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Eye On Boise

Number of women in the Idaho Legislature going up by two, from 29 to 31

The Idaho Legislature that will assemble in Boise for its organizational session on Dec. 1 will have 31 female members, the AP reports, up two from the current 29. The Senate will fall from 10 women to nine; Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood, was defeated in the GOP primary by Carl Crabtree, who then won the seat in the last week’s election. In the House, the number of women will rise from 19 to 22, due to a series of changes.

Among them: Four GOP House members, Reps. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home; Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry; Merrill Beyeler, R-Leadore; and Rep. Paul Romrell, R-St. Anthony; lost to female candidates in the GOP primary, Megan Blanksma, Christy Zito, Dorothy Moon and Karey Hanks, and all four of those primary winners won the seats in last week’s election. The seat formerly held by Rep. Dan Rudolph, D-Lewiston, went to former Rep. Thyra Stevenson, R-Lewiston. Rep. Reed DeMordaunt, R-Eagle, retired, and his wife, Gayann DeMordaunt, won his seat.

Offsetting those gains in female numbers in the House were the replacements of Rep. Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d’Alene, by Paul Amador, who defeated her in the GOP primary and then won the seat; and Rep. Gayle Batt, R-Wilder, who retired and whose seat went to Republican Scott Syme.

Here’s a full report from AP reporter Kimberlee Kruesi:

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — For the second time in nearly two decades, 31 members of Idaho's state lawmakers are women.

Idaho voters picked the 31 female lawmakers to serve in legislative seats across the state during last week's Election Day. This means that women will make up 29.5 percent in the Idaho Legislature when it convenes in Boise in January.

The last time more than 30 women served in the 105-member Statehouse was in 1994. The number has previously hovered around or below 29 women for years — which was the number during this year's legislative session — but dropped briefly to 25 women in 2007.

Nine women will serve in the Senate, while 22 women will hold seats in the House — the same breakdown as in 1994. Eleven of the women are Democrats, and the remaining 20 are Republicans.

The highest number of women to ever serve in the Idaho Legislature was in 1992 and 1993. However, back then, the Idaho Legislature had 126 members so the overall percentage of the representation of women still remains lower than today's numbers with a smaller Statehouse membership.

"There are traditional issues that women still face that make it challenging for them to run for political office," said Katherine Aiken, a history professor at the University of Idaho. "It's difficult for women to get the same amount of experiences needed to run for the Legislature, especially if you have young children, and those challenges are still hurdles for many women."

Idaho was the fourth state to grant women the right to vote. During the first election Idaho women could vote in 1898, three female lawmakers were elected to the Idaho Legislature as well as the first female to a statewide office.

Though women are more than half of the American population, they now account for just a fifth of all U.S. representatives and senators. They serve as governors of only six states and are mayors in roughly 19 percent of the nation's largest cities. This year, women accounted for 24.4 percent of state lawmakers across the United States. Idaho is above that national average.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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