Empowering and Inspiring Kentucky Women to Public Service O PENING DOORS of OPPORTUNITY
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Empowering and Inspiring Kentucky Women to Public Service O PENING DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY 1 O PENING DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY Table of Contents Spotlight on Crit Luallen, Kentucky State Auditor 3-4 State Representatives 29 Court of Appeals 29 Government Service 5-6 Circuit Court 29-30 Political Involvement Statistics 5 District Court 30-31 Voting Statistics 6 Circuit Clerks 31-33 Commonwealth Attorneys 33 Spotlight on Anne Northup, County Attorneys 33 United States Representative 7-8 County Clerks 33-35 Community Service 9-11 County Commissioners and Magistrates 35-36 Guidelines to Getting Involved 9 County Coroners 36 Overview of Leadership Kentucky 10 County Jailers 36 Starting a Business 11 County Judge Executives 36 County PVAs 36-37 Spotlight on Martha Layne Collins, County Sheriffs 37 Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky 12-13 County Surveyors 37 Kentucky Women in the Armed Forces 14-19 School Board Members 37-47 Mayors 47-49 Spotlight on Julie Denton, Councilmembers and Commissioners 49-60 Kentucky State Senator 20-21 Organizations 22-28 Nonelected Positions Statewide Cabinet Secretaries 60 Directory of Female Officials 29-60 Gubernatorial Appointees to Boards and Commissions since 12/03 60-68 Elected Positions College Presidents 68 Congresswoman 29 Leadership Kentucky 68-75 State Constitutional Officers 29 State Senators 29 Acknowledgments We want to recognize the contributions of the many Many thanks also go to former Secretary of State Bob who made this project possible. First, we would be Babbage and his staff for providing the initial iteration remiss if we did not mention the outstanding coopera- for this report. We hope that future Secretaries will tion that we received from Glenda Woods and the Ken- follow the important path that he laid. tucky Commission on Women as well as Sylvia Lovely and the Kentucky League of Cities. Without their dedi- A special thanks is afforded to the Office of the Secre- cation to the project, this resource would certainly not tary of State staff who worked diligently to see this be possible. project through to fruition. Sarah Billiter, Samantha Carroll, James Conner, Les Fugate, Hugh Derek Hall, We are forever indebted to Pam Luce, the Women Vet- and in particular, Kristin Bradley, the project coordina- erans Coordinator with the Kentucky Department of tor, did an outstanding job and should be very proud of Veterans Affairs and John Trowbridge with the Ken- the impact this will have on future generations of tucky Historical Society. They certainly provided a new Kentucky women. dimension for the project, and we are particularly ex- cited to highlight the outstanding contribution these military women have provided to our Commonwealth. 2 O PENING DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY Crit Luallen For the women who are Secondly, women have the engaged in the process challenge of balance because and now considering pub- women are typically not only lic office, what advice balancing a career, but they would you give them? are also taking care of chil- Well, there are two real chal- dren as well as aging parents. lenges for women who have They are typically the care decided themselves to get in- givers of the family who are volved in a political career. expected to step forward Spotlight on One is there is a perception that when there is an illness or a women cannot raise money as problem with children or with Crit Luallen successfully as men can, and Born: July 21 relatives who need support or Hometown: Frankfort, KY that’s just not the case. You College: Centre College, B.A. help. They are the nurturers. • have to be committed to car- Party Affiliation: Democrat They are expected not only to rying a very substantive mes- Term: 2004-present balance a career but also the Kentucky Spouse: Lynn sage and have confidence in busy household that many State Auditor yourself and go out aggres- women have with children. sively and ask people to support you financially. Many women my age have aging parents with health Women have to have the confidence to compete in problems and that takes a lot of time. You have to that fundraising arena and go out and make it hap- find ways to balance the demands of public life with pen by convincing them to believe in them by giv- the demands of your family and that’s not easy. But ing them contributions. Other women will support it can be done. I’ve always said to women’s groups women financially and we have to get more men when I talk to them, the reason women can do this is who are traditionally the ones who write bigger because we know how to do more than one thing at checks and support women financially, to believe a time. We’ve had to do that for a long time. Women that they can succeed and have a strong agenda. know that it takes establishing of priorities and bal- continued Timeline of Women’s Progress 1838 1853 1867 1870 KY is the first state to permit Lucy