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Show HINCKLEY JOURNAL OF POLITICS 2002/2003 Within the Senate itself, there were also examples discussed of this heightened visibility. Democratic Sen. Millie Peterson (2002), who has been in the Senate since 1990, served for several years as the only woman in the entire body. She described sections of the nineties as "lonely" years. Though she felt respected and competent, she expressed that it was clear that she was "different." The difference was not specified during the interview. Sen. Beverly Evans, who served as the only Republican woman from 1998 until 2000, described caucus meetings where she was looked at differently. Sen. Evans played the "woman's representative" during a 1999 debate over a bill which would require insurance companies to equally cover birth control pills compared to covered male sexual enhancers, like Viagra. Sen. Julander (D) sponsored the "pill bill," and garnered enough support to bring the bill to the Senate floor. On the third reading, the final vote for passage, Sen. Evans passed the first go round. At the conclusion of the first round of voting the body was tied, fourteen in favor and fourteen opposed. Sen. Evans was the tiebreaker. She describes waiting to vote last as a rookie mistake. She had supported the bill on second reading, but decided to oppose it on the third. That one vote got her more attention than almost anything else done that year. She was the only Republican woman in the Senate, and she had voted against a bill perceived as largely a woman's issue. Her vote gave opponents of the bill leverage in arguing that it was not really a woman's issue because this important woman in a decision-making capacity had killed the legislation. Sen. Julander has brought the bill every year since, but it hasn't been heard in committee or on the floor. The second component to the representational function of heightened visibility is that of notice of work quality and quantity. Kanter argues that women have to work doubly hard to be recognized, and that this would either push a woman to become an overachiever or socially invisible. I asked each of the senators whether they thought they had to work harder than their male counterparts. Four of the five said a definitive "yes." Sen. Peterson (D) likened her need to work harder than male senators to the work expectations of new female doctors. Both the female doctors and senators needed to prove that were not weak and that they were extremely competent in these demanding positions. She also emphasized that women had to really prove themselves in areas outside of traditional women's issues. This was difficult, but once accomplished it garnered a woman greater leverage and respect among the male senators than women who focused on education and human services. Sen. Evans and Sen. Carlene Walker (2002), the two Republican female senators, both emphasized throughout their interviews the need for women to have expertise in a broad array of issues and to get beyond education and human services as their sole focus. They both discussed the fact that though those issues are of great importance, women gain more respect and are able to be more representative of their districts rather than women in general when they carry issues that are less culturally gendered. Sen. Evans is an expert on property rights and natural resource issues because she represents a large, mostly rural district. If she does not have a firm grasp of water rights, for example, she would lose a sizable portion of her support base. Sen. Karen Hale (2002), a moderate Democrat, did not think she had to work harder than her male counterparts. She thought that every senator had to work very hard and that it was impossible to gauge who was working harder. The fact that four of the five senators, ranging widely in time spent in the senate, political ideology, and life experience, all identified and had personally addressed the issue of heightened visibility leads one to accept the reality of this aspect of tokenism within the Utah State Senate. Each senator had individually come to the conclusion that they were more visible in this visible body, and that visibility demanded greater work output in order for the female senators to maintain their positions and make political progress. The heightened visibility also forced these senators to more carefully request their committee assignments from the Senate President because of the symbolic significance of those positions. Though any one of them could have run on an "education first" platform (and many did), once in the Senate it could more greatly benefit them to be on a less "womanly" committee, like transportation or natural resources. Each one of the senators exhibited gender consciousness in this portion of the study. They are aware that gender matters and act upon a clear understanding that their actions affect the way other women are seen and treated in more general society. They also realize that in order for women, as a collective, to make progress toward greater equality, individual legislators needed to buck the stereotypes and establish credibility beyond traditional women's issues. Senator Hale's departure from the general consensus is significant in that her sense of heightened visibility is not attributed to being a woman senator, but rather to being a senator in general. She has a more egalitarian understanding of the body in that her perception has led her to see everyone's work output as equal. She does not sense a great divide between the scrutiny and assumptions made about her committee positions and those of her colleagues. It may be important to note that Sen. Hale is the youngest of the female senators, leading her to possibly having a more egalitarian perception of society in general. The sexism and struggles that her more senior colleagues have faced may have colored their perception. Moreover, the lesser degree to which she has faced these barriers in life may be a key component to understanding her departure on this aspect of tokenism. Further interviews of both Senator Hale and her male colleagues about these perceptions would shed greater light on heightened visibility. Senator Hale's level of gender consciousness is not clear from this section of the interview, although it appears to be 25 |