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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah needs more women in elected office, a group of advocates, legislative candidates and others said.
The state currently has its lowest percentage of female legislators in over a decade and a half.
Real Women Run, a group focused on drawing more women to politics, is looking to change that statistic.
"Women aren't making that leap," said Lindsay Zizumbo, a founder of the group, adding that they typically feel less qualified than their male counterparts. "They're comparing themselves to Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or Gov. Gary Herbert instead of the candidate they're running against."
Real Women Run holds workshops focused on social media in campaigns, how to run a staff and how to raise money. One such class at the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics last week drew 20 percent more attendees than last year.
This year, about a half a dozen women in the Legislature announced they are not seeking re-election, "so it's refreshing to see a lot of women" at the workshops, Zizumbo said.
In Utah, fewer than one in five legislators are women. That's behind the national average of about one in four. No women in Utah hold a statewide or congressional office, though two women, former Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love and current state Sen. Democrat Luz Robles, have filed to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.
I'm at a point where I don't have kids at home, and it's a great point where I can step up and really be involved. I think some think that politics is kind of a rough-and-tumble world, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't step up.
–Holly Richardson, Republican from Pleasant Grove
Utah's cultural focus on family, leading many mothers to choose not to work, could explain its low rate of women in the Legislature, said Holly Richardson, a Republican from Pleasant Grove who has called for more women in office and is running for a seat in the Utah House.
As a former stay-at-home mother, she said, "I'm at a point where I don't have kids at home, and it's a great point where I can step up and really be involved."
Richardson added: "I think some think that politics is kind of a rough-and-tumble world, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't step up."
Mentoring is key in recruiting women and keeping them in office, advocates said. For Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, regular meetings with House Minority Leader Democrat Jennifer Seelig and others "helped me navigate through the system" and shepherd legislation to create a statewide preventative child sex-abuse curriculum.
Seelig, who sponsored successful legislation to speed up processing for rape kits and protect victims of domestic violence, is not seeking re-election.
"I will be carrying on her legacy," Romero said, "addressing issues of inequality and how it impacts women." (Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
