The matriarchy up north
By Renee Loth
April 30, 2009
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/04/30/the_matriarchy_up_north/What could be causing this unprecedented turn in Granite State politics? Here's one idea: women.
Since January, the New Hampshire Senate has been making history as the first majority female legislative body in the country: Thirteen of its 24 members are women. Overall, the New Hampshire Legislature is 37.7 percent female, just a fraction behind Vermont (37.8 percent) and Colorado (38 percent). But New Hampshire also has women in leadership: a woman House speaker, a woman Senate president, and a woman majority whip. The congressional delegation is 50 percent female, including one of only 17 women in the US Senate. It's as if there was a bloodless coup of the state's political establishment in November, and women were the avatars of change.
Cynics suggest that it is precisely because New Hampshire's Legislature is part time and virtually unpaid - members earn $100 a session, plus commuting expenses - that women are allowed to compete for legislative seats that aren't as prized as they are in, say, Massachusetts. It's just volunteerism, like rolling bandages. Why not let the women have it?
