Mark-Viverito puts spotlight on women's issues, women representation

New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito put a spotlight on women's issues and women in elected office, highlighting the tussles over topless women in Times Square, the potentially historic presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton and the gender makeup of the City Council.

At a City & State Newsmakers interview on Thursday, Mark-Viverito volunteered that one her “great concerns” was ensuring legislative bodies include robust female representation. The speaker noted that she was one of 18 female members when she joined the 51-member council in 2005. The number of female lawmakers has since dropped to 15. And six of them, all women of color, will be term-limited out of the council in 2017, according to Mark-Viverito.

“If we don’t make a really conscious effort to recruit, support and to push forward women in this progressive city … we could potentially have a council that has less than 15 women,” Mark-Viverito said. "And that, to me, is not acceptable. We’re trying to work on that.”

Mark-Viverito said the responsibility of promoting gender equity in government extends beyond women and should be shared with unions, advocacy groups and everyone else involved in electoral politics. She did not touch on how gender influenced her past endorsement decisions, such as backing Bill de Blasio for mayor over Christine Quinn, her predecessor and the first female City Council speaker who would have been the city's first female mayor. But Mark-Viverito said she "obviously" considered Clinton’s gender in her decision to endorse the former New York senator. Ahead of Clinton’s first trip to Mark-Viverito’s native Puerto Rico, the speaker said she weighed Clinton’s policy proposals on the criminal justice system, the cost of higher education, immigration and other topics, and decided it was the right time to publicly support her.

“I really thought it was the right moment, and then obviously, a woman – that also is a factor,” Mark-Viverito said.

She contended that Republican candidate Donald Trump’s platform was “troubling," particularly his approach to women’s issues.

“It’s not only his position on immigration reform, it’s his issues with women; it’s his issues on other things,” she said. “It’s like this race to the bottom, you know, like how backwards can you take our country when it comes to women’s reproductive rights or when it comes to marriage equality.”

On a more local level, Mark-Viverito said she was concerned the female body was being politicized in the debate over how to approach topless women posing for photos in exchange for tips in Times Square. New York law allows men and women to expose their chests in public, but aggressive panhandling is not permitted. Both the mayor and governor have said they want to prevent toplessness amid a spate of tabloid coverage ripping the topless street performers as a sign of Times Square’s return to its more sordid past. Mark-Viverito reiterated that she believes the city has much more pressing problems.

“It usually is women’s bodies that somehow get these overreactions to things, and I don’t understand why that is. It’s almost politicizing them,” Mark-Viverito said. “That really concerns me, as a woman.”

The speaker discussed her bond to Puerto Rico, but did not delve as much into how her background as a Latina informs her view of who should govern the city. She said she would prefer to see another Latino or Latina replace the retiring Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, but disagreed with Latino advocates who contend they are not well represented in the ranks of the de Blasio administration. She added that de Blasio engaged “every day” in conversations about how to diversify his team.

“Without a doubt, this administration, at the top levels, is the most diverse, I believe, I’ve probably seen in recent history,” she said. “That’s important to acknowledge. I think in terms of Latinos in those high positions, he also has done a good job.”