I stand on the backs of the women who went before me without having done much myself to get there.

Wednesday, March 22, 2000

I stand on the backs of the women who went before me without having done much myself to get there.

I came after women got the right to vote, the right to make decisions about their own bodies and the right to equal time in schools and sports. I never worried about not being allowed to do a particular job. When I was young I dreamed of being an auto mechanic, a Harvard-educated lawyer and President of the United States, not necessarily in that order.

I learned the other day that it is politically correct to refer to women as exactly that, rather than using the term ladies, i.e. "Thank you, ladies," is a no-no, at least coming from a man. I was astounded and, I’ll admit, irritated and amused. I have not been a big supporter of the grammatical branch of the women’s liberation movement. In fact, I guess I’ve not given women’s lib a whole heck of a lot of thought.

That’s because I haven’t had to fight – much – to be equal to men.

Other women before me took care of that.

March is Women’s History Month. They deserve a month of their own I think, since much of the rest of our "history" seems to focus entirely too much on the male of the species.

We’ve come a long way – Austin and the state of Minnesota are proof positive.

Here in Austin our mayor is a woman and so are three of the seven Austin City Council members. The President of the Austin Board of Utilities Commissioners is a woman. The Austin Planning Commission has several female members and, while a man chairs it now, a woman was at the helm when I started covering city politics. Women are also well-represented on the Austin Board of Education. And let’s not forget Pat Piper, who is one of 22 women in the Minnesota Senate.

Austin: where women host power breakfasts and decide the fate of the city. We just have to crack the county commissioner barrier.

What’s the state of Minnesota?

Here’s a doozy, straight off a newsletter from the Commission on the Economic Status of Women: Of the six statewide elected offices in Minnesota (governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, treasurer, attorney general) four or 66.6 percent are held by women. Mae Schunk is the state’s fourth female lieutenant governor. Mary Kiffmeyer is Secretary of State. Judy Dutcher is in her second term as state auditor and Carol Johnson is the first woman to serve as state treasurer.

Four down, two to go.

In the Minnesota State Legislature, women make up 32.2 percent of the Senate and 26.1 percent of the House. We peaked after the 1996 election, holding 61 seats in the Legislature, or 30.4 percent. There are five times more women in state legislatures than there were 30 years ago.

While we’ve achieved much, we have a much longer way to go.

Margaret Hogan, a member of the League of Women Voters who deserves applause for her efforts over the years, sent me a piece of paper on which someone had written several words that sum it up simply and succinctly:

"A woman’s place is in the home, the Legislature, wherever her talents lead."

March is Women’s History Month. Buy your favorite woman a beer.

Jana Peterson’s column appears Wednesdays