Women lag in N.J.
politics
Seats in D.C.,
Trenton still held mostly by men
By ERICA HARBATKIN,
Home News Tribune Online, November 12, 2006
As the House of Representatives
prepares to swear in its first-ever female speaker next year, one of the most
progressive states in the nation still hasn't elected a woman to the Senate.
New Jersey is among 17 states without female representation in Congress, despite
having more delegates than any other in the group.
This year, state Assemblywoman Linda Stender, D-Union, was the only woman deemed
to have a real shot at the House, but she lost to three-term Republican Rep.
Michael Ferguson 49 percent to 48 percent in the historically Republican-voting
7th District.
That means the number of women in history to represent New Jersey in the House
remains frozen at five.
"We pride ourselves on being a very East Coast, progressive, forward-looking,
open-minded kind of state, yet there are a lot of states that we would think of
as much less progressive and they have women in their congressional delegation,"
said Sue Carroll, senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics
at Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute. "I think that needs to become
a point of embarrassment for us, publicly. It's not something that New
Jersey should be proud of."
Yet the midterm elections were a boon for women in other parts of the country,
yielding a record-high 16 women in the Senate and at least 70 in the House.
Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco is expected to become the House
speaker.
Politics pipeline
Because members of Congress often use the state Legislature as a stepping stone,
a shortage of women in New Jersey's state politics extends to the national
level.
With 23 women in the 120-member state Legislature, New Jersey ranks 31st
nationally in female representation in the state Legislature. That's the
highest rank in decades, but still far below other so-called progressive states,
Carroll said.
In the early years of the women's vote, New Jersey consistently led the nation
in female representation in its state Assembly. The 1927 state Assembly
ranked first in the nation at 15 percent female.
In 2006, it's 20 percent female.
Fewer women in state politics translates into fewer women in national politics,
and in this case that means no women at all.
"There's a pipeline operating, and women filter up through that pipeline,"
Carroll said.
Getting the party nod
When the gatekeepers to the legislative seats are men, women are often passed
over for the party nomination.
New Jersey's nomination process is unique because the county party has so much
control over its nominee, said Myra Terry, the founder of New Jersey's Women
Advocating for Good Government.
"Each district is run by the county administrator, and they pretty much
determine who can run on the party line," Terry said. "People usually vote
the party line, so if somebody runs as an independent or off the line .
Obstacles for newcomers
"I had great organizational support from Democratic leaders in the state and I
had a great team," Stender said. "But running as a challenger in a
district that's drawn to protect an incumbent, losing doesn't have anything to
do with being a woman."
But losing had everything to do with being a challenger — an obstacle every
woman trying to break into New Jersey's congressional delegation is going to
face.
Some experts, such as Terry, believe that without government-subsidized
elections, breaking into politics will remain an uphill battle.
"We'll be able to make some inroads," Terry said. "But we're playing by
rules that are not our own; we're playing by rules that were set up by an old
boy network."
Like most newcomers, Stender went up against that network at a financial
disadvantage.
"I think the toughest aspect for women in general is to raise the money that's
needed to run a campaign," Stender said. "I raised about $2 million, but
when your opponent starts out with a million dollars more than you do, that
becomes a barrier."
Entrenched incumbents
Aside from the universal advantages of campaign capital and name recognition,
incumbents in New Jersey have a third upper hand: gerrymandered district
lines.
A bipartisan redistricting committee in 2001 redrew districts to preserve the
status quo, making the process of unseating an incumbent seemingly impossible.
That's why the time-for-a-change-themed 2006 midterm elections didn't generate
any change at all in New Jersey. Newcomers unseated multi-term incumbents
by the droves while New Jersey's only close race was in the 7th District.
But Stender's near-miss may serve as a model for female candidates in the
future.
As a state assemblywoman and former county freeholder, she already had the name
recognition that many challengers lack. With assistance from the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, she was able to close the cash gap.
And with a woman as chairperson of her county's party committee, she found
support at the county level.
"Any time a woman enters a race and takes it seriously, even in those districts
which may be considered unwinnable," Wright said, "she makes a statement that
there are options and that there is opportunity and she energizes more women to
get involved."
Contributing: Staff writer Rebecca Lerner
eharbatkin@thnt.com
|
