'the Senate women are not a caucus, but a zone of civility'

January 6, 2015 6:47 AM

The Secret History of Women in the Senate
posted by anastasiav (17 comments total)

Oh my god, the quote you chose for the title made flames come out the side of my face, and the article is doing the same. We've come a long way, baby, but not that damned far. Even in Congress, women have to deal with the missing step. (In this case, Strom Thurmond and elevators. Augh.)

I have to go spit at something now.
posted by headspace at 6:58 AM on January 6, 2015 [5 favorites]

Why was anyone allowed to swim naked in the Senate pool?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:05 AM on January 6, 2015 [7 favorites]

Why would anyone want to?
posted by nevercalm at 8:46 AM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

But yeah. I'd be happy with an all-woman senate, I really would.
posted by nevercalm at 8:47 AM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

This was a phenomenal read. I think my favorite part was recognizing names of former senators who are now *cough* Vice President! *cough* and the actions around them. And just shuddering at the mental image of Ted Kennedy playing "pass the waitress". Gross. So many of those stories I only half-heard as a kid growing up. But fucking Clarence Thomas was accused of sexual harassment and is now on the Supreme Court?! Gross gross gross. It is so hard to think of the incredible changes that have just happened within my lifetime regarding women's rights and even ACCEPTANCE in public office. Just, wow.

I am so proud of my senator Amy Klobuchar. And those restroom traffic jams are real.
posted by jillithd at 8:47 AM on January 6, 2015

But fucking Clarence Thomas was accused of sexual harassment and is now on the Supreme Court?!

What's worse is that he replaced Thurgood Marshall. If someone had the foresight to put some magnets and copper wire around Marshall's corpse it could have powered the United States for the past twenty years.
posted by Talez at 8:51 AM on January 6, 2015 [6 favorites]

From the article: "One early aide reflects that Mikulski treated her male colleagues in a way they were not accustomed to being treated by women—as equals. ... When the newly elected female members arrived on Capitol Hill, Mikulski was waiting: She hosted a meeting to give the women a crash course in Senate procedure, and had compiled briefings on how to get on committees and run an office. Mikulski would become known as the “dean” of women."

I love this detail: Mikulski helping other women. It stands in sharp contrast to the gender-related observations of Susan Collins (“Never once did she say, ‘I’m the only woman in the Senate,’ or that she had run into any barriers...") and Kay Bailey Hutchison (“I just think that there are some things you just ought to brush off.”).
posted by MonkeyToes at 9:00 AM on January 6, 2015 [4 favorites]

Wow, Mitch McConnell has always been awful, hasn't he?
posted by wintermind at 9:10 AM on January 6, 2015

But yeah. I'd be happy with an all-woman senate, I really would.

Related
posted by naoko at 9:26 AM on January 6, 2015

Great article. It reminds me of the main reason why, as much as I revere Elizabeth Warren, I'm not sure I'd want her to run for the Presidency: I think we still need her too badly in the Senate.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:31 AM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

Fantastic article. It's interesting to see the parallels between my field (engineering) and the Senate regarding the treatment of women. It's been slow going, but at least I no longer have people telling me to ignore the "death by a thousand cuts" that goes on daily. We do also have support groups, but nothing as cool as what the Senate women have been doing.

This article made me want to run for office so that I could help them continue to break through barriers. Sadly, I am in no way qualified to draft laws.
posted by blurker at 9:42 AM on January 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

Sadly, I am in no way qualified to draft laws.

You don't have to be. That's what lobbyists are for!
posted by asperity at 9:45 AM on January 6, 2015 [5 favorites]

The most awful thing about that article is how slowly things changed. The story about the swimming pool is only six years ago. As recently as 2008 they didn't let women use the fricking pool? WTF. No other public institution would have been allowed to get away with that shit for so long.
posted by suelac at 9:51 AM on January 6, 2015 [6 favorites]

This article made me want to run for office so that I could help them continue to break through barriers. Sadly, I am in no way qualified to draft laws.

You should anyway. It's not like most of the dudebros elected where in any way qualified; why not you? And if you really don't WANT to, which I could certainly understand, you can tell someone else that they should: She Should Run. The single best thing we can do to change all this is get more women into public office at all levels, and pack the pipeline to the best of our ability.

Thanks for posting this, OP! I had heard the bathroom saga before, but the pool thing is just mind-blowing.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 10:01 AM on January 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

This is a fantastic article, thoughtful and well researched. Like the previous posters, I'm appalled by the pool, the elevator, the waitress tossing!, etc. It reminds me that I've heard the Congress is exempt from a number of discrimination laws. Is that true?

As a side note, I love Liza Mundy - the WaPo Magazine hasn't been readable since she left.
posted by Measured Out my Life in Coffeespoons at 10:04 AM on January 6, 2015

WaPo: The new Congress is 80 percent white, 80 percent male and 92 percent Christian, which is depressingly somehow still the most diverse Congress that we've managed to elect.
posted by schmod at 10:53 AM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

Why was anyone allowed to swim naked in the Senate pool?

The story about the swimming pool is only six years ago. As recently as 2008 they didn't let women use the fricking pool? WTF.

It seems that the all-male watering holes of the Senate have a tradition that stretches back to 1860: See Mchelly's FPP, You can't drown the Government in the bathtub without a tub. I mean, this bathtub -- just look at it.

The Senate's own site explains:

In 1858, as the Capitol’s new Senate wing neared completion, Senator James Pearce (MD) informed engineer Montgomery Meigs that “he and thirteen other Senators think it desirable that . . . a few bathing tubs should be provided.” ... The baths quickly became a place to relax, socialize, and even prepare for a major speech. In 1888, the Evening Star explained: “[Members] write the speech, commit it to memory, take a bath, and then deliver it!” A generous senator also shared the luxury. After giving a constituent a tour of the Capitol, as a special honor the senator invited him to take a bath. A House member once made the mistake of offering this perk to a lady visitor. “Won’t you go down and take a bath?” he asked. Indignant, the woman fled the building.

So the gentlemen of the Senate have a long history of a secret all-male enclave, built at public expense, where they can go and bare all in privacy? Suddenly the idea of a pool from which women were barred until 2008 makes more sense.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:01 PM on January 6, 2015