Women Seen Making Gains at Ballot Box : Gender: Advocates for more females in elected office point to dramatic successes Tuesday both in highly visible races and lesser state campaigns.

The mid-term elections capped a breakthrough year for women in politics even though their numbers in Congress and statehouses will remain about the same, leaders of women’s campaign organizations said Wednesday.

Just the victory of Ann Richards in the governor’s race in Texas and the close second achieved by Dianne Feinstein in the California gubernatorial battle symbolize a sea change in American politics, advocates for women argued.

“Clearly, 1990 was the year we finally broke the glass ceiling by capturing Texas, one of the top political prizes in the country,” said Jane Danowitz, executive director of the Women’s Campaign Fund.

In addition, a record number of women ran for federal and state offices in 1990. That contrasts sharply with the not-too-distant past, when women on the ballot tended to be token candidates or sacrificial lambs with little chance of winning.

“The political landscape already has changed for women,” said Wendy Sherman, executive director of Emily’s List, a fund-raising organization that gave $1.3 million to women candidates this year. “The number of competent, qualified women candidates has increased dramatically--not only in total numbers but in visible races.”

The National Women’s Political Caucus, a bipartisan group, said that the advances this year are harbingers of more far-reaching changes in the future as women demonstrate that they can win in some of the toughest and most important races in the nation.

“It was a Texas-sized victory and the good ol’ boys had better watch out,” said Chung Seto, an NWPC spokeswoman.

Even so, the actual number of women in top offices remained virtually unchanged.

Before Tuesday’s balloting, there were three women in governors’ offices in Arizona, Nebraska and Vermont. But two retired and one was defeated, so the three women elected in Texas, Oregon and Kansas will not increase the total.

Similarly, there were 30 women in the 101st Congress. Two retired and three were defeated in races for the U.S. Senate. The five new women members elected Tuesday will only keep the total at the same level, although there is some possibility that Joan Horn, a Missouri Democrat, will emerge victorious in a recount and raise the total to a record 31.

Advocates for women took comfort in progress made in contests for state legislative seats and for statewide offices below the level of governor, two categories in which women have been making increasing inroads.

For example, six women were elected as lieutenant governors, four as attorneys general, 10 as secretaries of state, 11 as state treasurers and one as state comptroller.

The number of women across the country who won state legislative races was not immediately available. A record 2,036 women had won major party nominations for these positions, according to the Fund for the Feminist Majority, while 80 others ran for statewide office.

These offices have been traditional steppingstones to the governor’s mansion, as state treasurers Ann Richards showed in Texas and Joan Finney demonstrated in Kansas, said Danowitz of the Women’s Campaign Fund.

But the unbridled optimism that led some observers to characterize 1990 as the “year of the woman” in politics has been replaced by a more realistic view that advancing women’s candidacies will be a continuous task.

“It’s going to be the year of the woman for quite awhile before we can achieve success,” said Wendy Sherman of Emily’s List. “We look forward to reapportionment--new, open seats create the best opportunities for women.”

Chang Seto of the National Women’s Political Caucus agreed, saying: “It’s going to be the decade of women.”

Even the defeat of Feinstein in the closely watched California governor’s contest was seen as vindication of her achievement in winning the nomination and waging a hard-fought campaign against a well-financed opponent in a race that went down to the wire.

“She really emerged in all of our eyes as a winner and her political career is not over,” said Danowitz of the Women’s Campaign Fund. “Like Ann Richards, she survived negative attacks and attacked back--no more tears this year.”

There was some criticism of Feinstein, however, by Eleanor Smeal, head of the Fund for the Feminist Majority, who said that the campaign focused too much on winning male voters rather than rallying more women to her side.

Smeal noted that Richards won in Texas by getting 61% of her votes from women--a goal she recommended for other women candidates in the future.

While expressing delight over triumphs by many of the 150 women who ran for Congress or statewide office, some women’s advocates expressed misgivings over the slow pace of change.

“Despite these victories, Congress remains 95% male,” said Molly Yard, president of the National Organization for Women. “The unfair advantages of incumbency in the U.S. House and Senate races expose the tremendous need for reform.”

She said that NOW would consider possible changes to open up the political process--including the feasibility of a new women’s party--at a series of hearings starting next month in New York.

“We do not have a true democracy when women and minorities are nearly invisible in the legislative halls of this country and when the moneyed special interests assure reelection for over 95% of all members of Congress,” Yard said.