Stone, a The first women’s suffrage Ada Kepley graduates from women’s suffrage of any kind national pioneer for association in KY is briefly Union College of Law in Chicago, giving property-owning widows and women’s rights, established in Hardin County. becoming the first female single women the right to vote. delivers three graduate from an accredited law suffrage speeches school. at the Masonic Hall 3 in Louisville. O PENING DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY ancing to be sure that you can take on a public life church, what your parents believed or taught you and balance that with a private life, but it can be as a child. Your basic human values have to stay done. It’s a matter of setting your priorities and intact. If you think about any leader that has ever deciding what’s really important to you. gotten in trouble, who has ever gotten involved in legal problems, political scandal, or sex scandal, it Do you have any words or special is typically been because there has been a departure quotes that guide you? from that real firm commitment to core personal Every decision that I have ever had to face, I come value. If you stay true to your values, and you do back to the simple words, “Do the right thing.” the right thing, then you will continue to contribute That’s my mantra for any decision. I believe in a positive way. that if you think about leadership, and you think about public involvement, it’s really your personal values that have to be the Spotlight on framework for how you approach every decision and every job you have. That’s Crit Luallen really something that can’t be taught. You have to have your own values that • have become part of how you’ve been raised, by your family, by your ac- Kentucky tivities or your involvement in your State Auditor “Male dominated leadership assumes In 1921, a journalist named Mary Elliott women legislators Flanery became the first woman elected to will take care of the Kentucky’s state legislature. women and children issues only. It is a tremendous mistake to paint ourselves into a corner and I refuse to do so.” – Kentucky Representative Susan Westrom 1871 18721876 1879 Frances Elizabeth Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a leader Sara Spencer becomes the first Susan B. Anthony speaks in Richmond, Willard becomes the in the women’s rights movement, woman to address a U.S. inspiring the state’s first permanent first female college visits Louisville, KY. presidential convention. women’s rights association, the Madison President (Evanston County Equal Rights Association. College). Victoria Claflin Woodhull 4 becomes the first female presidential candidate. O PENING DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY POLITICAL LEADERSHIP WOMEN IN STATE LEGISLATURES In Congress, women currently hold 14 Senate No African American, Asian American, or Hispanic seats (14%) and 67 seats in the House of Represen- women currently serve in Kentucky’s General tatives (15.4%). (Source: The White House Project) Assembly. Although there are only 14 women Senators, cur- Currently, there are 11 female State Representatives rently, some of these women represent the three most and 6 female State Senators, which comprise about populous states-California, New York, and Texas. 12% of Kentucky’s General Assembly. (Source: The White House Project) In the United States Congress, there are currently 14 The United States ranks 61st in the world in terms of female Senators and 67 female Representatives. women’s representation in national legislatures or Females represent 15% of Congress. parliaments out of over 180 directly electing coun- tries. (Source: Women in National Parliaments) Kentucky ranks 48th in the nation for number of women in elected offices. A 2003 survey by the Eagleton Institute of Politics found that of today’s top elected officials, more than Women Position Stats half were elected before they were 35. (Source: The White House Project) KENTUCKY Number Number Percent Elected Total Occupied by Position A 2001 Gallup poll found that 92% of Americans Women of Position Women said they would vote for a qualified woman for Government president. (Source: The White House Project) Judge Executive 7 120 5.8 County Clerk 69 120 57.5 A 2001 Gallup poll found that a majority of Ameri- Circuit Clerk 73 120 60.8 Services cans, 57%, say that this country would be governed County Attorney 12 120 10.0 better if there were more women in political office. State Representative 11 100 11.0 • (Source: The White House Project) State Senator 6 38 15.8 According to a Deloitte & Touche study, 79% of Total 17 138 12.3 Guideline to Americans agree completely or somewhat with the Supreme Court 0 7 0 statement, “If women are to be truly accepted as Court of Appeals 2 14 14.3 leaders in this country, nothing is more important Circuit Court 34 133 25.6 Getting than seeing women in high political office.” (Source: District Court 38 116 32.8 The White House Project) Total 74 270 27.4 Involved US CONGRESS Of the nearly 600 people who have served in the Senate 14 100 14.0 President’s cabinet or as cabinet-level officers since H.