JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – It’s a good thing her office is so close to the House chamber.

As the majority caucus secretary, Rep. Marilyn Ruestman (R-Joplin) keeps a busy schedule, often running back and forth between meetings in her office and voting when the House is in session.

Ruestman, who is the only woman in a position of leadership for the House majority, said she is used to being in such a position, having served as the first female chair of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Board for The Boys and Girls Club of Joplin.

“I’ve been there for a lot of firsts,” she said, “And I’ve been promoted by men who I felt were very strong and secure.”

Though she doesn’t believe women should be given seats in the political arena merely on the virtue of their gender, she does think that women have a valuable way of looking at the state issues.

“Women do approach many problems differently,” she said, “We need to have that view point in the equation.”

Describing herself as “always very civic-minded,” she was began her career in state and national politics as district director for Congressman Mel Hancock after meeting him at a local Chamber event.

“I told him if I wasn’t so busy I’d consider applying,” Ruestman said. Despite her initial refusal, she was actively recruited by the congressman and held the position for the full eight years of his term.

“I felt very unfamiliar with that political landscape, but after six months I was, as they say, bitten by the bug,” she said.

Following Hancock’s retirement, Ruestman took a similar job with then Sen. Marvin Singleton before returning to Missouri to pursue a career in state politics.

“One weekend, I sat myself down and said either commit to this, to eight years, or withdraw; and that was a tough weekend,” she said. “Once I made that commitment, it was easy.”

In addition to being the only female she is also the oldest of the majority leaders and is glad she had the opportunity to raise her family before entering the political arena and encourages others to consider all their options.

“You can have a family, but you still have something to offer when you’re grandmother-aged,” she said. “When you get to be ‘a senior’ you look back and there are a lot of things I certainly would do differently, become more of a life player, but I’m not sorry.”

Though her family has always been supportive of her career in politics, they are not deeply involved.

“My granddaughters love the glamour of it, because grandma wears high-heels to work,” Ruestman said.

While she’s in the Capital her husband, Richard Ruestman, a well-known contractor, maintains the family home he designed outside Joplin.

“It took him a while to get used to the role reversal,” she said. “When we’d go out, it got to where people would know me who wouldn’t know him.”

With only two more years left in her term, Ruestman said she plans on retiring to spend more time with her granddaughters.

“My husband and I made an agreement that this was my job, not my life,” she said. “But I know me well enough to know I find something to do so that maybe my experience will continue to mean something.”