Forgive me for sounding like Andy Rooney, but have you ever wondered why five out of seven members of the Green Bay School Board are female while this year’s City Council will have a maximum of one female out of its 12 members? Furthermore, if every woman on the ballot for County Board is successful in April, it will still leave only seven females on a board of 26.

Celestine Jeffreys, who has been a very effective alderperson for the past several years, has decided to make a run for the School Board this year leaving Amy Kocha
as the lone female on the ballot for Green Bay City Council. Celestine may, in the near future, give us an appraisal of the difference between the two governing bodies and why she preferred the academic setting. In the meantime, her decision got me thinking about the five women who served on the Council in 2000 and the fact that, like Celestine, four of those five left voluntarily rather than being removed by the voters.

That type of attrition is significant when considering the fact that men have rarely left office unless defeated at the polls. It is even more so when viewed against the gender makeup and longevity of School Board members.

By the way, that City Council in 2000 may have been the best I ever worked with and, while their successors were certainly decent people, the voluntary departure of four talented alders within a couple of years is disconcerting. Equally disconcerting is the fact that less than a handful of women have even sought those seats since then.
Linda Queoff served one term on the Council and left in 2002. She has said that she loved the experience but enjoys what she’s doing now which includes serving on the City Planning Commission, volunteering at church and spending time with her family. Linda has also dedicated an awful lot of time to the School District’s Enrollment Task Force. She hints at why these roles are preferable to her term as alderperson by acknowledging that she felt that she “could serve best in other ways and in roles where everyone is respected regardless of where they stand.”

Beth Zeise Mader also left the Council in 2002 and cites timing as the primary reason. She became engaged to be married while serving the City and made starting a family her top priority. While she fully enjoyed the learning experience of serving on the Council, there was likely nothing that could have kept her involved at that point in her life.

Jane Hansen served from 1998 to 2002 and left to replace her husband on the County Board so he could devote his full attention to his State Senate duties. She left that role shortly thereafter and seems quite content to be a doting grandmother
and very active political spouse. Jane remembers fondly her partnership with Kathy Johnson in leading the City Council but she too raised the civility issue in declaring that, “the issues always needed a pro and con but it’s much more rewarding when the parties are respectful regardless of position.”

Kathy Johnson is the only one of the five women who served beyond 2002, leaving one term later to concentrate on the County Board from which she is voluntarily departing this year. Kathy cited her successful private career as a prime motivator
in scaling back her public duties in 2004 and explained that, “Women look at things differently than men, probably because of the Venus and Mars concept. We definitely need more of us in local government in the future.”

We do indeed. It is disappointing that only eight County Board races are contested in April but it is particularly discouraging to have half of our population so poorly represented on City and County ballots in general. And, it is downright sad when bold and talented women succeed at the polls and, for whatever reason, choose another path so soon after their election. - Paul Jadin