Gender, to some, is a tad more “fluid” today than it was 90-odd years ago, but come Jan. 1, a ceiling of sorts will be smashed on the Arlington County Board.
For the first time since the inaugural board was elected in 1932, the body in 2024 will have a female majority.
Incumbent Libby Garvey will be joined by newcomers Maureen Coffey and Susan Cunningham. The XY-chromosomers on the body will be incumbents Takis Karantonis and Matt de Ferranti.
The first for the County Board was noted by Clerk of the Circuit Court Paul Ferguson (himself a former County Board member) during a Dec. 6 presentation to the Optimist Club of Arlington.
A woman – specifically, Elizabeth Magruder – was among the first five County Board members to have been elected in 1932. Through the intervening years, there has been at least one female board member, and frequently two, except for all-male interludes in 1941 and again from 1959-73.
When a three-member, district-based Board of Supervisors conducted business from the end of the Civil War to the early 1930s, no woman ever was elected to serve. Election records that far back are spotty, but it appears no women ran for the office.
In 2024 as has been the case for more than a decade, there will be a female majority among constitutional officers, the exception being Ferguson and Sheriff Jose Quiroz. Arlington’s treasurer, commissioner of revenue and commonwealth’s attorney all are female.
