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Show THE UTAH STATE SENATE: EFFECTS OF TOKENISM AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE GENDER PARITY Ashley E. DiAna Overall, Ranter's tokenism is a useful framework to use in understanding gender power dynamics in the Utah State Senate. Ranter's proposed solution, simply increasing the number of women in the organization, does not adequately address the complexity of gender bias and systemic sexism. Voder's criticism is justified and appropriate in this setting. Changing general perceptions about women's capabilities and diversity is critical. An important aspect of that societal shift must be a development of gender consciousness among women primarily. That development will aid in the collective efforts necessary to increase the number of female candidates, campaign workers, and political party office holders. A further development of gender consciousness among those currently in power will allow those officials to better understand the setting in which they are working and to avoid subconscious self-blame for difficulties actually related to gender-based barriers. Then, the officials can seize the opportunities for change and work more collectively to expand female presence within the legislature. LONG TERM IMPLICATIONS Utah fares slightly better than most states in terms of gender parity. Twenty-one percent is hardly a number to be overly excited about, though. When fifty-one percent of the population can only attain one-fifth of elected offices, there is clearly an inequality occurring. Using Ranter's tokenism and Voder's criticism, one can see that cultural constructions and stereotypes limit the access that women have to this powerful decision-making body. When applying Sapiro's concept of gender consciousness, it is clear that a heightened level of gender consciousness is necessary if women in the Senate are going to be able to band together on issues of mutual importance. It is true that all-female coalitions are not always possible because the women in the body have distinct and sometimes contrary political views, but there are issues like educational funding and child protection that all of the senators interviewed generally agreed upon. They did not have the collective force in the body, though, to act as a unit for women. In order to continue toward gender parity within the Utah State Legislature, it is necessary for both political parties to make recruiting and supporting female candidates a priority. This is especially apparent within the Republican Party. Women have a much better chance in a general election if they run as a Republican, considering the more favorable political climate. If the Republican Party made gender parity an issue of significance within its ranks, the numbers of women in the legislature would rise dramatically. If gender consciousness-raising occurred in a deliberate manner within the Utah GOP's ranks, more women would likely run for office and be involved with campaign work and leadership. The probable result of that assertion, though, is that because of its conservative agenda, women may have to play the mother and pet role to a greater degree to get elected and to maintain favor within the party structure. In order to continue toward gender parity, female candidates must be found and developed in both parties. Strong female candidates with well-developed gender consciousness can be found in largely or completely female groups. Examples include nurses' or teachers' groups, which are educated populations with a vastly female base. Women from these groups will likely have a greater sense of collective identity, greater access to leadership positions, and a specific economic stake in public policy. Groups with all or mostly female bases should be the first place party leaders look for viable candidates in upcoming elections. Additionally, a women's caucus or discussion group should be considered for those women already in office. It would aid in the development of a collective identity and a shared sense of place within the legislature. Part of the solution to gender inequality in the Utah State Legislature is recognizing that it will take more than just increasing the number of women to decrease the perceptual barriers - it will take men and women defining gender more broadly and recognizing that ability exists within people in equally complex and promising ways. Entrapping roles will have to be consciously dismantled in order to allow women and men to be fully human in the public sphere. REFERENCES Center for American Women in Politics. 2002a. "Women in Elected Office 2002 Fact Sheet Summaries." http:www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cawp/facts/cawpfs.html (27 March). Center for American Women in Politics. 2002b. "Utah: Women in Elected Office - Historical Summary." http:www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cawp/facts/StbySt/UT.html (27 March). Evans, Beverly. 2002. Utah State Senator, District 26. Interview by author, 26 April. Glesne, Corrine and Alan Peshian. 1999. Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction, 2nd Edition. New York: Eongman Publishing. Hale, Karen. 2002. Utah State Senator, District 7. Interview by author, 30 April. Julander, Paula. 2002. Utah State Senator, District I. Interview by author, 12 April. Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. 1977. "Some Effects of Proportions on Group Eife: Skewed Sex Ratios and Responses to Token Women." American Journal of Sociology 82 (5): 965-990. Peterson, Millie. 2002. Utah State Senator, District 12. Interview by author, 14 April. Sapiro, Virginia. 1990. "The Women's Movement and the Creation of Gender Consciousness: Social Movements As Socialization Agents." In Political Socialization, Citizenship Education, and Democracy. Ed. O. Ichilov. New York: Teacher's College Press. Utah State Senate. 2002. "Photos and Bios." http://beta.utahsenate.org/perl/sperl/distall.pl (27 March). 30 |