Helen Sommers: An Oral History

Women Advances in Government
WILL IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
The women say their ascendancy to power is
making a difference, both in terms of style and
substance. They say women tend to want more
civility in debate and decision making, and want
to focus the Legislature’s attention on “kitchen
table” issues that affect families.
“We talk about down-home stuff,” like schools
and traffic and the poor, rather than more abstract,
bloodless issues like taxes, says Senator Fairley.
Allen, the Seattle consultant who is vice chair
of the National Women’s Political Caucus, prefers
to call it the “humanization” of politics and says
it squares perfectly with what pollsters say the
voters want.
“You can bet we will make a difference,” says
Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles. Women say they know
the state, and even the nation, will be watching.
The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane
editorialized recently, “Now that female legislators
have reached a critical mass in Olympia, they must
join together to influence the tone, the process and
the results of the session... Now women must turn
their energy from celebration to the challenge of
creating change.”
Brown, who created a stir when she brought her
1-year-old son Lucas onto the House floor in 1993,
says women are demanding, and getting legislative
hours that mesh with raising families.
“It’s a friendlier place for women,” says Representative
Sommers, who was one of only 12 women
when she was first elected in 1972 and recalls a
locker-room camaraderie that excluded women.
Brown says women bring “a different orientation
to conflict and move away from a winner-take-all
mentality.” Running households, balancing work
and home, and keeping peace among their kids is
excellent training for statehouse service, women
legislators say.
“I think women are plodders, the workhorses”
who worry more about solving problems than who
gets the credit, says Representative Lisk. But she
also says women won’t be bullied and will never
again accept all-male leadership teams.
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“We didn’t get where we are (in leadership and
committee chairmanships) because of a popularity
contest. It was because we are a bunch of ambitious,
aggressive women, she said sweetly,” Lisk says.
“We’re just nervier,” says Representative Ida
Ballasiotes, a Republican, with a throaty laugh.
Senators Mary Margaret Haugen and Fairley
both say women are credited with being more honest,
less ego-driven and less susceptible to power
plays and the allure of special interest campaign
money. But those are generalizations and as women
grow into long-term majority status, some of the
luster will wear off and some women will begin to
adopt the arm-twisting and good-ole-boy qualities
that outrage the current crop of female legislators,
they fear.
“Sometimes we process too much,” cautions
Haugen. “We can blow it, too. Women are inclined
to be catty and sometimes don’t like other women
in leadership. But if we go to the table with respect
for each other, we can achieve a lot.”
SO WHY HERE?
Although Washington State has become the
toast of the women’s community, it didn’t happen
overnight, says Nancyhelen Fischer, longtime feminist
leader who has just retired as state chair of the
Women’s Political Caucus. “It wasn’t just something
that happened in the ‘90s. It was something we built
up” over decades of recruiting and networking.
A number of analysts, including the women leaders
themselves, theorize that the West has a young
history and a tradition of being a meritocracy. As
settlers moved westward, they left behind the Eastern
political machines and strict hierarchy and gender
roles and depended on women to be the backbone
of a populist new society. Eventually, they claimed
a place at the table politically, working their way
up the ranks, historians say.
“Women played an important role in establishing
this state and it is an establishment that honors
women today,” says Senator Haugen. “It’s too bad
the pioneer women aren’t around to see us today.”
State school chief Terry Bergeson says she and
other women educators have been working for