Photo by philliefan99.Earlier today, this tweet by Elissa Silverman of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute got me to thinking: why aren’t more women running in the upcoming special election for an at-large seat on the D.C. Council?
The race is one of the most competitive in recent memory, drawing, at last count, 18 candidates. But as Silverman points out, only two of those candidates, Dorothy Douglas and Mary Eva Candon, are women — and neither are considered a real threat to win the contest. (A third, Dottie Love Wade, had also declared candidacy, but has since withdrawn from of the race.)
The District has never been short on female leadership. The city has elected a female mayor in Sharon Pratt Kelly. There are always numerous women holding down powerful positions in the city’s government — whether that’s Office of Planning chief Harriet Tregoning, D.C. Public Library head Ginnie Cooper or interim D.C. Public Schools chancellor Kaya Henderson, to name but a few. But nowhere is this display of female political muscle more apparent than on the Council, where several prominent women have served, like current Councilmembers Mary Cheh (Ward 3), Muriel Bowser (Ward 4) and Yvette Alexander (Ward 7) — not to mention their predecessors Hilda Mason, Linda Cropp (the only woman to ever Chair the legislative body), Betty Ann Kane, Kathy Patterson and Carol Schwartz.
So what gives? Why isn’t there a legit female candidate for this election in a city that, according to the most recent available Census estimates, is 52.8% female?
