Elections

Thirty-six states will hold governor’s elections next year, and Democrats have top female recruits in at least five states who are poised to be their party’s nominee and competitive in the general election. Coupled with the four female governors who are running for reelection – three Republicans and one Democrat – observers say 2014 could see gains for women as states’ top executives.

“This is a year of opportunity at the gubernatorial level,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University.

Four decades after the election that shattered the glass ceiling for women in the Minnesota Legislature, gender equality is still elusive at the state Capitol.

Women hold 34 percent of the 201 seats in the Legislature, giving Minnesota the fourth-highest share of female state lawmakers in the nation.

But as the candidate recruiting season intensifies a year before the 2014 election, more men than women step forward to run, and female candidates still face more barriers than their male counterparts.

In a state infamously governed by “three men in a room,” three women want to take the helm of upstate cities.

Rochester and Albany can elect their first female mayors in November, when Lovely Warren and Kathy Sheehan will lead the Democratic ticket in the respective cities. In Syracuse, Stephanie Miner became that city’s first woman mayor four years ago and is seeking re-election without a major-party opponent.

If they’re elected, it would mark a historic first for New York: Three of its six largest cities would have women in the mayor’s office.

The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Welfare Mary Clara Makungwa has called on the media in the country to promote women aspirants in politics in order to achieve the 50-50 women representation campaign.

The newly appointed Minister said this in Blantyre on Friday during a media conversation for 50-50 campaign and conflict sensitive reporting with the editor's forum.

Makungwa said government recognizes how media shapes the views of the masses and as such the media should create a space for women to express their views.

Lincoln Sen. Amanda McGill will host town hall meetings this month to examine barriers that face women as they struggle to reach professional goals.

The meetings stem from LR295, introduced by McGill to study the income gap between men and women.

The town halls will give women a chance to share their experiences on wage disparity; balancing work and family; the lack of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields; and roadblocks to self-confidence.