We Strive for Equal Representation
We’ll always be able to tout the fact that the highest-ranking woman in the US Cabinet in President Obama’s first term—just the third woman to attain the office of Secretary of State—made her home here, but that pride is more than political correctness; it’s reflective of a progressive trend in local government. Most recently, Westchester voters elected seven women to the County Board of Legislators out of 17 spots (legislators serve two-year terms), meaning female reps make up 42 percent of our local legislative body.
We still have a bit of catching up to do, as women comprise closer to 52 percent of our total population, but we’re leaps and bounds further along than Congress, where the ratio of one woman to every five men in the Senate (about 20 percent female) is record-breaking but still drastically disproportionate to the national constituency—every other person of which finds her buttons on the left.
And to make sure that 52 percent is heard, we have the unique-in-the-nation Westchester County Women’s Advisory Board, charged with holding our executive and legislative branches accountable for issues affecting women since 1984.
Despite never having named a woman county executive in the seat’s 73-year history, we have had a succession of female DAs, including our current chief law-enforcement officer, Janet DiFiore. Additionally, MaryJane Shimsky, representing Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Ardsley, and parts of Greenburgh, is the Board of Legislators’ majority whip.
Female Politicians Gaining Ground in Westchester
Their progress is helped along by the Westchester County Women’s Advisory Board, and by the growing number of female legal and law-enforcement professionals.
