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Yes, it will strike some people as odd that in a state with a female governor, a female Supreme Court chief justice and a female U.S. senator who replaced another female U.S. senator, there remains concern that women aren't doing as well in government as they should be.
But the Women's Forum of North Carolina recently released a report that concluded the lack of women in policy-making positions in state government was "startling and troubling." Here's why.
Although marquee officials such as Gov. Bev Perdue, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan and former Sen. Elizabeth Dole make the headlines, much of the most important policy-setting work takes place on influential state boards and commissions. They oversee things from banking to higher education to transportation to environmental regulation. Yet of 51 appointments made to 14 "power" boards and commissions between July 1, 2008, and June 30, only seven went to women.
The group did a similar study in 1999. This year's report found the overall percentage of women on key boards barely changed, nudging upward from 23 percent to 25 percent.
To be sure, on some boards women are well-represented. They make up 43 percent of the State Board of Education and 43 percent of the N.C. Utilities Commission. But on the powerful N.C. Board of Transportation, only 19 percent of the members are women. On the Environmental Management Commission, it's only 5 percent.
That simply isn't good enough. Women make up more than half the state's population, a majority of its work force and a majority of its college graduates. The pool of qualified women is vastly enlarged from decades ago. So why is it taking what seems like forever to get more women into positions of influence in state government?
Maybe women are less likely to raise a hand for appointment, believing themselves less qualified, while men are more likely to figure they can get on-the-job training.
Perhaps part of the problem is that women don't have the political clout men do. Most of the boards and commissions are appointed by the governor or General Assembly, and women tend not to be the heaviest donors to political campaigns. And traditionally key appointments on many boards have gone to big donors.
So consider this yet another reason on a lengthening list - as if getting in legal trouble weren't enough - why elected officials should end the pay-to-play practice of rewarding big donors with powerful appointments. It has led, and continues to lead, to a shameful underrepresentation of women.
