If 1992 was the Year of the Woman, 1994 is the Year of Treading Water, according to Harriett Woods, president of the National Women's Political Caucus.

"I'd be foolish to stand up here and say we'll make huge strides" this year, Woods said Thursday during a speech in Kansas City at the Central Exchange, a professional women's group.Woods, a former Missouri lieutenant governor, said she expects the number of women in the U.S. House and Senate to increase little, if any, after the November election.

That would contrast with 1992, when 24 women were newly elected to the House, and the number of women senators tripled from two to six.

Woods said her chief hope is an increase in the number of women governors. She noted that 36 states, including Kansas, have gubernatorial races this year.

Some 28 women, split almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats, are seeking governorships, Woods said.

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She added that her hopes are tempered by the fact that two of the four current women governors, including Gov. Joan Finney of Kansas, have announced they will not seek re-election.

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