outlier
11 voters -may
di
s'oe
11 r
The South, or at least the idea of the South, has
risen again. Here we are at a convention that's
destined to break down old ideas about women, and
the same assembled pols seem compelled to shore
up old ideas about geography.
Back in 1976, the Democrats wondered whether
the country would vote for a Southerner as Presi
dent. In 1G84, they are wondering whether the
South will vote for a woman as Vice President.
The common wisdom here is that the choice of
Geraldine Ferraro as Mondale's running mate was
tantamount to writing off the heartland of chivalry
and chauvinism. We are being told that "it" will not
be attracted to the first co-ed ticket in American
history. Indeed "it" may be repelled.
egion
al myth
Ellen Goodman
The emergence of Bert Lance was, in part, an
attempt to deal with the perceived Southern prob
lem. Having chosen Ferraro to attract women voters,
Mondale, we are told, looked to Lance to placate the
good old boys.
Anytime you are dealing with an "it," you are
talking generalities at best and stereotypes at worst.
The notion that the South is a singular bastion of
resistance to women in power gets up the dander of
some of the most ardent Southern men.
Jimmy Carter, for one, actually called the accusa
tion "an insult" to the South, and them is fighting
words. Fritz Hollings reared up at the very idea that
the South was put off by powerful women, though
he went on to praise Ferraro because "she doesn't
come on too strong."
The saga of the South and the Woman is probably
as complex, as unsettled, as Fritz Hollings' remarks.
But this is not universally hostile territory.
When DNC political director Ann Lewis, for ex
ample, is asked how badly women will play in the
South, she likes to answer, "I was Just talking with
Governor Collins about that." Martha Layne Collins,
the governor of Kentucky, i3 the most prominent but
not the only woman who has won statewide office
across the South.
At the moment, five Southern states have women
handling their money as state treasurers, and three
as state auditors, The picture in state legislatures is
fairly dismal. Nine of the 10 states with the lowest
percentage of women in state legislatures are in the
South. But in fairness, women haven't run for these
offices in great numbers.
Then there is the census. As Ferraro said when
asked about her Southern appeal, "Hey they've got
women down there too." Indeed they do. The number
of Southern women registered to vote jumped by 1.2
million from 1976 to 1982. The number of men
increased by only 938,000. In Georgia in 1982, 55
percent of the voters were female, and women were
a majority of voters in every Southern state except
Louisiana.
Of course, according the stereotype, the South
would breed more traditional women, but in fact the
gender gap is every bit as wide as the sunny states.
, What about Ferraro then, not only a woman but
an Italian Catholic from New York whose style, as
she describes it, is net exactly "coy." She is definitely
.not, if you will forgive one more stereotype, the
Southern belle, or even the iron magnolia.
Neither are most Southern women. They are, as
Fritz Hollings noted, members of working families,
like the one Ferraro grew up in. They are also old
women, poor women, black women. Indeed Mary
Landrieu, a state legislator from New Orleans, and
daughter of former Mayor Moon Landrieu, says that
the success of Ferraro as a ticket vote-getter will
depend on keeping together the coalition with
blacks, especially black women.
lr Al Ji fV - tVV tft
As for the notion that white Southern men are
somehow unreconstructed, Ann Richards, the pop
ular state treasurer who topped the Texas ticket in
1982, says: "When I decided to run, I heard every
thing that you are hearing about Ferraro."
Southern men, she says in nice turn of phrase,
"are not reluctant to be convinced. When convinced,
they become your greatest advocate. The difference
is that, if you're a woman they want to see you and
meet you. The thing men ask me is not about Ferra
ro's qualifications, but do you know her? What's she
like? Is she someone I can get along with? With a
man you could go into the Rotary Club and say, This
guy is our friend.' With a woman they'll want to see
her."
Continued on Page 6
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