The November 2004 election marked an all-time low for the number of women in the Maine legislature, an auspicious milestone that won’t be repeated if a leadership training program for women achieves its goals.
Only 43 of the 186 seats in the House and Senate were filled by women in 2004, or about 23 percent. In 1990, 61 women sat in the Legislature, which at about 33 percent, ranked Maine second in the nation in that regard, behind Arizona.
The reasons for the slump four years ago are complex and varied, said several women interviewed for this article, but they all agreed that the situation seems to be turning itself around, thanks in part to a leadership training program called Emerge Maine.
Founded in 2006, Emerge Maine is a six-month course that recruits women and teaches them the basics of fundraising, campaigning, public speaking and ethics. On Tuesday’s ballot, 10 of the female candidates for Legislature were graduates of the Emerge Maine program. In addition, two graduates won elections for municipal seats earlier this year and five graduates are campaign managers in Legislative races.
Kaylene Waindle, Emerge Maine’s executive director, said there was widespread support for the program when it was founded in 2006, but it was still difficult to recruit women.
“One after another, they would say their primary responsibility was to their families,” said Waindle. “That really did not seem to be an issue that a lot of men deal with. For women, it seems to be a selfish thing to put your name on things. Bridging the gap of understanding is not easy.”
Eloise Vitelli, director of program and policy for the group Women, Work and Community, who served on Emerge Maine’s advisory board, agreed with Waindle’s assessment. At a panel discussion about women leaders last year, something struck Vitelli about the handful of female legislators on the panel, who included former Senate President Beth Edmonds (D-Cumberland).
“Every one of them said they had to be asked to serve,” said Vitelli. “That’s unique to women. Men often have (serving in public office) as an aspiration. It comes more naturally to them to think about running for office.”
Once they achieve the public office, said Vitelli, women have to “prove themselves” according to a different set of standards. “There is still work to be done,” said Vitelli.
Emerge Maine targets Democrats specifically, but that fact doesn’t bother Mark J. Ellis, chairman of the Maine Republican Party. Especially since Republican women, like their Democrat counterparts, have fared well in Maine politics. Ellis chose Julie Ann O’Brien as executive director of the party and Ann Robinson, an attorney and longtime GOP activist, to chair the 2008 Republican State Convention. Ellis said he based both appointments on intellect, skill and effectiveness and didn’t know until afterwards that O’Brien and Robinson were the first females to occupy those positions.
“The long-standing Maine and Republican approach has been to truly look beyond gender and race to strong leadership qualifications,” said Ellis, who pointed to U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins as examples.
Rep. Hannah Pingree (D-North Haven), was the majority floor leader in the 123rd Legislature. She and her mother, Chellie Pingree, have already made their marks on politics in Maine, but hope that strong women in leadership positions continues.
“When we can convince women to run for office, they’re great candidates and great legislators,” said Pingree, who helped found Emerge Maine.
Despite the recent dip in the statistics, Maine ranks well nationally for women in its Legislature, according to the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University. In 2008, 23.7 percent of the 7382 state legislators in the United States were women, a number that has more than quintupled since 1971.
Maine’s Legislature ranked ninth in the nation for its 31 percent of women. Vermont ranked first with 38 percent and South Carolina was last with less than 9 percent.
Still, considering that women make up about 52 percent of voters, there is a lot of work to be done, said Waindle. But with 25 women going through the Emerge Maine program every year, that gap is set to shrink.
One possible up-and-comer is 30-year-old Raegan LaRochelle of Manchester, a Bowdoin College and Yale business school graduate who took the course this year. LaRochelle, who has twin infant boys, is an example of a woman with powerful incentives to stay home – but she intends to break that mold.
“Public office is something I always thought about, but like a lot of people I did not know where to begin,” she said. “You really need to know why you want to be in public office. Emerge [Maine] covered every aspect. It teaches women to strike a balance of work, home and running for public office. It made me understand what I needed to do.”
LaRochelle is the treasurer for another Emerge graduate, Patricia Jones of Mount Vernon, who is running as a Democrat for the House District 83 seat.
Emerge Maine is seeking applicants for its 2009 training, which begins in January. The deadline to apply is Nov. 21. For more information, visit the website www.emergemaine.org.
(Statehouse News Service)
