STATE OF THE STATE
Narrowing the gender gap in political leadership by Jennifer Halperin In Illinois women lawmakers make up just under 20 percent of the Senate and a bit more than 25 percent of the House. When state Rep. Nancy Kaszak was running for the Democratic nomination for a Chicago congressional seat last year, she made a list of women who owned businesses or were partners in city law firms and then called them to ask for contributions to her campaign. In doing so, she learned something surprising: "Often they told me it was the first time they'd gotten a call for a political contribution," she says. "The males I called all said, 'Oh, we get these kinds of calls all the time.' They were very much plugged into a you- give-to-me, I'll-give-to-you network." She raised an admirable $375,000 in campaign contributions, but it was a telling time for Kaszak, who ended up losing the nomination to fellow state lawmaker Rod Blagojevich. "We're not part of the same clubs," she says. "Women come out of different life experiences. A lot of women come to public office from the boot camps of motherhood and community work. One lesson I learned in running for Congress is that men legislators don't take you seriously until you raise money. Once you step into that realm of pulling in big contributions, they perceive you as part of the male power structure, someone not to be disregarded. You have to show you can raise money, and therefore exert power, to get into leadership positions." To be sure, women have gained legislative seats and visibility in state politics during the past few decades. Nationally, 1,542 of the country's 7,424 state legislators — nearly 21 percent — are women. In Illinois they make up just under 20 percent of the Senate and a little more than 25 percent of the House of Representatives, and hold two of the state's constitutional offices. Two women each are part of the leadership teams of House and Senate Republicans and House Democrats. Still, they have yet to break into the top leadership posts in Illinois: governor, speaker of the House of Representatives, president of the Senate or minority leader in either chamber. But if other states' experiences are signs of things to come, women can look forward to moving into these posts in Illinois, too. This year, 21 women legislators across the country serve as leaders of their caucuses or chambers, according to the Denver-based National Conference of State Legislatures. That's down from 1993, when 28 women held leadership slots, including all three top positions in Alaska's House of Representatives, but up considerably from the number who held such posts in the mid-1980s. In Alaska, women serve as both Senate president and speaker of the House. In North Carolina, the Senate minority leader and speaker pro tem are women. There are female speakers of the House in Ohio, Oregon and Puerto Rico, and women majority leaders in chambers in Hawaii, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Utah and Vermont. Before the same happens in Illinois, though, Republican state Rep. Carole Pankau of suburban Roselle predicts women will give up trying to emulate the way men accomplish things in politics. "Men can go play a round of golf and in three or four hours put together enough support for a bill to get it passed," she says. "Women maybe have to put together support through lots of meetings with people, lots of open discussions." After being elected to the legislature in 1993, Pankau was looking for support for an environment-related measure sponsored by the state senator from her district. The bill protected property buyers who voluntarily clean up contaminated sites from liability for later releases of hazardous substances at the sites. While some of Pankau's male colleagues tried without success to gain support for the proposal by lobbying one opposing party at a time — the trial lawyers, for example — she decided to hold meeting after meeting with all interested parties until a workable compromise was reached. "Women have a more collegial approach to problem-solving," she says. "Male lobbyists and lawmakers are beginning to feel more comfortable working with women in the legislature, but that's taken time because they're not used to working with women on a legal or business basis. It used to be that the only time they'd interact with women was on a social basis, so it's taken some time to get used to." Illinois Issues September 1996 ¦ 6 It's partly a generational difference, Pankau says. "In my father's world, he was not used to working with women at all. In my husband's world, he is used to working with women. In my daughter's world, the opportunities to reach positions of leadership are not going to be as new, so they'll be even more accepted." State Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis, a Republican from Zion who has served in the Illinois General Assembly for nearly a quarter century, says she's watched this generational shift firsthand. "At first when I was elected to the house from Lake County, I thought I'd never last more than one term because it just wasn't common then for women to run for the legislature," she says. "After I kept winning, I thought I'd try for the Senate but didn't have much faith I'd be elected there. It wasn't easy because we were the oddities. But I was successful there, too. "Then I became the first woman named to a Senate leadership team when I became minority party caucus secretary 11 years ago," she says. "I thought it was time because I had the background, I had the qualifications for leadership, I had lots of experience in local government behind me; I was a township attorney, plus I'd been in private practice. "You would be frustrated as hell if you were in our shoes sometimes. But you don't have to be disagreeable. I wasn't a crybaby about it like some of the gals were. We've moved pretty far from the days I can remember being called a 'braless, brainless broad' by a male lawmaker. It was quite a bit to put up with." On the other hand, Rep. Kay Wojcik, a Republican from suburban Schaumburg who is an assistant majority leader to House Speaker Lee Daniels, says she's never felt hampered by her gender in the 13 years she's served in the legislature. "Sometimes all it takes is that you have to be willing to ask," she says. "I knew there was a vacancy in Lee's leadership team, so I went to talk to him about it and interviewed for it and got it. Becoming a member of leadership is part sales and part having to ask, and women sometimes have a difficult time asking for things. Women would rather give than ask — it's in their nature. I find it much easier, for example, to raise money for anyone else but me." No matter what it takes to get into leadership, Assistant Deputy Minority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie says the Illinois legislature probably would be a far different place with more women in the top spots, not to mention more women in the General Assembly as a whole. "I think the conference of women legislators in Illinois encourages bipartisanship on women's and children's issues, and I think more women players would mean a more collegial, consensual approach to issues," she says. "I think we'd have bipartisan agreement to be more focused on child-care problems facing working families." But it may be a while before Illinois moves to that point, Currie acknowledges. "While our politics in this state may be a little more contentious and less progressive than in other states, there will be a day when women will move into the 'Four Tops' positions," she says. "Even in Illinois."
Women legislative leaders, 1996
State
Position
Alaska
Senate President
Colorado
House Minority Leader
Connecticut
Senate President Pro Tem
Delaware
Senate Minority Leader
Hawaii
Senate Majority Leader
Missouri
House Majority Leader
Nevada
Senate Minority Leader
New Hampshire
House Majority Leader
North Carolina
Senate Minority Leader
Ohio
Speaker
Oregon
Speaker
Puerto Rico
Speaker
South Carolina
House Majority Leader
Tennessee
Speaker Pro Tem
Utah
House Majority Leader
Vermont
Senate Majority Leader
Washington
Senate President Pro Tem
West Virginia
Senate Minority Leader
Wyoming
Speaker Pro Tem
Source: NCSL Directory of Legislative Leaders, 1996.
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