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We may have to wait a while for the first woman U.S. president, but from Gig Harbor to Bainbridge Island, women are proving to proudly stand on equal footing in the aggressive turf of politics.
In many local elected offices, women actually dominate over men: Of the five Greater Kitsap incorporated city mayors, all but one — in Bremerton — are women, as are five of the nine state legislators representing the area. The three-member Kitsap County commission alone is the poster child of female power, becoming last year the first county commission in the state’s history to have an all-female board. Some of the local city councils also have an even representation.
“We’ve come a long way in showing that women can get the job done. The women are given the equal opportunity to do the work,” said Jan Angel, chair of the county commission who has hit the glass ceiling numerous times in her previous career in banking. But last year, she got a reminder that the glass breaker is no longer out of reach: each of the three commissioners was given a plaque from the Washington State Association of Counties with a mounted glass breaker and the inscription, “In recognition of …Kitsap County Commissioner, one of three women breaking the glass ceiling to serve on the first all female county commission in Washington State.”
The three carried that recognition proudly the entire year. It may not seem like a big deal now, since the Women’s Movement brought a paradigm shift in the American culture, and women have gone from being homemakers, secretaries and bank tellers to CEOs, managers and construction workers. Politics has followed that trend.
“The Women’s Movement has been around long enough that people don’t think much of it when they vote for a woman,” said Port Orchard Mayor Kim Abel, a former attorney who’s holding her first public office. “The world has changed because women have gotten new experience, but I don’t think (being in politics) is a gender thing.”
What compels these teachers, entrepreneurs, lawyers and managers to leave their careers and enter the public light? As they saying goes, if you don’t like something — change it. Women do like to solve problems, and influencing change is certainly one way to solve them. These leaders say civic service is really a personal calling, no matter what your gender, age or background is.
“I am 36 years old and I have two young daughters — this was a productive way to be involved,” said Bainbridge Island Councilwoman Christine Rolfes, who is serving her second term. As far as statistics are concerned, Rolfes hits another mark: Not very many people hold offices in their early 30s. But Rolfes, who is a full-time mom, doesn’t stop to think about either aspect. “It seems balanced to me, I don’t think there is any difference, with having four women and four men on the city council, she said.
Rolfes has found a way to blend being a full-time mother and a full-time council member — but as Angel noted, some of the credit may go to modern men. Gone are the days when women had to manage the family and the household alone while the husbands came home from work and occupied the couch. These days, with dual-career families as the norm, men can no longer be accused of slacking in the domestic department.
“In my time, women were expected to do everything, but now husbands help more,” said Angel, a mother and a grandmother. “Husband and wife realize they are in it together.”
Still, balancing the all-hours work of a politician and a family or personal life can take its toll. Even those who have achieved a balance must continuously struggle to maintain it. Angel, for example, says exercising daily and trying to remember to eat three meals a day are her New Year’s resolutions. Abel makes sure she schedules enough time with her two teen-age boys. Rolfes does a lot of work after the kids are in bed.
But then come the rewards — watching residents become involved, influencing decisions, and even getting a call or email that says thank you. | 
