by NOW President Kim Gandy
Okay, take a guess. What do the G.I. Bill, the School Lunch Program, and the Fair Labor Standards Act have in common? How about federal aid to education, the nationwide network of veterans’ hospitals, and the tax deduction for child care expenses?
If you’re really stumped, how about Title IX, the equal educational opportunity law? The Equal Pay Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act? The Freedom of Choice Act? The Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Pay Act? Okay, maybe now you’re getting the idea.
Yes, despite their paltry representation, women in Congress introduced them all, along with countless other reforms that affect our lives to this day. It might sound clichéd, but women leaders do make a difference. Women began serving in Congress less than 100 years ago, and throughout that brief history they have made a great impact – a truly progressive, society-transforming impact.
Organizations like NOW, and feminists in general, often state that we need more women in government, from local school boards all the way to the highest levels of office. Increasing the number of women in power is a good thing — that’s just common sense, right? But taking a closer look at why it’s so important has been on my mind as the November elections approach.
First, there’s simple parity. Currently, women hold a paltry 16 percent of the seats in the United States Congress and they make up 24 percent of the state legislatures. Only eight states have women governors, and we all know that the U.S. has yet to have a woman president or even a female nominee from a major political party. And as recently as 1992, women were only 2% of the U.S. Senate.
With women vastly under-represented in this arena, and glass ceilings still to be smashed, women’s rights advocates would be negligent not to try to correct such an imbalance.
But there’s so much more to the argument than fairness.
It might seem obvious, but it’s worth noting that most women legislators can be counted on to fight for the “bread and butter” women’s issues that a legislature exclusively occupied by men might not bother to tackle. Access to reproductive health services and child care, the right to equal pay and education opportunities, ending sexual harassment and all forms of violence against women – without a doubt, these issues advance when women with firsthand experience secure the authority to do something about them.
It was a woman, in fact, the very first woman ever to serve in Congress, Jeannette Rankin, who introduced the very first piece of federal social welfare legislation — a bill to reduce maternal and infant mortality.
Rep. Mink, with NOW Vice President Karen Johnson at the Young Feminist Summit in 1997.
It was a woman, Rep. Edith Green (D-Ohio), who first introduced the Equal Pay Act way back in 1955, eight years before it’s eventual passage. Green also introduced a number of bills promoting higher education, and co-authored Title IX, the law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions, with Rep. Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii), who was herself the first woman of color ever elected to Congress.
It was a woman, Rep. Martha Griffiths (D-Mich.), who in 1964 led the charge to amend Title VII of the landmark Civil Rights Act to prohibit sex discrimination in employment. And a few years later, Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.) fought to provide the first federal funding for day care for low-income families.
OW President Kim Gandy joined Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who introduced the Freedom of Choice Act on Jan. 22, 2004
It was a woman, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) introduced the Freedom of Choice Act after last year’s Supreme Court decision, in order to legislatively protect the principles of Roe v. Wade, and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have repeatedly introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act — in anticipation of the day when we will have enough votes in Congress to pass and a president in office who will sign them.
Okay, maybe those examples aren’t too surprising – maybe you expect women to introduce laws about “women’s issues” like equal pay, and job discrimination, and equal educational opportunities, and reproductive rights. But we also have women to thank for some of the most significant social legislation in this country.
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act established a national minimum wage and a guaranteed ceiling over hours in certain jobs, and prohibited most child labor. According to the Department of Labor, the bill was stifled before its enactment and would not have become law without the efforts of Rep. Mary Norton (D-N.J.), who urged representatives to sign a petition to extract the bill from committee control, collecting the 218 signatures needed to bring the bill to a vote on the House floor.
Not only did this pivotal bill have a woman champion in the House, it also had a woman author – Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, who was the country’s highest-ranking woman during her tenure from 1933 to 1945 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In addition to the Fair Labor Standards Act, Perkins drafted a law that protected workers’ rights to organize and she helped design the Social Security Act.
Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers (R-Mass.) was the first woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts, and she holds the distinction of being the longest serving Congresswoman-35 years, from 1925 to 1960! In 1944, Rogers was co-author of the G.I. Bill, which provided veterans of war with education and training benefits and enabled them to take loans to purchase homes. This bill helped transform many veterans from renters to homeowners and aided their transition to post-war life.
Fast forward to the 1980s and Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.), who was the original sponsor of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which eventually passed in 1993. The FMLA guarantees job security, previously earned seniority and continued health insurance coverage for workers who need to take leave to recover from a serious illness or medical condition, or to care for a newborn, newly-adopted child or a seriously ill child, spouse or parent. FMLA also entitles employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for any combination of family or medical leave.
The legacy of women’s work in Congress is far greater than I can cover here. A few other examples of woman-powered policy include: the bill that created the Fair Employment Practices Commission, federal funding for the education of children with disabilities, the Fair Credit Protection Act, and many areas of pension law reform, marital property reform, consumer protection, and so much more.
For centuries women have done the work of caring for their families – fostering the health, education and social development of the next generation. Women are also responsible for doing much of the “grunt” work of our society – the underpaid and undervalued jobs that are often exploitative, grueling and dangerous.
Because of these experiences, women have looked after the abused and forgotten on a much grander scale when they have served in government. With the help of some fine men, of course, women have dragged our country out of the dark ages and into the light of civilization. We still have a long way to go, but if we keep electing more women to office, we will get there, and we’ll all be the better for it.