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Sonia Barker
any particular challenges as a woman in government, but noted the challenges of balancing different aspects of life can be great.
“I cannot say that as a first term female legislator that I have faced any challenges from the legislative standpoint by sim- ply being a female freshman because everyone with whom
I dealt in District 7, the House, the Senate and various state agencies have been nothing but professional and helpful in every way,” Barker, R-Smackover, said.
“As a wife, mother, grandmother, part-time teacher and active church member, it is rather a challenge to balance all of your pre-existing life along with the new life of a legislator. I mean laundry doesn’t clean itself and lesson plans do not write themselves; life and daily chores continue. However, with the help and understanding of a great family, friends, school district and church family, it has not been too difficult to adjust to the demands from both arenas.”
Like Barker, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said she has not dealt with anything in particular as a woman in
government.
Rutledge, a Republican, became the state’s first female
attorney general when she took the office after winning the election in 2014.
Though she has not faced any issues because of her gender, she noted the challenge of simply being “the first woman elected to this office.”
“Nothing has held me back from being able to do my job,” Rutledge said.
In fact, she said, being a woman has helped her in many projects she has taken on, noting many of them are issues that affect mothers and grandmothers on a daily basis and parents like hearing someone talk about the issues they deal with in their daily lives.
She said she has had parents who thank her for providing a role model for their daughters to show that they can do what- ever they dream of regardless of gender.
“That has been very humbling for me,” Rutledge said. “I want to live up to all of those expectations.”
4 – September 2017 – BELLA