Women playing bigger role in Valley politics

MAT-SU — In the 2018 General Election, female candidates ran for and won positions in the legislature in record numbers.

Just in the Mat-Su Valley, seven of the 15 candidates that ran for Senate and House seats were women, and four of the nine seats in the legislature are held by women. Alaska’s new leadership going forward is being led by a larger representation of women.

“We are educated, small business owners, CEO’s and are involved in our community. We are also master multi-taskers who know how to juggle work, family and recreation,” Rep. Colleen Sullivan-Leonard wrote in an email.

Palmer Mayor Edna DeVries, who was the first woman on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly and first female mayor of the Mat-Su Borough, pointed to examples during the election of female candidates running on different issues.

“Its not like all of a sudden it is the millennials that are getting elected or were in the women’s movement or something like that. Seeing both ends, you have two women of different age groups that are going to, I think, vote probably and sponsor legislation in completely different areas,” DeVries said.

DeVries does not know if this spike in female candidates will continue on into the future, but the movement has certainly been a long while in the making.

“There’s a tremendous support for strong women leadership throughout non profits, through entrepreneurship, through networking. We’ve been networking for last two to three years strongly. I think our connection to our natural connection, we’re finding more and more women who are stepping forward,” Su Kay, Democratic nominee for Senate Seat E, said.

Kay did notice a difference in the rhetoric between male and female candidates when speaking at forums and debates.

“Our language is different. Let’s come together, quit bickering and find a solution. We’re willing to negotiate… The language of hope and, I don’t know, the men that I’ve listened to it’s all about fear. When people are afraid they don’t want to be more afraid,” Kay said.

Democratic nominee for House District 11 Eileen Patterson believes that the female experience would allow for more accurate representation. Patterson’s goal is to see at least 50 percent of government representation be female. Following the October election , four of the seven Palmer City Council seats are held by women.

“I think there are certain things that you experience as a, sort of second class citizen that increases your empathy and maybe makes you more aware of instances of injustice or makes you more sensitive to it. So maybe they are more tuned in, or passionate, or engaged with a system that has injustices and are more willing to address them because first you have to see,” Patterson said.