Conference encourages women to take political roles
Katie Clark - February 28th, 2008Two speakers and many other politically active women attended “Women in Politics,” a lecture organized by the Commission on the Status of Women at NAU.
CSW’s mission on campus is to help provide an environment that allows for equal and full opportunity for women.
Harriet Young, chairwoman of the Coconino Democrat party, was the first speaker and discussed the ever-increasing role of women in politics.
“Slowly but surely you are beginning to see women become active in politics and run for office,” Young said.
Young discussed the women candidates in Coconino County; for example, currently there are women candidates running for corporation commissioner, county officers, city council and mayor.
“Numbers count; if 51.1 percent of people in Coconino County are women, we can run this place,” Young said. “I urge you to get out there and vote.”
Young said the effect of women in politics is witnessed in the health care system, especially children’s health and government-provided day care.
“What are the effects of more women in politics?” Young said. “The general consensus in political science is that new items have risen to the agenda. Women think about different things, our part of the world has some different issues and we are bringing them to the political realm.”
Young and others speculate Arizona’s increase rise in politically active women stems from Clean Election, which requires that candidates seeking public financing to run their campaigns must collect a certain number of small contributions, usually around $5 from registered voters.
“The Clean Elections has allowed people to run for office who are not independently wealthy, get some funding, run for office and govern the legislator,” Young said. “You have one of our shining examples right here — Ann Kirkpatrick.”
Ann Kirkpatrick, a native Arizonan, has served as Coconino County’s first female Deputy County Attorney and as City Attorney for Sedona. In 2004, she was elected to the Arizona House of Representative for Legislative District 2.
Ann Kirkpatrick discussed her experience as a woman in politics. She said the difficulty for women in politics is that they are criticized more than men for surface issues like clothing and physical appearance and are judged more critically on issues.
“We are scrutinized on issues,” Kirkpatrick said. “Women are not strong in economics, national affairs. We are strong on women and children issues but are not believed to be on homeland security. But things are starting to change.”
Kirkpatrick cited a Roper poll about where voters believe women stand on issues like economics, foreign affairs and homeland security. It found that 70 percent of pollers believed that men stood stronger on those issues.
Seven years later, the same poll was conducted and found 51 percent of pollers believed men would be stronger candidates.
Kirkpatrick said women need to run for office and offered advice for those who are apprehensive.
“I want women to stop saying ‘Am I ready?’ ‘Do I have qualifications?’” Kirkpatrick said. “They should start asking, ‘if not me who?’ ‘If not now when?’”
Ann Kirkpatrick will be running for the U.S. House seat that will be vacated by former U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi.
Another woman in politics who attended the lecture, Sara Presler-Hoefle, a native of Arizona and graduate of NAU, is running for Flagstaff mayor and could be the first female mayor of Flagstaff. Previously, she has worked as a public attorney representing children in the community. She left the public defenders office to work part-time with ASNAU to offer free legal aid advice and is a part-time instructor of business law and ethics.
“When I looked out upon who really represents my values and who would be able to speak for me. I looked at the council and I couldn’t identify who in that group would represent my values and my community’s priorities,” Presler-Hoefle said.
Her top priorities are concerned with investing in children, families and education. She also believes there should be a fair process to invite all people to debate the issues and discuss concerns.
“It’s really about identifying what’s most important and will help the most amount of people in Flagstaff,” Presler-Hoefle said.
Presler-Hoefle said one of her top priorities is to grow and build Flagstaff in an environmentally-conscious way.
“When I look out at Flagstaff I think what will it look like in 20 years,” Presler-Hoefle said. “In serving public offices you have to think long-term big picture. Who will we be? What will we become? And how will we get there?”
Presler-Hoefle said women must be not only involved in activism and politics throughout their academic careers but to extend involvement in their professional careers.
“We have a responsibility to serve our community in such great ways and we are capable of doing so,” Presler-Hoefle said. “So for anyone out there who is thinking, ‘how can I do that?’ I just say you just go for it.”