Four black women hold senior posts

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Four black women now lead Baltimore City in the top posts, a historic benchmark in the city’s 200-year history.

“This is quite exceptional and very rare,” said Michael Owens, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

“We have had black female mayors in Atlanta, D.C. and Minneapolis, but as full-blown leaders in multiple positions, that’s newsworthy.”

Mayor Sheila Dixon also called her win “significant” after casting her ballot Tuesday at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in her West Baltimore neighborhood.

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake beat out her Green opponent, Maria Allwine, for the city council presidency; Joan Pratt ran unopposed for comptroller; and Patricia Jessamy presides as the city’s state’s attorney.

Women in the top posts tend to highlight the family as a key element in many issues, said Rawlings-Blake. For example, on improving the public school system, the discussion focuses on creating a home life to support students rather than on teachers and principals.

“I think it will change the dialogue by broadening the things when we look at a situation,” she said.

With a half-joking call for equity, Ethel White, a great-grandmother, voted for Dixon.

“We need a woman in there,” she said.

“Men have messed it up long enough.”

White said she liked that Dixon isn’t a “wishy-washy person. She’s serious about crime and schools.”

Another voter, Connie Lieder, expressed astonishment at the feminist milestone.

“Isn’t it amazing we are even still having female firsts?” she asked.

These four women are a “sign of the times,” said Matthew Crenson, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Voter Nathaniel Thomas said of women in charge: “Give them a shot.”

“I hope they do better than us, the men.”

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com

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