Ms Ferraro has hard task ahead of her

Press, 26 July 1984, Page 22

Ms Ferraro has hard task ahead of her

By

RODNEY PINDER

Washington Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman picked as VicePresidential candidate for a main American political party, is blazing a trail for her sex in United States politics. But experts say she and women who follow her will encounter much deep-rooted prejudice as they strive to reach the top. Ms Ferraro, aged 48, a New York Congresswoman and daughter of Italian immigrants, carries a heavy load in the march of American women to a fully representative role in the highest echelons of national Government. If she fails to attract an impressive women’s vote as Walter Mondale’s running mate in the Presidential election oh November 6, her epoch-making candidacy could turn out to be a setback for other ambitious women, analysts said. But for the moment Ms Ferraro’s achievement is regarded as a breakthrough for American women.

“She has opened the floodgates,” said Susan Tolchin, public administration professor at George Washington University. Eleanor Holmes Norton, former head of President Carter’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said Ms Ferraro’s nomination would have “a tremendous effect in inspiring women” to reach beyond the

relatively lowly elected positions they have won in growing numbers in the last decade. To many observers, it seems curious that American women — pioneers of modern aggressive feminism — should be so underrepresented in Government. In spite of constituting 53 per cent of the population of the United States, women hold only 24 seats, or 4.5 per cent, of the 535-member Congress. They make up 7 per cent of city mayors and there is only one woman state governor. Although the number of women in elected office has trebled since 1975, most of the growth has taken place in local legislatures and neighbourhood bodies such as school boards.

Analysts blame the ruthless and highly mobile environment of" American politics, the huge expense of running for national office, and male prejudice. “America is so progressive so much a vanguard country, that people tend to forget there is a good deal of social conservatism in large parts of the populace,” said a Georgetown University sociology professor, Norman Birnbaum, an adviser to Senator Edward Kennedy in his 1980 Presidential campaign. Women like Ms Ferraro — college graduates who married successful professional men — have tended even latterly to take a discreet back seat to men by busying themselves in teaching or charitable work, he said. Ruth Mandel, of Rutgers University, said women who did try to break out into politics encountered a man’s world whose ranks were almost impenetrable. “Men did the choosing and picked people with whom they were comfortable — other men,” she said. Ms Tolchin said women had less access than men to the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to run for important office, and because few- women had won high political position, the risks for aspirants appeared that much greater. For a politician to succeed on the national stage, he or she must be willing to

tear up their roots and move to Washington. ‘You have got to leave your family and relocate and women have not the freedom to do that,” Ms Tolchin said. While more open than many others, American society was also more cutthroat, Ms Norton said. Success in politics was measured more by gall and daring than by ability. “Traditionally, women do better in areas where sheer ability counts,” she said, citing law and medicine. If Ms Ferraro attracts a significant bloc of Voters, doors will be opened, prejudice set back and campaign wallets loosened, the analysts said. They predicted that America would probably have a woman president before there was a black in the White House. “It’s going to be easier to overcome prejudice against women than against blacks,” said Mr'Birnbaum. But Ms Mandel said it was impossible to tell whether women’s enthusiaism for the concept of a ' female Vice President would be reflected by votes in the polling booths. “They may like the idea but vote on different grounds,” she said. “There is a lot of risk,” added Ms Norton. “If women don’t go for Ferraro it could be interpreted as meaning the country is not ready for a woman. It could harm women if she fails.”