Thirteen Women

New Hampshire has a proud history of noteworthy women. Women have served in positions of leadership from Governor, Senator and Congresswoman, to Speaker of the State House of Representatives and President of the State Senate. There are currently two women members of the five person New Hampshire Supreme Court. Christa McAuliffe of Concord was a pioneer citizen astronaut for whom the state’s planetarium is named. Mary Baker Eddy who founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, also hailed from New Hampshire. Her full length portrait is one of the most prominent on display on the first floor of the State House in Concord. The first publicly-funded statue in New Hampshire was erected in honor of a woman, Hannah Dustin, who bravely escaped her captors in Boscawen.
It should come as no surprise that New Hampshire is the state to have the first female majority in its State Senate. But how exactly did this happen? This book describes the determination, work ethic and dedication of the thirteen women who comprise this historic majority. The author documents these Senators’ remarkable abilities to juggle their lives and commitments with the demands of the campaign trail. By the end of this book, you will have met the women who made history in our state and nation, and understand how they did it. Hopefully, the reader will be inspired by the stories behind such a significant milestone for women in public life.

Hon. Maureen Mooney
Fmr. Assistant Republican Leader, N.H. House of Representatives
Merrimack, New Hampshire

INTRODUCTION

A woman Senator is not a woman Senator is not a woman Senator. There is no one mold from which all women Senators are created equal. Women Senators come in large and petite sizes, tall, short and in-between. Some wear lipstick. Some don’t. Some like vanilla ice cream. Others like butter pecan. Some are liberal. Others are ultraconservative. Some women Senators and politicians are Republicans and some are Democrats. While not all women in politics share a common philosophy, or political agenda, they all have one common characteristic-the desire to serve, the need to give back, the need to help those less fortunate.
The thirteen women—eleven Democrats, Senate President Sylvia Larsen, Majority Leader Senator Maggie Hassan, President Pro Tem Senator Martha Fuller Clark, Deputy Majority Leader Senator Kathleen Sgambati, Majority Whip Senator Deborah Reynolds, Senator Jacalyn Cilley, Senator Molly Kelly, Senator Peggy Gilmour, Senator Bette Lasky, Senator Betsi DeVries, Senator Amanda Merrill, and two Republicans, Dean of the Senate Senator Sheila Roberge and Senator Sharon Carson—of the 160th session of the Senate of the New Hampshire General Court made history in November 2009. The thirteen women, with the simple pull of a lever by the constituents of the state, became New Hampshire’s and the nation’s first female majority Senate; a moment in history equal to the passage of the nineteenth amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920, providing women the right to vote. Nowhere else in a United States political body have the minority so suddenly become the majority. In less than twenty-four hours these thirteen women became a majority, only separated by party affiliation.
These thirteen women have, in aggregate, several hundred years of varied life experiences and skill sets. Each brings a slightly different approach to improving or solving the problems of the state for its inhabitants. But, whatever approach or life experiences each one possesses, they all bring dedication, determination and a willingness to work for and serve the constituents of the state of New Hampshire.
The New Hampshire General Court is the fourth-largest English-speaking legislative body in the world, behind the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the United States Congress, and the Parliament of India and yet its Senate is the smallest in the country. Its 400 member House and twenty-four members Senate has one of the greatest disparities in size between chambers of a bicameral legislature.
As a state, New Hampshire ranks forty-fourth in land area and forty-first in population. The first state to declare its independence from England (1774), New Hampshire has always been ‘the live free or die’ state. The Senate meets in the nation’s oldest chamber, having opened its doors in 1819. The chamber has not changed since the last remodeling efforts in 1974 when new carpets, chandeliers and an automatic recording system were added. While seats are in numerical order, seat number thirteen was purposely omitted in deference to triskaidekaphobia.
As of 2002, New Hampshire ranked forty-first in population (1,235,786) in the United States; each Senator represents approximately 51,000 constituents. Each of the 400 Representatives in the New Hampshire House represents approximately 4,000 constituents. Each Senate member is bound by the forty-nine rules of Senatorial conduct while in session. Rules range from the dates for filing legislation, to a member not being able to speak until recognized and being limited to speaking no more than twice on the same question, on the same day.
The Senate includes fourteen standing committees: Capital Budget; Commerce, Labor and Consumer Protection; Education; Election Law and Veterans’ Affairs; Energy, Environment and Economic Development; Executive Departments and Administration; Finance; Health and Human Services; Judiciary; Public and Municipal Affairs; Ways and Means; Rules and Enrolled Bills; Transportation and Interstate Cooperation; Wildlife, Fish and Game and Agriculture. Each member serves on three committees and ten (excluding Senate President Sylvia Larsen) of the Democratic Senate women serve either as Chairperson or Vice Chairperson of a committee. Each committee has five to seven members.
In 1784, when the Senate body was established, twelve members served a one year term. It took women a very long time to gain a seat among this august body of men, a hundred and forty-seven years. In 1931, Republican Maude Ferguson, of Bristol, entered the chamber to serve for two years. It took women another fifty-two years to sit in the President’s seat. Vesta Roy served as Senate President from 1983-1986, when she then served as governor from December 1, 1982 until January 6, 1983.
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Even though women comprise more than half of the population, they have always been the minority in political arenas and especially in leadership positions. Few women have dared to hold the gavel of leadership and fewer have been successful. Until recently. With a salary of $100 a year, the thirteen women of this Senate have proved that remuneration doesn’t a Senator make. These women don’t serve because of the pay check. In fact, New Hampshire Representative Cindy Rosenwald says of her status: “I have never loved a job so much. My husband and I joke that every job I’ve had I progressively make less and less money.” She also feels that “it’s a liberating experience to do something [serve] not for the money, but because we can, and because we’re able to.”
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The writing of this book, Thirteen Women, Inside New Hampshire’s Female Majority Senate, began and ended as a tribute to the thirteen women who made history, not only in New Hampshire but in the nation. This historical moment cannot be repeated and needed to be chronicled to be shared with all future generations of women. The authors of Women in New England Politics, A Profile and Handbook for Action (Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, University of Massachusetts, Boston, 2003) write of their concern of the “relatively limited” amount of literature about women in politics and “how little has been written that systemically looks at New England women and politics.”
The thirteen women of the 160th session faced a year with monumental difficulties, both fiscally and socially. The year didn’t prove to be an easy year. The year, on the other hand, brought about, as Senator Maggie Hassan says, proof that women can be tough and can make the most difficult decisions when the needs of constituents are involved. Women may be concerned with the “soft issues” (health, education, social services) but these thirteen women also proved that women are able to balance a budget even in tough, economic times. Women with can-do attitudes get it done.