By State Rep. Jennifer L.
Mann, D-Allentown
As only the third woman to serve in a House Leadership role, and the first since 1964, I am acutely aware of how far women have come in state politics and how far we still have to go.
We only have 37 women in our
General Assembly, 27 in the House and 10 in the Senate, just 14% of the entire General
Assembly. According to John Baer’s February 22 Philadelphia Daily News
article,
This underrepresentation of
women causes me some concern. My fellow female colleagues have all shown
tremendous strength and unity on many of women’s issues, but without a strong
and continuing advocacy to bring more female legislators to
Baer and others attribute
the lack of women in state-level politics to the “Good Old Boy” culture in
I do not totally agree—I think it fundamentally comes down to the fact that women have always had more home responsibilities than men. While it is difficult to have a father away three or four days a week for most of the year, it does not cause the type of disruption as if a mother is away for that duration. Women have always been the glue that holds the household together, and having a mother gone for long stretches would cause too much hardship at home.
Many of my fellow
legislators, such as Rep. Chelsa Wagner of
I am proud of all the women
I serve with, from both sides of the aisle. On the Democratic side, my female
colleagues represent all corners and socio-economic areas of the
state, each bringing her unique talents and skills sets to
In his piece, Baer voices strong support for increasing the number of female legislators, which I agree with. I cannot agree with the assertion that cutting the size of the legislature would help our state. With some districts spanning hundreds of square miles, it would be irresponsible to ask constituents to travel even farther to see their state representative. Shrinking the legislature would limit access by the people to their elected representatives, and create a hardship for constituents—especially seniors and other disadvantaged citizens—who rely on them.
We still have much to accomplish to create true gender equality.
Specifically, we need to
encourage more women to serve at the state level as elected officials. We also
need to create a more open and transparent culture here in
I never want to be judged solely by my gender, but by the quality and strength of my work. I am proud to serve as a state representative, and I look forward to working to bring more women here to Harrisburg, so we may further this important conversation on equality.
Rep. Jennifer L. Mann represents the 132nd Legislative District and serves in House Leadership as Majority Caucus Secretary for the Democratic Caucus.
Political scientists have examined why there are fewer female than male state legislators. For whatever reasons, males tend to decide earlier in life to enter politics. Females tend to be more apt to have been recruited to run for legislator. It is interesting to note that several studies show that both men and women tend to prefer female candidates over male candidates, with all other considerations held basically constant. Advocacy groups thus should consider recruiting more female candidates.
I am encouraged to see young voters seem to be very interested in issues. I hope this interest turns into activism. We may see, in the near future, a more balance of men and women running for and being elected to offices.
Posted by: Leon Czikowsky | Tuesday, March 02, 2010 at 06:27 PM