In a nod to a national protest movement for International Women’s Day, Colorado House Democrats tried to have their own “A Day Without A Woman.”
It was a short-lived attempt.
“Quite frankly we wouldn’t be able to carry on work if we didn’t show up today,” said state Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver.
The demonstration lasted about 10 minutes, with at least 13 female Democratic lawmakers briefly playing hooky before joining the rest of the chamber. Two of the top three lawmakers in the chamber — House Majority Leader KC Becker and Speaker Pro Tem Jessie Danielson — were among the missing, while the House leader, Speaker Crisanta Duran, gaveled the chamber to order, making note of each absent lawmaker.
The protest was staged by Democrats, but a number of Republicans also wore red in a display of support for International Women’s Day. And once business had resumed as normal, lawmakers on both sides passed a bipartisan resolution urging Colorado businesses to promote more women to leadership positions on corporate boards.
According to the resolution, just 11 percent of board positions in Colorado’s publicly traded and Fortune 1000 companies are held by women. Only one company has an equal number of male and female board members, and 48 percent have no female board members at all.
“I find it hard to believe that the businesses in Colorado are missing out on this opportunity,” said state Rep. Lois Landgraf, R-Fountain, who sponsored the measure with Duran.
“Who represents women better than women?” Landgraf added. “Women bring a unique perspective to boards they sit on. They represent their shareholders, their employees and, most importantly, their customers.”
In her own remarks — a rarity for the speaker on the House floor — Duran channeled Martin Luther King Jr., saying she hoped women could be judged by the “content of their character.”
“We need to be able to have an opportunity,” said Duran, D-Denver, “and it’s unbelievable that in the year 2017 we have not been able to accomplish more.”
The national “A Day Without a Woman” demonstration, in which women were urged to stay home from work Wednesday, is an offshoot of the women’s marches held around the country after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
In the House, the resolution passed overwhelmingly on a voice vote — with one audible “no” from a Republican, but no official roll call. In the Senate, though, the bill got a lively debate, with some Republicans arguing that the resolution went too far by encouraging businesses to have a minimum number of women on their boards.
The non-binding resolution suggested targets of three women for a nine-member board or two for a five-member board. It passed the GOP-controlled chamber 24-11, even as a number of Republicans expressed reservations.
“I believe that this goes a step too far,” said Majority Leader Chris Holbert, R-Parker, who voted against it. “We are effectively encouraging setting in this room an expectation of quota.”
“I’m going to support this,” said state Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose, “but I’m going to put an asterisk beside it that says don’t expect to succeed because you are a woman. You deserve every opportunity (as) everyone else, but you have no more or no less rights to success.”
