Montgomery, AL – Few women serve in Alabama's Cabinet or Legislature.
A study by the Women's Campaign Forum Foundation found that women comprise 20 percent of Governor Riley's Cabinet. That's far below the national average of 31 percent.
Women hold about 13 percent of the seats in the Alabama Legislature. That ranks Alabama 47th in the country.
Those numbers are no surprise to Lenora Pate. In 1993, she was appointed by then-Governor Jim Folsom to be the first female director of the state Department of Industrial Relations. Pate recalls walking down a hallway filled with the official photos of previous directors and there was nothing but men.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)