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Show THE UTAH STATE SENATE: EFFECTS OF TOKENISM AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE GENDER PARITY Ashley E. DiAna inequality and disparity as more than merely personal failing or inadequacy, but rather originating in systemic and cultural sexism. This consciousness allows one to see the answers to systemic and cultural bias as resultantly collective as well. Gender consciousness "implies a critique" of the surrounding environment and an acknowledgement that subordination based on sex exists in contemporary society. According to Sapiro, many women never gain gender consciousness, and the inequalities experienced rarely translate into mass political action. To gain gender consciousness, one must have enough autonomy and critical orientation to separate from the power structure to reformulate an identity not blindly tied to the powerful. An example of this is when a young woman has the education and physical space to critically examine the society in which she resides - common places for this to occur are college or the workplace. When a woman is old enough to think for herself and given the space to do so, gender consciousness is far more likely to result because there is likely to be a realization that women hold significantly less power and resources than men in this society. There must be the realization that that specific woman and women in general are harmed by this gender inequality. Two situations create more opportunity for the formulation of gender consciousness. The first is the presence of a women's movement. If new and progressive ideas about women and their place in society are circulating through the media and social groups, it is far more likely that women will discuss and think about issues fundamental to gender consciousness. The second is regular interaction of women in the absence of men. Groups solely comprised of women allow women to hold power positions, converse with other women about their life experiences, and allow for the building of coalitions and networks of support. Through these two situations, women are allowed to wrestle with and create their own gender identity within society and to gain allies in that newly formed identity. There is collective identity and support. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Utah became a state in 1896. The legislative branch of the state government was modeled after the United States' example, thereby designating two separate yet equal bodies, the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate is composed of twenty-nine members; the House has seventy-five. Since 1979, there has been at least one female member of the Utah State Senate (Center for American Women in Politics, 2002b). Spikes in female numbers were in 1991 and 1992, when there were three female senators; in 1999 and 2000, there were four female senators; in 2001, where there were five female senators; lastly, in 2002, there were six female senators. Six is the highest number of female senators in Utah history. Compared to other states, Utah currently ranks twenty-third in terms of female representation, with women holding twenty-one percent of the senate seats (Center for American Women in Politics, 2002a). The top state in terms of female representation is Washington, with thirty-nine percent. Females are approximately fifty-one percent of the general population nationwide. In terms of party affiliation, Utah is heavily Republican. Twenty of the twenty-nine state senators are Republican, controlling sixty-nine percent of the Senate. Two of the twenty are women; meaning ten percent of the caucus is female. The other nine senators are Democrats. Four of the nine Democrats are women, thereby making women forty-four percent of the Democratic caucus. In terms of gender and party representation, the case is similar in the Utah State House of Representatives. Eighty percent of the body is male (fifty-seven of seventy-five seats). Sixty-four percent of the body is Republican (fifty-one of seventy-five seats); thirty-six percent is Democrat. Women are seventeen percent of the Republican caucus (nine of fifty-one) . Women are thirty-three percent of the Democratic caucus (nine of twenty-seven). ANALYSIS OF THE DATA IN RELATION TO RANTER'S TOKENISM In this section, the major concepts from Ranter's theory of tokenism are explored them in light of the interviews with five of the six female senators. Where appropriate, I will discuss issues of consciousness related to Ranter's tokenism. The first perceptual phenomenon in Ranter's theory is surplus visibility, where all actions taken by the token are public and noticed. There is little ability to blend in with the larger group. This concept is then tied to the representational function the token serves for the token's group at large. There was evidence of this phenomenon in every interview. Democratic Sen. Paula Julander (2002) discussed her first campaign, where she was the first woman to run against an incumbent woman for a seat in the State House of Representatives. Because this was a new situation in Utah politics, and women were (and still are) relatively few compared to men, Sen. Julander felt that her electoral race received greater attention than other legislative races that year. There was a divide among women in terms of support of her candidacy. Sen. Julander is a moderate Democrat from a moderate/liberal urban district. Her opponent was a moderate Republican who had held the seat for eight years. Sen. Julander felt that party affiliation and policy stance were more important than supporting a candidate just because she was a woman. She got feedback from some women that running against another woman was a bad idea because there were so few women in office as it was. More women, though, came to Sen. Julander to offer support of her campaign because they felt that if women were going to be equal participants in the political process, women needed to get used to the idea of competing against one another. Sen. Julander won the race by a small margin. 24 |