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/9&ell-fil <br /> TESTIMONY <br /> TO: Hawaii County Charter Review Commission <br /> RE: Addition of Language in Charter Which Would Require No More Than a Bare <br /> Majority of One Gender on County Appointees to Boards, Commission and Committees <br /> My name is Ginny Aste and I am here on behalf of the American Association of Uni- <br /> versity Women, Hawaii Island Chapter of National Organization for Women and the <br /> League of kbmen Voters whose local, division or national officers have taken a <br /> position in favor of adding language to County Charter and state legislation which <br /> requires appointment of no more than a bare majority of women and men to boards, <br /> commissions and committees. <br /> Our Charter specified at present that appointments must be made so that one <br /> political party does not predominate, so that there is representation from the <br /> various geographical districts on our island and an effort has been made to <br /> include appointees which represent diverse ethnics groups. However, the current <br /> • Charter does not require equal representation from the group which cuts across <br /> ethnicity, political persuasion and geography, and which comprises over half of <br /> our island's population -- women. <br /> In reveiwing the records of mayoral appointments under the present administration, <br /> of the 22 existing boards, commissions and committees (one is about to be appointed) , <br /> six would comply with the "no more than a bare majority" requirement if it were <br /> in effect now. Several are badly out of balance with either a preponderance of <br /> male appointees or a preponderance of female appointees. Those which feature a <br /> large number of woman appointees are the committees which are traditionally seen <br /> as dealing with "women's concerns" -- Committee on the Status of Women, Committee <br /> on Children and Youth and Committee on the Handicapped. Those which deal with • <br /> concerns which are viewed as traditionally "male" (Veterans Affairs, Emergency Medical <br /> Services, Salaries, Transportation, Water) have an out of balance number of male <br /> 111 <br /> appointees. <br /> EXHIBIT C <br /> 564 (12 pages) <br />