Closing gender gap in Range leadership a worthy goal

This is my weekly column for the Sunday, March 23, 2008 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. My columns are archived at my writing page.

Closing gender gap in Range leadership a worthy goal
By Aaron J. Brown

Anyone familiar with the news these days knows that the issues of race and gender play a big role in our political climate. The first African-American and first woman presidential contenders are currently vying for the presidential nomination of the oldest major party in the United States (the same party that once opposed women’s suffrage and civil rights legislation). Thus it’s exciting to experience this historically significant election, regardless of the outcome.

But if the buzz word of 2008 is change, we should be reminded that history has shown that real change only occurs from the ground up, with the support and, most important, actions of everyday people. As Barack Obama said in his groundbreaking speech on race this past week, no one candidate for national office can fix all our problems in one election cycle. But a lot of people working together can make huge strides.

I’ve written before that the Iron Range needs change, especially in the traditional, parochial attitudes that have held us back in recent decades. Not everyone likes to hear this, but the evidence is apparent in the leadership of our communities. I don’t mean to make a broad swipe at local and state leaders. But if there’s a unifying demographic that overwhelmingly dominates the Range leadership structure it’s the number of middle aged or older men who lead our towns, townships, counties, and local boards. No, not exclusively and there are outlying public bodies that feature gender and age balance, but they are the exception, not the rule.

Many middle-aged men are great leaders and continue to serve our community well, but one wonders what could happen if Range leaders reflected the Range population, which isn’t as old as people think it is, nor as male-dominated. In fact, if you spend time in the hearts of our communities, at the charity fundraisers, the arts events or the school activities, you see that men and women, young and old, contribute more or less equally to the health of our local society. Why isn’t this then reflected in our public offices, where most Range city councils and county boards have one or two women serving at most? (The notable exception is the Itasca County Board, where women hold three of five seats).

One encouraging sign is an upcoming event sponsored by the nonprofit White House project, called the “Go Run” women’s leadership conference. This leadership training helps women better understand their opportunities to take leadership roles in their communities. It’s been conducted all over the country and will be featured for the first time on the Iron Range, April 11-13 at Fortune Bay Resort and Casino in Tower. The registration is full, but the group is creating a waiting list for this or future sessions.

I spoke with one of the members of a steering committee that brought the Go Run conference to the Iron Range. Liz Kuoppala won a seat on the Eveleth City Council in 2006. As she prepared her campaign, she initially feared that she would have a hard time convincing some to vote for her because of her gender.

“Ultimately, I found that my gender was really a strength, not a barrier,” she said. “I think that the real barriers to seeing more women elected to office exist in their own minds. That’s what this is about.”

Kuoppala’s inspiration came from suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s observation that it’s remarkable how well America has done since it only used half its resources. Indeed, one wonders how things would be different, and perhaps better, if the Iron Range women (and I’ll add young people) were represented in public committees, boards and councils – no matter how high or low the office – at a rate equal to their numbers and significance in our society.

“We have a strong history of women’s leadership,” said Kuoppala. “We are still a place of fairly recent immigrants. People have had to work hard to get what they have and women have played a central role in our communities. We just want to see that reflected in our political structure, too.”

Indeed, the goal is not radical or discriminatory. The goal is simply to encourage more people to get involved in the hard work of running the everyday business of our Iron Range communities. When more people are included, progress is achieved. The same is true throughout history.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Read more or contact him at his blog, www.minnesotabrown.com.

Comments

  1. As I started reading your article, I thought to myself, “I just happen to know one of the few women who holds a leadership position on the Iron Range.” Liz was then quoted in the article, neat. So, that was fun for me. –AnnMarie

Speak Your Mind

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.