A recent analysis by the Political Science department at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth of nine Bristol County towns found that only 31 percent of elected officials were women.

In New Bedford only 26 percent of elected positions are held by women, in Fall River that number drops down to 19 percent.

Deborah Coelho, who was recently re-elected to At-Large seat on the New Bedford City Council, tells WBSM's Brian Thomas that more diversity on the council will lead to a better understanding of the challenges all residents face.

"There are issues that women deal alot with that aren't the same issues as men," said Coelho "ao basically you want both males and females to be well represented in government."

Coelho says getting women into elected office is a challenge because public office often means night meetings and day time events that interfere with family obligations.

"I don't know if I would be able to run for office if I had a traditional family, or if I needed to work those 40 hours and come home to take care of my children I don't know if I could manage the time," said Coelho.

However, Coelho says those numbers need to go up, not only for the benefit of women, but for benefit of the community as a whole.

"Overall it has shown in studies that when there's more women in leadership roles, overall we do better as families and we do better as communities because we have that representation."

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