Recently, I was asked to speak at a luncheon to share how I got started in politics, along with my experience as a woman in an elected office. Formulating what to say was interesting because I typically don’t stop to think about gender in the House very often. I actually had to look up how many women serve with me in the Indiana General Assembly. There are 22 women in the House and 8 in the Senate, making 30 total, right at 20 percent. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, women make up 24.2 percent of all state legislators nationwide. Ariz., Colo. and Vt. have the most women with a range of 35-44 percent while Okla., La., Ala. and S.C. have the least with 5-14 percent. Overall those numbers seem to be too low. As I was researching the impact of women in elected offices, I ran across an interview from a 2010 State Legislatures magazine with Cindy Simon Rosenthal, director and curator of the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma. The question – and answer – that most intrigued me was “does having more women in a legislature lead to different policies?” Rosenthal’s answer was this: “The research is very compelling that women bring different legislative priorities, perspectives and voices to the process. The issues women sponsor and advocate have transformed state legislatures’ agendas. There’s also intriguing research on women in Congress showing women actually achieve greater success getting legislation through the process and delivering benefits to their districts. The explanations vary, but the idea is that women’s emphasis on a collaboration might be partly responsible.” No one can deny that generally men and women have different ways of approaching and completing tasks. We also tend to complement each other, so it makes sense to me that a good balance of genders in most settings would lead to better ideas, healthier debates and swifter compromises. Upon realizing how few women we have holding an elected office, I would like to encourage more females to take a more active role in what’s going on in our country. Whether than means running for local, state, regional or national offices women need to be solidly represented in society. Just this past week at the end of the federal government shutdown, Senator John McCain publically praised two women who were part of a bipartisan group of 14 senators that crafted the framework of the proposal that got government moving again. Sen. McCain said, “Leadership, I must fully admit, was provided primarily by women in the Senate.” That is some high praise, rightfully given. I cannot speak for my fellow women members in the House, but I don’t remember a time where I felt overlooked or trodden on as a female in the legislature. My ideas, opinions and life experiences are just as valuable as everyone else’s. Don’t let fear of gender bias or any other kind of prejudice stop you from pursing your dreams. Running for office was one of the best decisions I ever made and I never regretted that decision. Thank you for electing me to serve you, the people of House District 78. -30-
Rep. Crouch (R-Evansville) represents portions of Vanderburgh and Warrick counties. |
