Harry's Gang: Women make inroads

A few weeks ago I was in court arguing a motion against the always impenetrable opposing attorney Jessica Sterle. Midway through, the judge needed to stop for a minute to consult with her clerk and Jessica and I took a few minutes to get caught up. We’ve been colleagues for a long time, and have gotten to know each other personally and professionally.

After a few minutes, Jessica made an interesting observation: I, Pete Radosevich, was the only male in the courtroom. The judge was a woman. The court reporter was a woman. The clerk, the bailiff, the deputy — all women. Except me. Both Jessica and the judge said that when they first started out, they were often the only women in the courtroom.

Judge Eichenwald told a short story about her first job clerking for Judge Sandvik in Two Harbors, my hometown. She said the men often wore plaid hunting shirts while she showed up in a professional suit every day. Sandvik told her her formal attire just wasn’t necessary.

Women in politics used to be an anomaly, but not anymore. Just 100 years ago, women weren’t even allowed to vote, but now, we barely even acknowledge a person’s gender when a candidate runs for office. Hillary Clinton would have been the first female president, but her campaign was not focused on gender. Some may say she lost because many Americans were not ready to vote for a woman to be president, but she did win the popular vote. Her issues had more to do with her policy positions than her gender.

Powerful women in politics are everywhere. The third-most powerful position in American government is, arguably, the Speaker of the House, and Nancy Pelosi has been a female all her life. About a quarter of Congress is made up of women.

Just two of seven seats on the Cloquet City Council are held by women, but neither of them ran on “women’s issues,” as that term used to be defined. Rather, both campaigned on issues and experience. Half the Carlton City Council are female; the mayor of Carlton, Annette Bryant, is female (although no council members are). Our sheriff is female and so is the county attorney.

I was always a fan of Fond du Lac Reservation’s Karen Diver, although she would never return my invitation to come on Harry’s Gang when she was serving as chairwoman. But after she went to Washington to be President Obama’s special assistant on Indian Affairs, I invited her over to dinner at our townhouse in Alexandria (I spent time between Washington and Esko for a few years). She was a great dinner guest, although she monopolized the conversation, which is usually my job. There was no “feminist agenda” about her, and it was easily one of the best dinner parties I have ever hosted.

She told me that Native Americans have always valued women in leadership roles, then joked that they didn’t always necessarily value “this woman” in her leadership role.

It’s not just elected positions, either. Last week’s impeachment hearing included testimony from two very accomplished women: former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and Dr. Fiona Hill, a National Security Council expert.

Dr. Hill opened her testimony with a statement that included her belief that, due to her low economic status in England as a child, she would have never risen as far in her career as she did after coming to America. Just that statement alone gave me great pride in our country and all the opportunities that are available to just about everyone. She also mentioned the description of her anger at European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondlund as “emotional.” She said when women express anger, it’s not fully appreciated as a valid response. She implied that men are allowed to get angry, but when women do, it’s “emotional.” Seems like this very powerful woman believes there is still work to be done on gender equality.

In a representative democracy, there’s really no reason why about half the representatives should not be female. My guess is that it won’t be long before that happens.

Pete Radosevich is the publisher of the Pine Knot News community newspaper and an attorney in Esko who hosts the cable access talk show Harry’s Gang on CAT-7. His opinions are his own. Contact him at [email protected].