Women getting cold shoulder

EDITORIAL, Asbury Park Press on the Web, November 30, 2004

A new study on political participation by women that ranks New Jersey dead last should be an embarrassment to everyone in a political leadership position in this state. And it should be a wake-up call for women to start doing something about it.

The Institute for Women's Policy Research in Washington ranked New Jersey 48th in the percentage of women in elected office, 45th in the percentage of women who vote and 38th in the percentage of women who register to vote. New Jersey was the only state to receive an "F" composite score on a variety of political participation measures.

For anyone who has been paying any attention to politics in New Jersey, the score should come as little surprise. New Jersey is run by unelected bosses at the county and state level. Those bosses are all men. For the most part, women are not welcome -- at least not those with integrity and an independent bent.

Of the state's 42 county political leaders, only four are women. Two are from Salem County -- a county that has no female mayors. One heads up a Republican organization in a county that hasn't voted Democratic since the Ice Age and another is a figurehead in a county run by a male political boss.

The result of the state's Neanderthal political mentality?

-- There are no women in the state's 13-member congressional delegation. There have been just two in the past 25 years and only five in the state's 217-year history.

-- In the state Legislature, only 19 of 120 members are women -- 15.8 percent. That's about half the percentage serving in Connecticut and 43 percent below the national average.

-- According to the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers, 35 of the state's 137 county freeholders -- 25.6 percent -- are women. In Monmouth and Ocean counties, only one of the 10 freeholder seats is occupied by a woman.

-- Only 72 women serve as mayors in the state's 566 municipalities -- 12.7 percent of the total. In Ocean County, which has the largest proportion of females in the state, only one of its 33 municipalities is led by a woman.

Women's exclusion from the political arena may well explain why they go to the polls in lower numbers in New Jersey. That, and women's lower tolerance for political sleaze of the sort associated with New Jersey politics. Whatever the reason, New Jersey is now one of only four states where men turn out at the polls in greater numbers than women.

One thing is clear: If women want more power in this state, they are going to have to seize it. It won't be handed to them by the network of good ol' boys. It's time for women at the grass roots -- and men who believe in the importance of gender equality -- to turn up the heat on county political leaders.