The role of women in Arlington County politics reflects the character of the County itself, in which the political contributions made by organizations and clubs ran parallel to groundbreaking efforts made by creative, determined, and uniquely gifted actors of their time. Women such as Gertrude Crocker, Mary Marshall, Ellen Bozman and others embodied the power of the individual in affecting institutional change while becoming standard bearers for their contemporaries and future generations.
However, organizations such as the League of Women Voters of Arlington, Organized Women Voters of Arlington County and others had to rely on their own resourcefulness, organizational abilities, and social skills as opposed to benefiting from the patronage of long established patriarchal institutions.
