Having broken through the so-called good ol' boy network they are making their impact felt in local politics. But it hasn't been easy, they say. And the battle continues.
In New Jersey, the growth of female mayors has been ``slow and steady'' over the last decade, according to an expert on women in politics, Debbie Walsh of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. Currently, of the 567 municipalities in New Jersey, 63, or 11.1 percent, have female mayors.
Ten years ago, it was 8.6 percent.
Nationally, the figures are higher.
In June 1994, of the 2,947 mayors serving nationwide in cities with populations larger than 10,000, 465, or 15.8 percent, were women, according to the National League of Cities. That same year, 66, or 11.6 percent, of New Jersey's towns had women mayors.
Of the 101 municipalities in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties, seven have female chief executives.
``I think that the trend we're seeing is slow and steady growth,'' said Walsh, acting director of the Center for the American Woman and Politics at the Eagleton Institute, in New Brunswick. ``The nature of our system is not one for radical change.''
Walsh said that there is generally a 1 percent to 2 percent gain in women political leaders every election cycle in New Jersey.
The gain has been slow, she said, because the key officials who choose mayoral candidates - the local party heads - are almost always men.
The only way around the tight, men-only club of party systems, say Walsh and Levin, is through a back door. Levin did it in 1985, when she was elected to the council, by achieving prominence in other organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce.
