Women in Politics Face Rougher Time Getting Elected, Panel Says

Women candidates have a harder time getting elected than men because more men hold incumbent spots, a panel of women politicians told a packed audience at the Kennedy School of Government last night.

Women face more obstacles than men in running for office because until recently they have not been fully accepted into the political fray, three Republican politicians and one Democrat said in a forum cosponsored by the Institute of Politics and the K-School Women's Caucus.

State senator Susan McLane (R-New Hampshire) said that out of the 50 women who ran for Congress in 1986, only two won seats because almost all the contested posts were won by incumbents and 95 percent of the incumbents were male.

Women are burdened with family responsibilities that affect their campaigning, the panelists said. State Representative Barbara Patton (D-New York), who is the single mother of two, said that in her career family life is a "big factor".

Many women in politics are not married, Patton said. "They don't want the responsibility," she said.

But Julie Belaga, who was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Connecticut governor last fall, said that male politicians also had to deal with family responsibilities.

The Republican panelists said that they would not let party policy determine their stance on women’s' issues. The key women’s' issues that the panelists are pushing are comparable worth legislation, government support for day care, and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

"I am a woman first," said U.S. Congresswoman Constance Morella (R-Maryland). Morella, who is sponsoring the ERA this session, said, "I firmly believe the ERA is ultimately going to pass."

Morella speculated that a woman will probably be a vice-presidential candidate in the 1988 election. She said that Geraldine Ferraro's candidacy in 1984 was "a step in the right direction." The next woman vice-president candidate will probably appear on the Republican ticket, Morella said.

More women should run for Congress now, Morella said, so that when party members are looking for a female vice-presidential candidate, "they won't have an excuse that there are no women around."