Massachusetts has a reputation for progressive politics, yet a wgbhnews analysis found that men still dominate local politics.
It was about 5:45 p.m. on a recent Friday, and Frances Karttunen was huddling with her campaign manager going over their notes, prepping for the night ahead. In just a few minutes, about a dozen key supporters would gather at her friend’s modest, shingled Nantucket home tucked away on a side street. The attendees, most of whom were long-time residents, weren’t there so much to be convinced to vote for Karttunen, who is running for the town’s select board.
Nantucket is not unique. Across the Bay State — well known for its progressive politics — town select boards are still largely dominated by men. Of the almost 1200 board members statewide, a little over 300 are women, according to statistics compiled by WGBH News. Eighty-five towns have boards with no female members, while only two — Berlin and Shutesbury — have boards without men. The pattern is repeated in the cities, where 176 of 603 council seats are held by women.
Despite being the highest level ever, Massachusetts still only ranks 27th nationally in terms of the proportion of female legislators, according to the Center for American Women and Politics, or CAWP, at Rutgers University. For comparison, Nevada’s legislature is 50.8 percent female, which puts it in first place. And all of the other New England states rank above Massachusetts. Vermont is fifth nationwide, with 40 percent female representation.
But about half of that increase happened in 2018, as part of a surge that swept historic numbers of women into office in Congress and on Beacon Hill. The lack of women on select boards has a trickle-down effect. Board members can have the power to draw up the town meeting warrant, set priorities for the budget, and grant licenses and permits. They also hire administrative staff and make appointments to other town committees.
Nassour, the former chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, expects — unlike in the early 1990s when enthusiasm fizzled out shortly after the election — that more female candidates will step up in 2020 for a variety of reasons. There’s more support now from grassroots groups — several have sprung up in the last decade — to both encourage women to run for office and give them the training and networks necessary for being successful.
In 2005, Kim Driscoll became the first woman elected mayor of Salem. On the campaign trail, she encountered a barrage of questions about her family and her temperament: What did her husband think about her candidacy? How would she handle raising her three children? Would she be tough enough to handle the job?Fourteen years later, voters are still asking the same questions. But sexism isn’t the only obstacle women running for office face.
As these obstacles, which are compounded for female candidates of color, become more well documented, more and more grassroots political groups are stepping up to inject more diversity into elections. Some of these groups, like Emerge Massachusetts, which saw its applications double last year, are teaching women how to be successful candidates.
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