Bergen Ranks High In Terms Of Women Representatives

Bergen ranks high in terms of the number of women serving in local and county politics, but lower in terms of how many are mayors of their municipalities.

Data compiled by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University shows that Bergen is second only to Essex County in terms of the percentage of women serving as county freeholders.

There are three women on the seven-member Bergen Freeholder Board, or 43 percent. Essex County ranks first with 44 percent. Four of its seven freeholders are women.

Bergen ranks toward the top when it comes to the number of women serving on municipal councils. Of the 408 councilmembers, by far the most in the state, 101 are women, or nearly 24.8 percent, good for seventh most in the state. Mercer County ranks first with 38 percent, but it only has 68 council members serving, 26 of whom are women.

Bergen ranks exactly in the middle regarding how the percentage of women mayors there are in the county. Nine women hold the top office in their towns, tied for the most in the state with Mommouth County, but since there are 70 municipalities in the county, it is only 13 percent of the total number of officeholders.

"New Jersey has made significant strides in recent years at the state legislative level, where we're now 11th in the country for women's representation," said Jean Sinzdak, CAWP associate director. "Unfortunately, in most counties women lag behind. Where county party chairs hold the keys to ballot lines, they have the power to position women to win and create government that better reflects the population."

No women serve on the Sussex and Warren freeholder boards and Cumberland County only has one woman mayor.

Cumberland County also ranks last, at 13 percent, of the number of women serving on municipal councils.

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