Women hold just 25 percent of political offices in NC, report says

Women hold less than 25 percent of both elected and appointed offices in North Carolina — while making up 54 percent of registered voters.

That's according to a new study released by Meredith College.

Still, women have high success rates when they choose to run: 63 percent of women — who comprised only a quarter of candidates overall — won election in 2014. The report suggests a need for changes in ways women are encouraged to seek office.

“In an increasing frequency, when women run, women win,” the report said.

David McLennan, a political science professor at Meredith who led the study, said there are three main points to take away from it: women are underrepresented in office, there has been a recent decline in women seeking office and there are disparities between rural and urban areas.

The report says that 44 of the 100 counties in the state don’t have a woman serving on boards of county commissioners, particularly in rural counties. Furthermore, there are 2.5 women in the House from urban areas of the state for every one woman in the House from rural areas.

But women who run from rural counties win at about the same rate as women from urban counties, according to the report.

Ellie Kinnaird, former state senator for Orange and Chatham Counties, noted the lack of women in office in smaller towns — and she said starting small is the key to success.

“That’s where we have to start cultivation to get women into the legislature, and of course eventually into Congress and eventually to be president,” Kinnaird said.

Pat Orrange, vice president of the Women’s Forum of N.C., which runs programs to encourage female political participation, said they track the number of women on power boards and commissions. She calls it a "shaming" document because the numbers haven’t changed much since they began tracking in the 1990s.

“We have determined that it doesn’t matter whether you have a woman or man as governor of the state, no significant change is made in the number of women who are appointed to boards and commissions.” Orrange said.

Kinnaird said when she joined the N.C. Senate in 1997, there were seven women.

“Now I think there are only eight, possibly nine. So nothing has changed in 18 or 19 years from that standpoint,” she said.

The N.C. Institute of Political Leadership has similar goals, focusing on training both men and women for public office. Ross Harris, executive director of the institute, said it has been around for nearly 30 years.

Notable women who have participated in their programs include N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and State Treasurer Janet Cowell. One of their programs trains women who want to get involved in public service.

“It may be that they have raised a family and now it’s time to think about getting into public service, or it may just be that they don’t know how to do it," Harris said. "So it’s a one-day workshop that really encourages them to explore what their options are."

Harris said the institute teaches collaboration and cooperation as effective ways to move legislation forward. The report specifically touts women's congenial approach to politics.

“This different approach to leadership often has very tangible results in legislative bodies,” the report said. “Bodies with a significant number of women, particularly those chaired by women, often invite more public and expert input on policy issues and spend more time deliberating issues.”

But McLennan said it is important for the organizations that encourage women to run for office to combine resources.

“They’ll recruit from the same population and get a dozen or so women who are interested in running for office, and they’ll come through the training program. If you think about it, 12 people a year is not really fixing the problem," McLennan said.

“It’s not a Democratic problem, it’s not a Republican problem, it’s a problem for our state of having true representation at all levels.”

state@dailytarheel.com