• Home
• Programs & Events
• History
• Partners
• Research
• Contact Us

Support the Center

Case for the NC Center for Women in Public Service

by David McLennan, Professor of Communication, Political Science; Associate Dean for Institutional Effectiveness of Peace College

Problem

• Women are under-represented in elective political office in North Carolina.
• About 22% of all elective offices in North Carolina are held by women, although 54.1% of registered voters are women.
• The situation, although improved in recent years in terms of seats in the General Assembly and the judiciary, continues to be a problem in regions of North Carolina.
• In 2004 (the last time I did a thorough analysis); almost 1/3 of counties had no women with taxing and spending authority in county government (Board of County Commissioners). The situation was parallel in municipal governments (city and town boards and councils).
  Most of these locales were east of I-95 and west of I-85 in areas of the state that are more economically depressed.
• Women of color are even more under-represented. Less than 3% of all office-holders are African-American women and Hispanic and Native American women hold less that 0.2% of elected offices.
• Because women are not "at the table" in terms of decision-making, the citizens of North Carolina are not being served effectively.
• When women hold a significant number of offices in a policy-making body - legislature, council, board of commissioners, etc - different policy issues are considered and new laws and regulations are passed. This significant number is referred to in the literature as the "critical mass" and the minimum percentage of women in a policy-making body considered necessary for significant impact is 25% (Swers, 2002).
• Fewer than 20% of the North Carolina mayors are women!Social issues including education, healthcare, violence against women and children, and mental illness are considered more by policy-making bodies when women comprise a significant percentage of the body (Boxer, 1994; Dodson et al, 1995; Casey and Carroll, 1998).
• In approaching policy issues in general, there are a growing number of researchers that argue that women approach issues differently and come up with more possible solutions, rather than fall into the "either-or" dichotomous thinking employed by men (Thomas, 2003).
• The presence of women in an elected body also changes the way in which the policy-making process works.
• When women reach the "critical mass" or chair a policy-making board or committee, there are more witnesses called on the specific issues in question and there is more debate on the issues (Carroll, 2002 & 2004; Han 2006).
• Women also are more responsive to constituent concerns than are men in elected office (Fox and Lawless, 2000 & 2002; Carroll 2002 & 2004).

Causes

There are several "systemic" reasons why more women in NC don't hold elective office.
The most challenging is the power of incumbency-in North Carolina, about 96% of incumbents win reelection and since most offices are held by men, this poses a large barrier for women.

Another historical challenge has been party support for women, although this is changing in North Carolina. A generation ago the state Republican and Democratic parties failed to support women seeking office with the same financial and human resources as they did men. This is changing slowly with high profile women candidates (e.g., Elizabeth Dole and Beverly Perdue) receiving strong support by their respective party. This does not necessarily translate to county-level party support, particularly in the areas of the state most underserved by women in elective office (Lawless and Fox, 2006).

Another issue is fundraising. Women historically have difficulties raising campaign funds to the same degree as men. Although there are some examples of women being exceptional fundraisers, the average campaign by a woman candidate in 2004 raised only about 73% of what men candidates raised, even when incumbency was factored out.

The most significant reason why more women in NC don't hold elective office is that they don't choose to become candidates.

• Women have different motivations for running for office-women tend to run when they want to make significant policy changes, while men run for the sake of competition, the desire to be in a position of power, etc. (Lawless and Fox, 2006).
• Women don't consider themselves, in general, as qualified to run for office as do men. Women report wanting to be completely knowledgeable about all the issues facing the policy-making body, while men report being comfortable "learning on the job." (Carroll, 1994; Lawless and Fox, 2006)
• Women report not being as knowledgeable about campaign tactics and strategies as men (White House Project, 2004; Lawless and Fox, 2006).
• Women prefer a mentor to help them with all aspects of campaigning for and serving in elective office (White House Project, 2004; Lawless and Fox, 2006).

The real conclusion, called the "Pipeline Theory" is that too few women enter the political pipeline that results in them achieving elective office. Current research by Lawless and Fox (2006) indicate that the gender gap in terms of women candidates emerging from the pool of eligible candidates (as compared to men) is over 60%.

"The Institute gave me the support it took to lead my community."

Solutions
The Center is the most comprehensive training program in North Carolina for increasing the number of women in the political pipeline

• Programming deals with the systemic and psychological barriers that exist for women wanting to serve the public.
• The focus of the first weekend of Summer Institute is on improving self-awareness and discussing how this affects a women's understanding of her leadership potential.
  The second weekend focuses on improving women's understanding of issues and campaign tactics.
• A fundamental feature of the Center's programming is on developing mentors for women participants (a key feature identified as a strategy for success)
• Center recruiting focuses on the most underserved areas of NC and the most underserved populations of women.