Before Anthony Weiner cannonballed into the 2013 New York City mayoral race, the storyline of the election had been whether mayoral frontrunner and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn would become the city's first female mayor (and its first openly gay mayor to boot).
While discussion of the historic nature of Quinn's potential victory will certainly re-emerge as the Sept. 10 primary draws nearer, little attention is likely to be paid to the fact that in terms of gender balance, New York City's elected government remains far from representative of the overall population.
And while many male legislators are certainly avid advocates for women's rights and no one wants to see underqualified people elected simply because of one demographic characteristic or another, few would argue that the city's politics couldn't benefit from more qualified female candidates running for and winning city office.
We invite our users to read the full article published July 25 2013
Before Anthony Weiner cannonballed into the 2013 New York City mayoral race, the storyline of the election had been whether mayoral frontrunner and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn would become the city's first female mayor (and its first openly gay mayor to boot).
While discussion of the historic nature of Quinn's potential victory will certainly re-emerge as the Sept. 10 primary draws nearer, little attention is likely to be paid to the fact that in terms of gender balance, New York City's elected government remains far from representative of the overall population.
And while many male legislators are certainly avid advocates for women's rights and no one wants to see underqualified people elected simply because of one demographic characteristic or another, few would argue that the city's politics couldn't benefit from more qualified female candidates running for and winning city office.
We invite our users to read the full article published July 25 2013