Holly Richardson, political activist, midwife and author of the blog “Holly on the Hill,” said not enough women in Utah are running for political office.

 

“You can’t win if you don’t run,” Richardson said. “When women run it’s still an anomaly. It’s still something that’s different and unique. I had somebody ask me one time when I was going to ‘shut up about needing more women in politics’ and I said ‘when it’s not strange that they run.’”

 

 

Richardson became involved in politics after a midwife was arrested and charged with practicing medicine without a license in 2000.

 

 

“Like many women who get involved in politics, I had an issue that was important to me, Richardson said. “There were some of us who thought the law was wrong, not that she was wrong. So we worked to get the law changed, and we did. It took five years, but we did it.”

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WHY AREN'T MORE UTAH WOMEN IN OFFICE?

Currently, women only make up 20.2 percent of Utah’s Legislature which ranks Utah 38th among state legislatures for the percentage of women, according to Real Women Run, an organization dedicated to empowering women to participate fully in public life and civic leadership.

 

 

One reason women are less likely to run for office than men is women tend to defer to men, according to State Sen. Deidre Henderson, R - Spanish Fork.

 

 

“I call this the ‘vice chair syndrome,’ Henderson said. “If a man wants a position we just kind of defer. Maybe women aren’t being encouraged enough to run. Women have to be encouraged much more than men.”

 

 

Henderson decided to run for office after she volunteered for former Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s campaign in 2008.

 

 

“I kind of fell into all of this by accident. If not me, then who?” Henderson said.

 

State Sen. Margaret Dayton, R - Orem said that although there are few women in Utah’s office, many women are civically engaged. 

 

 

“Just because we don’t have a lot of elected women doesn’t mean we don’t have a lot of women involved in politics," Dayton said. "To say that women in politics are not represented well in Utah is unfair. We have a huge number of women involved in politics. Women in Utah are very involved in campaigning and promoting candidates.” 

 

 

Some women believe that running for office will take away too much family time, Utah Rep. Becky Edwards, R - North Salt Lake said. However, Edwards found that running for office benefited her family tremendously.

 

 

“For my kids, it became like a super fun family project, Edwards said. “It was reminiscent of all the times we had come together for efforts and projects that were going on with the kids. It was a really great bonding experience.”

 

 

Running for office caused Edwards’ kids to be more politically aware, Edwards said. It taught them that elected officials are regular people, just like their friends and neighbors. Edwards also said that campaigning prepared her children for events later in life.

 

 

“My youngest loved going door to door. She ended up going on a mission to Japan and I think my campaign helped her,” Edwards said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHY SHOULD WOMEN BE POLITICALLY INVOLVED?

According to Edwards, “The role of women in leadership and politics is critical. It is a real privilege and responsibility for women.”

 

 

Richardson said without adequate representation for women, significant viewpoints are not taken into consideration.

 

 

“There are committees on capitol hill that have no women on them because we have so few women that are elected, and so you have people making decisions where half the population doesn’t even have a voice,” Richardson said.

It is important for both men and women to be involved in politics, according to Henderson.

 

 

“Women make up half the population and their voice needs to be heard too,” Henderson said. “They have just as much of a right as men. The men do a very good job, but so do the women. Different perspectives need to be heard.”

 

According to Dayton, gender should not be considered a factor when deciding who should be voted into office.  Dayton said gender should neither qualifies nor disqualifies someone to serve.

 

“I don’t think we should feel awkward or uncomfortable if we have the most or the least amount of women in office because in my mind those people who run for office should respond to the requests of their friends and neighbors,” Dayton said.

 

Maureen "Mo" Elinzano, BYU Master of Arts in Mass Communications student agrees that it is crucial for women to be involved in politics.

 

“Women in politics is very important to improving our country, helping the American people, and solving the nation's problems. The future is female!” Elinzano said.

 

Elinzano interned for Rep. Susan Davis, D – San Diego in Washington DC this last summer. Elinzano said she learned a lot about the importance of women in politics from Davis.

 

“I learned about how much the combination of passion and service is integral to being a woman in politics, and I think that applies to anyone in politics,” Elinzano said. I learned that women in politics speak their mind whenever they want on whatever issue they want to, and that’s so awesome!”