Wisconsin’s dirty secret

The “prom queen” stereotype is not the only landmine Kerkman encountered. Shortly after the birth of her second child in 2008, she received an anonymous e-mail urging her to lose weight to improve her image. The writer chided Kerkman for being twice the size that she was eight years ago when she first ran for office.

Kerkman has a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

“To be honest with you, yes, I’ve put on about 20 or 30 pounds from the time [the writer] met me. But, I’ve had two kids in two years,” Kerkman says. “And it was an unflattering photo.”

While Kerkman moved on from that e-mail, she does make a clear point ⎯ body image is something her male counterparts never had to deal with.

A Dirty Word

Back across the party line, Democrat Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber of the 57th Assembly District has another idea why women avoid running for office. As the  oldest of 11 children, with 30 years in the health care industry, Bernard Schaber was drawn to politics to help resolve health insurance issues. After witnessing what other women go through as they run for office in Wisconsin, Bernard Schaber thinks it all comes down to one word ⎯ “politician.”

“In general, ‘politician’ is a dirty word and a bad job,” she says. “Women don’t like to be labeled as somebody that can’t do anything correctly and who is crooked and rotten.”

Her sentiments are shared by others ⎯ including those across the aisle.

Republican Rep. Kitty Rhoades, representing the 30th Assembly District, never wanted to run for office. But after friends and neighbors witnessed her active involvement in their community, they brought the fight to her. Rhoades was uncertain about running for office, but mentioned it to her kids one night over dinner. With their blessing, she was elected to the Assembly in 1998. She may have been in politics more than ten years now ⎯ but do not even try to call her a politician.

“I am not a politician, I am an elected official,” Rhoades says. She is not fond of other labels either. To her, a good leader is a good leader regardless of gender, and that’s all that should matter.

Someone to Emulate

Politician, elected official, representative, no matter the label, the Wisconsin Women Council makes it clear that there are not enough women in Wisconsin making the move to represent their communities in government. It’s a paradox: the number of women in the state Assembly has decreased in each of the last two elections, yet, when women ran for Assembly in the last election, they won 75 percent of the time. With that success rate, why aren’t more women running for office?

Christine Lidbury, executive director of the Wisconsin Women’s Council, believes it comes down to something that gets talked about a lot during adolescence ⎯ role models.

“A man can look at a picture of a city council and you can see yourself somewhat reflected. But for women, there are no role models there,” Lidbury says. “You need to see that women can both win and lose and go on.”

A role model is someone worthy of imitation, or a person whose behavior is emulated by others. To reach a goal, people need to look at others who have already blazed the trail. Unfortunately, women in Wisconsin have a hard time finding footsteps to follow in politics ⎯ only 21 women have served in the State Senate in the history of the state.

From her office overlooking the Wisconsin capitol lawn, Seidel echoed Lidbury’s sentiment.

“We can’t be what we can’t see. When women like Sandy and me run for office and are elected, it’s not just us who are winning. We win because as women get elected, other women in the community get more engaged and enthusiastic about the political process,” Seidel says. “And I think most importantly what we do is become role models for children who see us…[Young girls] see us in leadership roles as lawmakers and then they obviously recognize and realize that this is something that they too can do when they grow up.”

According to Bernard Schaber, Wisconsin may be missing out on a lot of important perspectives if more women do not run for elected office.

“[Women] bring a different perspective into politics,” Bernard Schaber says. “We look at things from a broader and a more complex view. We try to figure out how what we do can help as many people as possible.”

The term bipartisan gets tossed about frequently when people talk about politics these days. Seidel believes we lose cooperation between parties when women are not represented in government.

“Women are much more likely to reach across the aisle and work in a bipartisan fashion,” Seidel says. “Our interest is getting the job done, solving the problem, tackling the issue. We are going to do that by working with Democrats and Republicans.”

Despite all of the stereotypes and name-calling, women who hold office in Wisconsin have proven they are concerned about the issues. Rhoades initiated bills that helped build interstate bridges. Seidel helped improve conditions for disabled students enrolled in Wisconsin colleges. Pasch worked to increase the penalties for perpetrators of gender-based crime. Bernard Schaber relentlessly campaigned to improve health insurance in the state. Elected officials like these women are making big changes in Wisconsin ⎯ even if it means hiring a babysitter to watch the kids.