Candidates try to boost female political participation at NC Women's Conference

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RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Before state Rep. Gloristine Brown committed to running for the General Assembly, she described feeling “really scared”.

Brown spoke about her experiences as a female politician and trying to empower other women to run for office Wednesday at the North Carolina Women’s Conference. “What will I have to do?” she said. “The fight that you have to deal with when you come into this arena because it’s mostly men.”

When state Rep. Gloristine Brown took office in 2023, she was part of the largest group of female legislators in state history. When the session began, women held 29% of all seats in the state legislature.

A report by the North Carolina Council for Women found it may not be until 2084 that women achieve parity with men in the General Assembly. “I think it’s going to take women realizing it can be done,” Brown said.

After the election, state Rep. Erin Pare told CBS 17, “The key takeaway here is we have women who have such a diverse background of experience and talents and skill sets and that is all contributing to a better debate.”

Maggie Barlow, co-founder of the political consulting firm Maven Strategies, pointed to a variety of challenges faced by female candidates that can be barriers to recruiting more to run, such as fundraising, family obligations, and finding support.

“Women feel like they’ve got to take all these steps first, make sure it’s their time to run,” she said. “We try to encourage women to say now is their time to run. As those women run for local office, it encourages other women to run for all levels of office.”

In the 2020 presidential election, female voters outpaced male voters when it comes to participation, according to data from the NC State Board of Elections. About 77% of registered females voted that year compared to 74% of males. Overall turnout that year was about 75%.

The NC Council for Women’s report found between 2015 and 2020 that even though women were voting at slightly higher rates, their representation in elected office declined. Among other steps, the council called for more recruitment of female candidates to run office and giving them support through education, training, and mentoring.

“State government should look like the people it serves and protects,” Gov. Roy Cooper told the crowd at the conference. Cooper also spoke about efforts to appoint a diverse cabinet to lead state agencies.

Nida Allam, who became the first Muslim American woman elected in North Carolina when she won a seat on the Durham County Board of Commissioners, said she wants to help others follow the path she did. “Being able to learn all of this and be able to carry it on and build that roadmap for other Muslim women is really a big goal of mine,” she said.

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Michael Hyland

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