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Photo By Jymi Bolden
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Alice Schneider
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Cincinnati City Council has just two women, and the Hamilton County Commission has a big fat zero. But the Cincinnati Women's Political Caucus (CWPC) has more than 200 members who believe it's time that changed.
Formed to help women and those interested in the issues that affect women and children get elected or appointed to public office, the CWPC was born in the early 1970s.
Jane Anderson, who was chair of the caucus in the past, got acquainted with the group after she ran for the state legislature in 1986. She notes that although there are more women in the political arena than in the past at some levels, Cincinnati has a long road ahead to reach equality.
"I don't think we're doing well at all -- in fact, we're going backwards," Anderson says, pointing out that in the late 1980s three women were on city council. With the following election, they were all voted out.
"It's been this sort of seesaw thing," she says. "You think you're making progress, and the next election that gets knocked down. It's a long and slow process. The thing to do is encourage women to run and not let these obstacles get in their way. There won't be continued progress without organizations like the Women's Political Caucus ... to provide that support group that women need and will continue to need for some time."
That network is something that was vital to Anderson, who has run several times for city council.
"It's tremendously important to have a support group," she says. "It's a very supportive but also knowledgeable group of women who know what it takes to get elected and get appointed."
According to Anderson, even women who aren't interested in running for political office can benefit from joining the group. CWPC has members from all age groups.
"Just really being politically well informed is a great resource too," she says.
Anderson believes it's important in a democracy for elected officials to represent the population, which would mean the mix of politicians being about half men and half women. Although more women are breaking into politics, that representation is far from being met.
"I think people do not feel that their representative democracies are going to be making the best decisions about policy if key people are not at the table," she says.
Anderson says women have different life experiences from men and tend to approach problems in different ways.
"I think it is very important that women are there to represent other women who have these different life experiences," Anderson says. "Sometimes politics gets done differently. ... Women tend to be much more likely to engage in constituency service and much more responsive."
Women also tend to participate in collaborative decision making rather than making decisions through debate.
"There does tend to be a different approach to tackling issues and solving issues and where you go to find those solutions," she says.
For example, when examining crime, women tend to look for solutions in the larger social context and men tend to look for solutions by examining the behavior of the perpetrator and how to deal with that.
"Women frequently will set things in a relational context in terms of making decisions," she says, adding that men tend to look at things in terms of the individual.
While running for office, Anderson heard from many women that they would like to see more women in politics.
"Politics has always traditionally been seen as sort of a male thing," she says.
Stereotypes about women often stand in their way, and women have to strike a balance between perceived as too masculine or too feminine. If you come on too strong, you're regarded as an aggressive bitch, Anderson says, while if you come on soft, you're written off as not leadership material.
Then the issue of who's watching the kids, a charge men rarely face, comes up -- something that Anderson first encountered while running for office in 1986.
"I got this question from people, 'Where are your kids, why aren't you minding your kids? What's a nice lady like you doing getting involved in politics?'," she recalls. "It's a photo op for a man to be surrounded by young children."
Running for city council last year with her children long grown, Anderson was told voters wanted young people with fresh ideas.
"You kind of catch it coming and going," she says. "No matter what age you are in life, there's always a reason you shouldn't be there."
For Alice Schneider, chairperson of the CWPC, one reason women need to be in office is to protect the programs that affect women and children when it comes time for government to distribute funds.
"I think women need to be represented in elected office so, when the budget cuts come, programs that women and children need won't get cut," Schneider says.
The CWPC also raises money to support pro-choice candidates the group believes worthy of attention.
According to Kathy Helmbock, a member of CWPC's board, the fundraiser held each May honors women and men who have made a major difference in their work on women's issues.
"This does two things -- it honors people who deserve to be honored and it also raises money," Helmbock says, adding that two years ago the group raised almost $15,000. "We raise the money to support women and men, candidates who support feminist issues."
The group also holds campaign workshops to encourage people to run for political office. In the 1970s, when Helmbock first became involved with the CWPC, it was still rare for women to run for political office. She says she felt there needed to be women's voices in the political arena.
Early in CWPC's formative years, Estelle Berman, Bobbie Sterne's campaign manager for her first successful campaign, spoke about the work they had done.
"I was so excited about all this because this was a real ... culture shock," Helmbock recalls. "I had no clue women could do this. Bobbie has been the outstanding woman both in longevity and in skill and ability to have an effect for women far beyond just being one person. She was able to have an enormous amount of influence."
Today there are many resources available for women candidates that weren't around 30 years ago, she says.
"That kind of information has become more and more widely available as more and more women are running," Helmbock says. "We won't have arrived until we have parity, which is 50 percent, our percentage of the population."
Helmbock is chair of CWPC's endorsement committee, which sends questionnaires to candidates and invites them to a meeting to speak and answer questions. Then members vote on who to endorse and how much money to give them.
According to Schneider, it's difficult for women to get their names into the public arena, raise money and get elected. It's especially difficult to get women elected as Hamilton County Commissioners.
"Sometimes when people leave, (the Republican Party) usually appoint men instead of women and that gives them a one-up that we don't often get," she says.
What women often do get from the CWPC is a network of like-minded people who can support them in their political endeavors.
"It takes a lot of volunteers and people to help you work on a campaign," Schneider says. "You have to have people to help and support you. It could be a full-time job, I think, running for office. I think the future's bright for women, and young women are starting to see they can get into the political arena and get elected." ©
