In 2015, when Northampton Police Chief Jody Kasper was named the first female police chief of Northampton, she said she had never thought much about her gender. However, since taking the position, Kasper said she has begun to think a lot more about the impact she has as a female leader — now with a newfound responsibility for helping women police officers.
Northampton is in many ways a stand-out in female leadership: more than half of the city’s department heads, the mayor, the majority of the City Council and the city’s representatives in both the state House and state Senate are women.
And yet, this makes Northampton an outlier. Out of over 200 elected officials in Massachusetts at the state level, only 72 are women, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.
“It really does depend on the community but I do think for a city in Massachusetts, yes, Northampton is unique,” said Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, who represents Northampton in the state Legislature.
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