SpringfieldNewsSun.com

Champaign County Auditor Bonnie Warman said she has noticed more women becoming interested in politics but that interest isn't reflected in the number of female elected officials.

This year, 17.4 percent of the Ohio legislature is female, down from 18.4 percent in 2006.

Warman called the drop sad.

"Women had made inroads and now they're kind of falling back," she said.

Warman, who has been auditor for 23 years, said it's harder for a woman to decide to run for political office.

"Traditionally, the woman's role is take care of the family, and there's that maternal instinct to care for the family," she said.

Stacy Rhine, Wittenberg University political science professor, said women tend to go for an elected position later in life, 40s and 50s, after their children are older, while men will likely enter the field in their 20s and 30s.

The family factor

Warman and Urbana Mayor Ruth Zerkle decided to run for political office after their children had flown the nest or were of the age to look after themselves.

Zerkle, who also was a fourth-ward councilwoman from 1994 to 2006, said holding an office is an around-the-clock job.

"The woman has to be very dedicated," she said. "Politics involves more time."

Mechanicsburg Councilwoman April Davis, recently appointed to the office in January because of a resignation, said if her husband hadn't retired, she didn't know if she would have applied for the seat.

"I wrestled with the idea knowing how involved I would get," she said. Davis said she's got help, but still has to multi-task between caring for her children and grandson and working on council issues.

"When I can't find a babysitter for him I bring him along with his Thomas the Tank engines, and he plays in the corner," she said.

Rhine said gender stereotypes surrounding the roles of mother and homemaker can often work in a female politician's favor.

Women could be seen as more truthful and better advocates for education and health care, she said.

But there are some stereotypes, women try to avoid.

Against the status quo

Mechanicsburg councilwoman Ellen Seward, who has been in office eight years, said she works to handle conflict in a way that won't get her labeled as emotional or irrational.

"You train yourself not to act on your emotions, but to hold off to tomorrow (when) you're going to have a whole different perspective," Seward said.

However, she said, it's difficult to keep a cool head when faced with prejudices and unfair treatment.

Seward said there have been council meetings where the women have been "dismissed" and responses were "you don't know what you're talking about."

"It baffles me that in the 21st century when you scratch the surface, you find the same prejudices from years ago," Davis said.

Coping and serving

Lu Blaine, a Mechanicsburg councilwoman in her first term, said she deals with the disparities by remaining assertive and persistent.

"I get my teeth in something, and I don't let go," she said.

Municipal Court Judge Susan Fornof-Lippencott, the county's first elected woman to the position, said for a majority of her time in office she has been treated with respect and equality.

She does recall incidents during a trial when a lawyer winked at her and another attorney called her "honey."

The judge said she laughs about it now and devotes her energy to her office.

"The reward of helping someone or watching someone change their life makes it worthwhile," Fornof-Lippencott said.

Davis said she hopes more women will enter political office.

"In this day and time you can't sit back and be apathetic about anything," she said. "Everything is decided by those who show up, so that's what I did. I'm showing up."