Important Voices: North Dakota's Women Elected State Officials Share Their Stories 1893-2013

Only seventeen women have been elected to statewide office in North Dakota in 125 years. Susan Wefald recounts the experiences of these fabulous women in Important Voices: North Dakota's Women Elected State Officials Share Their Stories, 1893-2013. Their stories include triumph and loss, hopes and challenges. Each chapter, written by the ten living elected women or pieced together by Wefald's exhaustive research, reveal what these North Dakota women have accomplished and the challenges still facing women who want to be elected to statewide office today. Wefald was the first woman to serve on the North Dakota Public Service commission. Appointed to the Commission by governor Edward Schafer in 1992, she was elected to three more terms and served on the Commission for sixteen years. She now enjoys serving on non-profit boards, playing her violin with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony, reading, gardening, and writing. Her book Spectacular North Dakota Hikes--Bring the Dog (Institute for Regional Studies Press 2011) received the Notable Documents Award from the North Dakota Library Association.