(HOST) Commentator Madeleine Kunin says that history was made in the recent election in more ways than one, and that part of it was made in New Hampshire.
(KUNIN) Women have made history in the 2008 election in the state of New Hampshire. It has the honor of being the first state in the nation to have a majority of women in the State Senate. Unlike the House, with 400 members, the Senate only has 24, and 13 of them will be women.
New Hampshire women not only have the numbers, they also occupy top leadership posts. Terie Norelli is Speaker of the House, and Sylvia Larsen is President of the Senate. And New Hampshire will send its first female U.S. Senator, former Governor Jeanne Shaheen, to Washington.
Overall, the percentage of female state legislators notched up one point, from 23.7% to 24.2%. Change has been equally slow in the Congress, moving from 16% to 17%. At this rate, who knows how long it will take to achieve parity? Fifty years, if we’re lucky.
The number one state in the percentage of women used to be Vermont, but we have ceded that top spot to Colorado – which is at 38%. We’re hovering nearby at 37.8%, and New Hampshire is at 37.7%
Now, there’s great variation amongst the states. South Carolina retains the distinction of being at the bottom at 10%. That’s a small improvement because they moved up from 8.8%.
The South is not only tough territory for Democrats; it’s a hard region of the country for women in politics.
There’s one southern state that distinguished itself in this 2008 election, and that is North Carolina – by electing Kay Hagan to the U.S. Senate. If there was ever any doubt whether women are capable of running nasty campaigns, Senator Elizabeth Dole dispelled it in her unseemly campaign against Hagan. She not only accused Hagan of associating with atheists, she used an actress, who sounded like Hagan, to say, "There is no God."
Women played a key role in this election in determining the outcome for the Presidency. I believe almost all of the former Hillary supporters came on board to give Obama resounding support among women. That enabled him to achieve a gender gap of 7 percent, larger than Kerry’s in 2004.
Women vote in greater numbers than men, they vote for Democrats in greater numbers than men.
Now it’s time for women to get elected in equal numbers with men – and follow the New Hampshire lead.