Amy
01-18-2004, 03:02 PM
Haley Barbour, who i did not vote for, made promises in his campaign about bringing diversity to state offices. Not only has he already fallen short on that promise by not appointing any women, he made a statement that I personally find offensive to women.
Here is the story:
Barbour's Comments on Women Draw Ire
By Davis Brister
davis@wlbt.net
It's been a great couple of weeks for new Governor Haley Barbour, weeks filled with travelling around the state to thank supporters. One such stop was in Tupelo, where then Governor-Elect Barbour was asked why he hadn't appointed any women to lead a state agency.
"There's some very competent, capable women to be in this administration," he said. "The kinds of jobs we've been dealing with so far -- Corrections, the Highway Patrol, Public Safety, the Bureau of Narcotics a little bit -- not exactly the key jobs pointed in that direction."
Louisa Dixon was an apointee during the Ray Maybus years.
"I have two words in response," she said upon hearing the governor's comments. "Condoleeza Rice."
Dixon led the Department of Public Safety and says women can do anything men can do.
"If President Bush has enough confidence in Condoleeza Rice to be National Security Advisor, I think there are plenty of competent women who could run the Department of Public Safety."
We caught up with the new governor Wednesday in Jackson, where he was speaking at a conservation conference.
"The people that you have to choose from," he said, "and they've had the opportunity to rise high enough in management to have a proven record -- the vast, vast, vast majority of them are men, just because those fields tend to be chosen more by men and less by women."
"You can certainly see that there are times when the best qualified person in one of those fields would be a woman," he continued, "but it would be rare."
Barbour points out that he has hired plenty of women to fill important roles on his personal staff.
Here is the story:
Barbour's Comments on Women Draw Ire
By Davis Brister
davis@wlbt.net
It's been a great couple of weeks for new Governor Haley Barbour, weeks filled with travelling around the state to thank supporters. One such stop was in Tupelo, where then Governor-Elect Barbour was asked why he hadn't appointed any women to lead a state agency.
"There's some very competent, capable women to be in this administration," he said. "The kinds of jobs we've been dealing with so far -- Corrections, the Highway Patrol, Public Safety, the Bureau of Narcotics a little bit -- not exactly the key jobs pointed in that direction."
Louisa Dixon was an apointee during the Ray Maybus years.
"I have two words in response," she said upon hearing the governor's comments. "Condoleeza Rice."
Dixon led the Department of Public Safety and says women can do anything men can do.
"If President Bush has enough confidence in Condoleeza Rice to be National Security Advisor, I think there are plenty of competent women who could run the Department of Public Safety."
We caught up with the new governor Wednesday in Jackson, where he was speaking at a conservation conference.
"The people that you have to choose from," he said, "and they've had the opportunity to rise high enough in management to have a proven record -- the vast, vast, vast majority of them are men, just because those fields tend to be chosen more by men and less by women."
"You can certainly see that there are times when the best qualified person in one of those fields would be a woman," he continued, "but it would be rare."
Barbour points out that he has hired plenty of women to fill important roles on his personal staff.