Campaign Action
In the wake of the initial spate of sexual harassment and assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein, women in a variety of professions began speaking up about violations we’ve endured from male colleagues or superiors. The business of politics is anything but immune to the problem, and women in Congress and in statehouses across the country are speaking up.
Again.
Women piping up about the sexual harassment they endure in state capitols is anything but a new phenomenon. Some of the stories that “came to light” in years past (see also: Texas in 2013 and Missouri in 2015, just for starters) are only now being rediscovered, because a certain cycle has repeated itself in various states:
- A scandal or series of scandals in a legislature will shine a light on the systemic sexism and harassment that occurs in so many state capitols;
- women lawmakers open up about their common terrible experiences;
- journalists document the horrors in excellent stories; and ...
- life goes on.
This is not to give short shrift to these pieces or in any way suggest they shouldn’t be written. Quite the contrary: The more women open up publicly about how men in powerful positions abuse that power by harassing the women they work with, the more all of us are forced to confront and deal with a serious problem that thrives in the shadows, away from light and exposure. Maybe the building wave of women’s public accounts of sexual harassment will actually result in real change this time around.
And waves of women are opening up publicly about sexual harassment, specifically in state legislatures. Male lawmakers’ misconduct is coming to light, and many are facing real consequences for their actions. Over just the past few weeks:
- In Colorado, two Democrats and two Republicans have faced accusations of sexual harassment from staffers, interns, and a fellow lawmaker, and the Democratic speaker of the state House has called on one of those Democrats to resign.
- In Oregon, a Republican state senator has been accused of sexually harassing a fellow senator via multiple instances of inappropriate physical contact and subjecting as many as 15 other women to “unwanted touching.”
- A powerful Republican lawmaker in Arizona has been suspended from his position as chair of the budget committee but so far has faced no calls from within his own party to resign over multiple allegations, some from sitting legislators, of sexual harassment and inappropriate touching.
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Two Democrats in California have been named in media reports of sexual harassment. One is on track to be stripped of his leadership positions by his Democratic colleagues. The other was secretly disciplined for a groping incident that occurred when he was a top legislative staffer, three years before his election to the state Assembly.
- In Kentucky, Republican Speaker of the House Jeff Hoover stepped down from his post (but refused to resign his seat) after news broke of a confidential settlement of a sexual harassment claim he’d reached with a staffer.
- Republicans in Florida have launched an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by GOP state Sen. (and gubernatorial candidate) Jack Latvala.
- In Minnesota, multiple women have come forth with accounts of harassment by a Republican state representative and a Democratic state senator.
- In Ohio, Republican Rep. Wes Goodman recently resigned amid accounts of “inappropriate behavior” that took place in his official House office (the House Speaker later said this behavior was a consensual—ahem—“interaction” between the married lawmaker and “a person not employed by the legislature”). Since Goodman’s resignation, however, dozens of accounts of his sexual misconduct have surfaced, many of them targeting young men.
- Goodman’s resignation follows GOP Sen. Cliff Hite’s exit from the legislature last month after admitting to “hugs” and “inappropriate conversation” with a state employee. A recent report revealed that this “conversation” was actually repeated sexual propositions and some stalking behavior.
- And it’s certainly not just lawmakers—it’s their aides, too. The Senate Democrats’ chief of staff also recently was asked to resign over allegations of “inappropriate conduct.”
- Earlier this month, 30 women lawmakers and staffers signed an open letter asserting that the Ohio legislature is taking insufficient action to combat sexual harassment in light of recent revelations.
But confronting sexual misconduct isn’t the same thing as fixing it. Correcting this problem requires effort and resources. And the nature of politics and political work presents its own set of rare circumstances and challenges, including lots of after-hours and out-of-office events, and typically small staffs and physical workspaces that make transferring away from or avoiding a harasser virtually impossible.
But there’s this one weird trick that would almost certainly diminish the instances of sexual harassment of women in the halls of power, though: electing more women.
Harassment isn’t the exclusive domain of men, by any means, but men with power perpetrate the vast majority of harassment in politics. If powerful men were surrounded by greater numbers of powerful women colleagues, the men would likely feel less emboldened to exercise their power in such a destructive way.
Election Day 2017 produced important steps towards that goal. Virginia voters elected 11 new women to the House of Delegates on Nov. 7; on the same day, Democrats elected new women to the Georgia and New Hampshire statehouses and won a majority in the Washington state Senate (and trifecta control of state government) by electing another woman, Manka Dhingra. And recruitment in 2018 state legislative elections already seems primed to produce record numbers of women candidates across the country.
The real impact of greater numbers of women lawmakers on incidences of sexual harassment in statehouses remains to be seen. But it’s a good start.