Number of Women Seeking State Offices Increases Slightly During Last Decade

The number of women seeking state offices in California has gone up slightly over the last decade.

About 3% more women have jumped into state political races during the last 10 years, according to the secretary of state’s office.

Of the 500 candidates in the Democratic and Republican primary races last June, 11% were women, according to Caren Daniels-Meade, spokeswoman for Secretary of State March Fong Eu.

She said 32 women won their primaries and will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot. Of those, she said, less than 20 have a realistic chance of winning--and 14 of those are incumbents.

Strong Newcomers

Among the strongest newcomers for legislative, congressional and statewide offices are two women squaring off against each other for an Assembly seat from a four-county Northern California district.

Republican Bev Hansen and Democrat Mary Jadiker are vying to replace Assemblyman Don Sebastiani, a Sonoma wine maker who lost a GOP primary race for state controller.

Democrats Jackie Speier and DeLaine Eastin are regarded as front-runners for Assembly seats being vacated by Democrats Louis J. Papan of Millbrae and Alister McAlister of Fremont.

Democrat JoHanna Willman is offering a strong challenge to Assemblyman William J. Filante (R-Greenbrae).

There are 11 women in the 80-member Assembly and four in the 40-member state Senate. One of them, Assemblywoman Jean M. Duffy (D-Citrus Heights), chose not to seek reelection this year.

Daniels-Meade said that the ratio of women in the California Legislature--12.5%--is 2.3 percentage points below the national average. But California has 6.4% women in its congressional delegation compared to 4.7% women in the entire Congress.

Also, the ratio of women on county governing boards in California--21.6%--is far greater than the 8% national average.

Women candidates in California still are “standing behind a lot of men” despite their increasing numbers, Daniels-Meade said. When candidates for major and minor parties are included, women running for office in 1986 comprise 15.4% of the candidates compared to 12.2% in the 1976 races.

Statewide Office

Only one woman from either of the two major parties is running for a statewide political office on the Nov. 4 ballot in California. She is Eu, Daniels-Meade’s boss, who is expected to easily win a fourth term against Republican Bruce Nestande, an Orange County supervisor.

Opinion polls show that a second female on the statewide ballot, Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird--the only woman ever to serve on the California Supreme Court--is likely will lose her bid for confirmation to a 12-year term.

Nationwide, 42 women hold 14% of all statewide elected offices. Only seven women have governed a state in the 61 years since Wyoming elected a woman governor in 1925.