New Hampshire Senate Makes History

Dec. 7, 2008— -- The New Hampshire state Senate is an institution steeped in history. It meets in the same chamber it has used since 1819. The 24 members sit at long wooden desks with visitors watching from above in an austere colonial gallery.

It is also a place that does things a little differently. Senators are paid just $100 a year, plus gas money. It's basically a volunteer job.

And this week, at the official swearing-in ceremony for the senators elected on Nov. 4, New Hampshire became the first state in the nation to have a legislature with a female majority.

That's right. There are more ladies than gentlemen.

Of the 24 members of the New Hampshire Senate, 13 are now women. All but two are Democrats.

"As the first-in-the-nation primary state, we are always glad to lead the way," state Senate President Sylvia Larsen said from her perch at the front of the room last Thursday.

"Behind every good man is a good woman. In front of every good man is a woman," joked state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro when he stood to make remarks.

"When voters went to the polls last month, they weren't looking to create the first female majority Senate," Larsen said. "They were picking from a very talented slate of candidates, many of which happen to be women."

"New Hampshire voters are very independent and informed and they are very involved in the process," state Sen. Kathy Sgambati said. "So I believe their votes are not based on gender but knowing the people who know the issues."

But why is New Hampshire first to cross this marker of a female majority? Some of it is cultural, says political scientist Dante Scala of the University of New Hampshire.

"We saw female candidates break the glass ceiling in New Hampshire some time ago," Scala said. "So voters here were used to the idea of having women in charge. And that isn't the case across the 50 states."

New Hampshire women have been holding office in the Granite State since just after 1921, when women won the right to vote. That's when the first two women were elected to the state House of Representatives. Nine years later, in 1930, the state elected the first female senator. And the numbers have grown steadily since.