Getting to the Senate
The hotly contested 1991 Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas troubled many American women. Televised images of a committee, composed exclusively of White males, sharply questioning an opposing witness — African American law professor Anita Hill — caused many to wonder where the women senators were.
In 1991, the Senate included two women members, but neither Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas nor Barbara Mikulski of Maryland served on the Judiciary Committee.
“Year of the Woman”
In 1993, for the first time in American history, California became the first state in the nation to be represented in the Senate by two women. Feinstein trounced her opponent with a margin of nearly 2 million votes. Barbara Boxer solidly won the other seat.
Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois and Patty Murray of Washington won seats as well and four women were elected to the Senate for the first time in an election year.
After seeing a headline that read, “The Year of the Woman.” Sen. Mikulski responded, “Calling 1992 the Year of the Woman makes it sound like the Year of the Caribou or the Year of the Asparagus. We’re not a fad, a fancy, or a year.”
Women in Congress today
In the 118th Congress, a record 128 women (of 435 members) are serving in the newly elected House, accounting for 29% of the chamber’s total.
In the Senate, women hold 25 of 100 seats, tying the record number they held in the 116th Congress.
Ideology score
Govtrack.us assigns a score to members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by whether they sponsor and co-sponsor overlapping sets of bills and resolutions with other members of Congress. These statistics dissect the legislative records of members of Congress during the 117th Congress (Jan 3, 2021-Jan 3, 2023), as of Feb 12.
Years in Congress
Although Sen. Feinstein was the longest-serving woman senator, with 31 years, her length in office does not come close to other…
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