COLUMBIA, S.C. - The billboard was meant to raise awareness.

"Welcome to South Carolina," it read. "Ranked: 1st in violence against women and 50th in women in elected office."

During the six months it greeted drivers on Interstate 85, its architect, Anne Ring, received angry phone calls from people who invariably began, "Where are you from?"

The questioning, she said, illustrates why the Palmetto State continues to rank last nationwide in female representation.

Less than 9 percent of the General Assembly's 170 lawmakers are women: 14 females in the House and just one in the Senate. Compare that to top-ranked Maryland, where more than 35 percent of legislators are female.

Ring has a theory as to why.

"I think it's because we're taught so heavily as conservatives that women are to look pretty, have children and fix dinner," said Ring, who is a South Carolina native and now lives in Woodruff.

Their attitude, she said, was "how dare I air our dirty laundry."

"If I was from New York City, they could ignore it," said Ring, an evangelical Christian and Republican who homeschooled her children. "I am not a feminist, but this (mindset) has got to stop."

In all, 68 women have served in the Legislature here since 1929, when Jasper County Democrat Mary Gordon Ellis, a farmer and teacher, entered the Senate as the state's first female legislator. Just eight other women have followed her steps in the Senate.

In the House, York County Democrat Harriet Johnson, a World War I widow and teacher, became that chamber's first female in 1945.

Through the years, female firsts have included Rep. Nancy Stevenson, elected in 1978 as the state's only female lieutenant governor, and Rep. Jean Toal, elected to the state Supreme Court in 1988 and now chief justice.

Female representation in the Statehouse peaked at 22 lawmakers - about 13 percent - between 1992 and 1998.

The recent step backward is a concern, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. The South Carolina Legislature is missing out on the creativity, energy and perspective women bring to the political process, she said.

"It's hard for one person to fairly represent half the population," said lone female Sen. Linda Short, D-Chester. "Women tend to bring more of a desire for open discussion and debate and compromise. ... How sad it is I'm the only one."

When voters sent Short to the Statehouse in 1993, she was one of three female senators.

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, says she's "extremely worried" about South Carolina's drop in female lawmakers. One of three black women in the House, Cobb-Hunter said she is on a mission to recruit more minority females to the General Assembly. The state needs the input of people from various ethnicities and backgrounds, she said.

"There are many opportunities for women if they'll just take it," said Rep. Denny Neilson, D-Darlington, who's served in the House for 22 years. "It takes courage to run for public office."

Some attribute the low numbers to the busy lives women lead.

"Women wear so many hats. They're at home. They're taking care of family, raising children, trying to be a good wife, working full time," said Rep. Shirley Hinson, R-Goose Creek, head of the General Assembly Women's Caucus.

Adding public service to that list is a "huge sacrifice," she said. It's a question of "How thin can one spread themselves?"

Others point to legislators' $10,400 annual base salary as a disincentive.

"Being in politics should never be about money," said Rep. Annette Young, R-Summerville, a former House majority leader. "But women are going into fields to earn money and support their families."

Walsh says she doesn't buy the low-pay and busy-lives rationale.

"We're all looking for some answer that gets back to, 'It's the women,'" she said. "I can't believe women in Maryland ... have less complicated lives." And pay is as low or lower in some other states, she said.

Few female role models is part of the problem, said Laura Woliver, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina.

When women don't see other women being successful in politics, they don't picture themselves in office, said Barbara Palmer, an American University professor and co-author of the book "Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling."

Preconceived ideas about how a "Southern lady" should look and behave and voters' conservative ideologies also come into play.

"A woman, I think, gets more scrutiny and the question, 'Is this proper?'" Woliver said.

That scrutiny often comes from other women, said Deb Sofield, an unsuccessful GOP candidate for state comptroller in 2002.

"It starts when the church consistently preaches the husband is the head of the household," she said.

Religion and politics are closely tied in South Carolina, Woliver said. "It's part of the whole conservative package."

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Center for American Women and Politics: http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/