profit Washington-based public policy research organization, gives New Jersey an F grade for 2003.
New Jersey ranked 49th in the group's 2002 study.
New Jersey has no women in its 15-member congressional delegation and just 19 women among the 120 members in the Legislature.
And while 63 percent of New Jersey women are registered to vote, a greater percentage than men, only an average 44 percent of women actually vote.
"It is very frightening, I think, that women are not taking a larger role," said Sen. Diane Allen (R-Burlington), who may become the only woman to enter the New Jersey's 2005 gubernatorial race.
"Women in many states are the determining factor in who wins an election or even who runs for election.
In this state, it is very hard for women to assume either of those roles. New Jersey is still a state very, very much run by white men."
The study ranked Washington State as best in the nation in women's participation in politics.
Tennessee was just ahead of New Jersey, in 49th place. New York ranked 16th, Pennsylvania 47th.
California has 18 women in its congressional delegation and New York has six.
New Hampshire has 117 women in its Legislature, while Vermont has 56, Connecticut 55 and New York 48.
In New Jersey, Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) is Democratic State Committee chair, but women hold just three of the 42 Democratic and Republican county party chairs.
"I am sure New Jersey does not think of itself as a last-place sort of state," said April Shaw, a senior policy analyst for the group.
"When you have women in office, they are thinking of how to improve policies that (affect) women and their families and improve their lives.
New Jersey is only one of four states where women actually vote at lower rates than men."
Allen said political parties need to work harder to recruit women and minorities.
"Until we have elected officials in New Jersey who reflect whom they represent, we do not have a true democracy in the state," she said.
New Jersey women do better in social, economic, health and rights issues surveyed by the group.
But there were still some problems noted.
For example, though New Jersey ranks third in median annual income for women employed full-time ($35,800), women in the state earn only 76.2 percent of what men earn -- 21st in the nation.
When it comes to health and well-being, New Jersey women rank worse than the national average in mortality due to heart disease, lung and breast cancer, and have higher incidences than average of diabetes and AIDS.
The report also shows that 15 percent of New Jersey women do not have health insurance and 9 percent live in poverty.
Twenty- seven percent of New Jersey women have four or more years of college and 24 percent own businesses.
The study ranks New Jersey fourth in the nation in "reproductive rights." It notes that 97 percent of women live in counties with at least one abortion provider.
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