“Your town needs a hospital.”

“May I please have a facility for the aged instead?”

“No. You’ll have a hospital and like it.”

In York County we are given options right out of a salesman’s bag. “Would you rather have a hospital from Company A, or Company B?” The right question might be, “How can we improve our people’s health care?” A hospital? Might be the right answer.

Something else may be a better answer. It’s all in the questions. And in who gets to ask them.

In 2002 the York County Council appointed twenty-nine people to the Comprehensive

Land Use Steering Committee. Only one of these people was a woman. You read right.

One of twenty-nine.

As best I can tell there is nothing in the “comprehensive plan” that addresses our health care needs. There’s no mention of elder care, retirement homes or daycare, except in passing. This would not have happened if more women had been on the committee.

The council appoints people to twenty-nine boards and commissions. The boards give advice about spending tax money. They run our libraries and museums. They decide zoning issues and run rural fire districts.

The County Council appoints at least 220 people to these boards and commissions.

Eighty-one serve on what I call “top level” committees. Eighteen of these are women.

That’s right at 22%. That’s disgraceful.

South Carolina stands at the bottom of the list when it comes to electing women. The members of our county council are perpetuating this system. Many folks who run for and get elected to office served first in an appointed position. By appointing so many more men, the County Council guarantees we will continue to suffer for lack of women’s perspectives.

I read a quote by a representative of Piedmont Hospital saying that they had been

planning this move for some time. The sort of planning that should have been done in public had been done behind closed doors, again,. Decisions that require lots of social investment by everyone, such as a factory, school, hospital, or large retail/commercial endeavor, should also require lots of advance public input.

Piedmont is not at fault any more than the rest of the applicants as far as I can tell. We live in a system that, for now, treats us as spectators in our lives instead of participants.

By appointing so few women to boards and commissions the County Council perpetuates this spectator mentality.

This can be fixed. There are several openings on county boards and commissions. Call the County Council offices at (803) 684-8599 and ask for an application to serve on a committee. Visit their website at www.YorkCountyGov.com and download a form there.

If we give women access to our government they will serve us well, and we all will be better off for it. Get with the program County Council! We need new ideas. Appoint more women and we will get the fresh ideas we need.

Jocoy lives in Fort Mill and chairs the York County Greens. More information can be found at www.YorkGreens.com or by calling 803-984-5414