Assemblywomen Nancy Pinkin and Holly Schepisi were honored by the League of Municipalities with the Outstanding Woman in Government Award, presented by the Women in Municipal Government Committee. The pair sat down with NJTV News Anchor Mary Alice Williams to discuss women’s involvement in government, including their own.
Pinkin said she has put forward a bill to cap the cost of higher education. Schepisi said she’s introduced several bills to help alleviate some of the issues related to flooding, which happens in several municipalities in her district. She also has sponsored legislation to cap sick days so municipalities won’t have any more six figure payouts.
New Jersey is 10th in the nation for the number of women serving in elected office and the state legislature is 30 percent female. Schepisi believes it can be hard for women to break into politics. “I don’t think it’s as difficult for women to get elected as it is for maybe them to be brought into the process and selected to begin with,” she said.
Both Pinkin and Schepisi attended a breakfast where they discussed issues surrounding women’s involvement in government with other women.
Pinkin said work needs to be done to ensure continued female participation. “While the numbers are at 10 percent right now, they’re actually decreasing at all levels and women, while they were going into the legislature, they’re not staying. And part of that I think is to be working and have families and to do all that, there’s only so much you can do,” she said. “But we are focusing on programs like Ready to Run, which is done through the Eagleton Institute. There’s a program coming up March 15 to get people to enroll and get comfortable not just with running, but with running campaigns, with raising money because even though you have that one person who’s the elected official, there are many people who help to get them there who are part of campaigns.”
To try to bridge the gap between Democrats and Republicans, Schepisi said she has started to get together more regularly with women from both parties to brainstorm ways to help New Jersey communities, “recognizing we’re not always going to agree on a lot of issues, but there are core issues that we can sit down and we can work through.”
Pinkin pointed to the recent bipartisan effort of women coming out against domestic violence. “And there was also a panel at one point where they had Senate and Assembly, Democratic and Republican women talking about issues that were related to women and families and children. And that was really the first time that had ever been done,” she said.
The League of Municipalities created the Women in Municipal Government Committee, which Schepisi sees as positive. “You had a very large and strong turnout of women representatives from all over the state — mayors, council members, lobbyists, women who are involved in many different facets. And it’s a great start. And there are so many different programs that I think people don’t even realize are available and the more organizations like the League, the Rutgers institute, all of these different places are out there bringing women together and showing them how they can be leaders. It’s so important towards our future,” she said.