In light of Penny Rich’s election to the Orange County Board of Commissioners and the vacated seat she has left behind on the Chapel Hill Town Council, capable female contenders should come forward to be her potential replacement — in the spirit of closing the council’s gender gap.
Rich initially wanted to earn a spot on the Orange County Board of Commissioners due to the departure of newly elected N.C. House representative Valerie Foushee.
She said people would miss that “strong voice” for Chapel Hill, and she wanted to take on that role. Rich’s departure leaves just Laurin Easthom and Donna Bell as the only women on the nine-member board.
A qualified woman should step up to fill Rich’s shoes.
The selection of the next Town Council member, a public position, should be primarily gender blind.
However, since there are undoubtedly many qualified women for this job living in Chapel Hill, they should step up and apply to lessen this wide gender gap, which will be even wider if Rich is not replaced with a woman.
Orange County has already made strides earlier this month by electing three women — Foushee, Verla Insko and Ellie Kinnaird — to the county’s three seats in the North Carolina General Assembly.
This shows that people in the county have an interest in diverse representation, but that the town still has a long way to go.
Although the new council member should not be chosen necessarily because she is a woman, leaving such a severe inequality on the council would leave a significant portion of the town population underrepresented.
