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Published on 08/21/1995 All articles from this issue

Female leaders reflect on women's suffrage and their roles in Los Altos

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Many detractors objected to granting women the right to vote. More than 75 years ago anti-suffragist leader Alice Wadsworth said that women voting would "enshrine nagging as a national policy."

In spite of such concerns, women won the vote Aug. 26, 1920.

"The courage it took, when people expected women to stay home and be nice," said Muriel Knudsen, president of the Los Altos League of Women Voters.

Los Altos has a long history of strong women, of powerful women, of women who worked to make a difference in their community.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of women's suffrage, the Town Crier visited with four of these Los Altos women. They represent the history and the legacy of women in this community who have made a difference: Audrey Fisher, the first woman mayor of Los Altos; Marge Gratiot, superintendent of the Los Altos School district and superintendent of the year for the county; Dianne Gershuny, city manager; and Lucy Carlton, chief of police, one of four female police chiefs in California.

Audrey Fisher, first female mayor

"I could have voted in November 1920," Fisher said. "I turned 21 on Aug. 30 that year. But I hadn't even thought of it. It just wasn't important to me at that time. I cast my first ballot in 1928, for Herbert Hoover."

Fisher's interest in politics grew after she and her husband moved to California in 1933.

They came to Los Altos in 1935, 60 years ago.

She volunteered in the community. Los Altos incorporated as a city in 1952. Fisher ran for city council in the 1960s and served as mayor from 1967-1969.

"I was elected by the four men on the council. I was not surprised because I had a good rapport - it just seemed natural."

Fisher did not have children. "That's one reason I was always able to be so active in so many things."

She believes women should have jobs. "And they should have them with the same compensation a man gets."

Marge Gratiot, school superintendent

Suffrage gave women their political power Gratiot said.

"It recognized women as equal people with men. But it's their talents that give women their credibility," she said.

Gratiot graduated from Stanford in 1964, earned a master's degree in education from Stanford and began teaching third grade at Oak School in Los Altos in 1965.

And except for two years, "when I wanted to save the world and went to Brooklyn, N.Y., and taught for two years during the 60s," she's been in Los Altos ever since.

She earned her doctorate at Stanford in 1980 in educational policy analysis.

"Having a doctorate was a prerequisite to getting that first principalship," she said. She became principal of Loyola School in 1980.

Education is a more normal career path for women, Gratiot said, than some other professions. But there's always a glass ceiling - few women become principals.

"When I became superintendent, out of the 1,000 school districts in California, less than 2 percent of the superintendents were women." Now about 8 percent t are women, she said.

The Los Altos School District was the first district in the county to pass a local school parcel tax. The passing rate was 81 percent. "That's a good vote of confidence," Gratiot said.

"We're usually the highest in the county with test scores. We currently have about 300 requests from parents, out of the district, who want to have their children come to school here. And since we have 100 new students who live in this district, we won't be able to accept many from out of the district."

While Gratiot has been superintendent, the enrollment has grown from 2,800 students in 1987 to 3,500 in 1995.

Gratiot is married. Her two children are 26 and 19.

"I've never felt that being a woman was a handicap in being a school administrator. It's a plus rather than a minus in doing the job well."

Dianne Gershuny, city manager

"When my father was born in 1919, my grandmother couldn't vote. She's someone I've known as perfectly wonderful, competent, and she couldn't even vote," Gershuny said.

Gershuny came to Los Altos nine years ago as finance director and assistant city manger.

"It felt like a lot of the movers and shakers in Los Altos were women," she said.

She became city manager five and a half years ago.

"There are a lot of powerful women in this town. But they may not want to be described as powerful. So I'll describe them as women who have done a lot."

Gershuny sees suffrage as one of many steps to achieving equal rights.

"But we haven't made it all the way yet," she said, noting that Girl Scouts don't do the same things as the Boy Scouts and sports for girls are not the same as the sports for boys.

"I'd like to see girls and boys in the future have the same opportunities, a level playing field. Separate but equal doesn't work for anybody," Gershuny said.

Two years ago, Gershuny married Los Altos attorney Ken Kaye and became mother to his two children, "two of the greatest kids in the world," she said.

Lucy Carlton, police chief

"When I saw the photos on the wall in city hall of all the mayors of Los Altos, I thought, 'Look at the women who have run this city.' I came from Milpitas where I'd seen only two," Carlton said.

"And without suffrage, no woman could have run for office. Women had to be involved."

But women can't do it all by themselves, Carlton said. "They don't get elected with all female votes," she said.

When Carlton became police chief in Los Altos four years ago, she became the second woman in the state to head a law enforcement agency. Out of 58 counties, 12 pages of police agencies, now there are four female chiefs.

"The reason it is such a good fit for me here is because Los Altos city government has embraced both genders and women are department heads in non-traditional departments, like Carol Hoffman, the planning director."

When Carlton first became a police officer in Milpitas in 1969, "we (women) weren't allowed to wear a police uniform, to carry a gun or to work in the field."

Carlton sat at a desk and worked "sex and checks." She processed bad checks and talked to alleged rapists and child molesters. For 10 years she was the only woman on the Milpitas police force.

In 1974, federal law changed and there was no separation any more of police work. Anyone doing police work was a police officer. Before that, it was police woman and police officer.

"But there was no woman's locker room ,and I had to change in the middle of the men's locker room.

"I had to get to work real early, I had lots of zippers, and learned to get dressed real fast," Carlton said.

Carlton has been single for more than 20 years and has no children.

"Being single has allowed me to concentrate on my career, to go back to school and get a teaching credential."

Carlton was one of the first female instructors at the police academy.

"In the profession, I feel like a pioneer who broke through the glass ceiling," she said. "In this city, I feel like a part of the continuing legacy of women."