Where will women rank in Lansing next year?
The Mid term elections brought big change to Michigan and the country. A lot of republicans are in and a lot of democrats are out. But that's not all. A lot of women are out too. I did some digging, with a little help from The Center for Women in Politics; the details are tonight's Fact Finder Report.
When Fact Finder took on Decision 2010 leading up to the general election we interviewed 46 candidates, but only 4 were women, none of those women were elected, and they are not alone.
Governor Granholm, the most visible woman in Michigan politics is out of office next year. She's out due to term limits, but many argue the anti-incumbent and anti democrat mood claimed a lot of victims.
Did women in office face a similar fate?
Women make up about half of the population, but next year in Lansing 30 of the 148 lawmakers will be women. That's about 20%. This is down 5% from the previous two elections.
Here's what 2011 will look like in Lansing: of the 110 members of the state house, 27 will be women; 16 democrats and 11 republicans. That's down one seat from the 28 seats women held in 2010.
But there's a bigger drop in the senate. There are 38 state senators. in 2010, 9 of them were women. In 2011, there are only 3; 2 republicans and 1 democrat.
The vast majority of women serving in the legislature are from the Detroit area. The female lawmaker who lives the farthest north represents Saginaw, none from northern Michigan and the entire Upper Peninsula.
So why do you think this is? Do you think it matters? Leave your comments below.
