The Democratic Party of Calloway County did a notable thing several months ago. They elected an intelligent, hard-working woman, Mrs. Vonnie Hays Adams, as their chairperson.
Adams is not the first women to be a Democratic leader, but she does represent a younger generation of woman, more of whom are now willing to accept the difficulty, in the conservative South at least, of being a woman in politics.
She is aware of the research that that shows that a woman who runs for elected office must work harder, raise more money, and bend over backward to be more likable than a male candidate to get elected.
To get a better understanding of women in politics, I spoke with Robyn Pizzo, a current member of the executive committee of the Calloway Democratic Party and co-chair of the membership committee.
She pointed out that workplaces staffed largely by women—education, healthcare, childcare—are the very areas where women’s leadership would result in benefits for all of us. As Pizzo commented “When women have first-hand knowledge of the equity issues that exist in this part of our economy.”
Pizzo believes that “when women are elected, we all win. Women’s participation in politics tends to result in policies in areas of health and education that improve our quality of life”.
Two of the administrators I worked for during my career were women. They were strong leaders who knew their jobs and had clear goals. Unlike some men “bosses” I had, these women were also good listeners. They didn’t need to avoid wearing pink either.
Since issues such as childcare, equal pay for women, healthcare, pre-K programs and family leave are important issues for Democrats, one might expect women would be eager to enter public service by running for political positions.
Yet that is not the case locally. Only seven of the twenty-five top elected officials listed in the Murray Ledger and Times are women. One of them, our State Representative Mrs. Imes, has even said that she wants things to remain the same for her grandchildren as they are now.
While I do understand her love of tradition, I also know as a historian that the only constant is change. Female officeholders can help us cope with those changes; they have skills to make the world safe “for children and other living things,” to revive a slogan we used decades ago when protesting the war in Vietnam.
Perhaps women are reluctant to run for public office here because of the resistance they can face. When Vonnie Hays Adams was campaigning for a county magistrate’s position during the last election, one voter asked her: “Can women be magistrates?”
If you look around Murray and Calloway County, you will quickly notice that it is primarily women who “are caring for the most vulnerable people in our community,” Pizzo pointed out.
Women staff the Child Literacy Program and are a major presence at Angel’s Attic. Needline was created by a woman and has been directed by women ever since. Women created Soup for the Soul and the Calloway County Collective set up during our COVID-19 epidemic. Women created our public library many decades ago and still direct and manage this facility.
In addition, a woman heads the local Chamber of Commerce and many small businesses have been created by women. Those who greet us when we do business at the bank or courthouse are almost all female as well. A few of them were even elected.
Washington is so gridlocked that I understand why intelligent people are retiring from Congress. The unwillingness of those in Washington to work together to actually govern the country and meet our current needs is very clear. Most of the resistance to serving the people is spear-headed by Mitch McConnell, sad to say. He, and not Nancy Pelosi, is the chief obstructionist.
But locally, things are different. We can work together here to create positive change. However, “if our government doesn’t look like the people it is supposed to represent,” Robyn reminds us, “there will be perspectives, issues, and challenges facing our community that will not have a voice.”