1 August 2005 - 1:25am
some rockin' women politicians
First, there are the Fabulous Seven Senators: Barbara Boxer (CA), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Patty Murray (WA), Mary Landrieu (LA), Debbie Stabenow (MI), Hillary Clinton (NY), and Maria Cantwell (WA), who have vowed that they will actually lay the smack down about abortion during the Roberts confirmation hearing. They'll actually ask the tough questions, and they'll make sure this guy discloses his views on abortion and Roe. Hooray for Senators with (metaphorical) balls!
(Also, they've set up a website where you, the voting public, can submit questions you'd like Roberts to be asked during the hearing.)
Given that tidbit of happy news, I had a strange compulsion to do some research on the women currently serving in Congress.
So, for your perusing pleasure.....
These are some women politicians that are all the more rockin' because they graduated from women's colleges.
In the Senate:
Hillary Rodham Clinton, NY-D, Wellesley College
Blanche Lincoln, AR-D, Randolph-Macon Women's College
Barbara Mikulski, MD-D, Mt. St. Agnes College (no longer in existence)
(And a high five to the states of Washington, Maine, and California for having two, therefore, only, female Senators.)
In the House:
Nita Lowey, NY-D, Mount Holyoke College
Nancy Pelosi, CA-D, Trinity University (DC) <--house minority leader
Barbara Lee, CA-D, Mills College
Jane Harman, CA-D, Smith College*
Rosa DeLauro, CT-D, Marymount College
Nancy Johnson, CT-D, Radcliffe College
Virginia Browne-Waite, FL-R, Russell Sage College
Katherine Harris, FL-R, Agnes Scott College
Betty McCollum, MN-D, College of St. Catherine
Allyson Schwartz, PA-D, Simmons College
Tammy Baldwin, WI-D, Smith College* <--and gay!
*These women are even more special because they, like me, are Smithies. :)
---
Shame on these states, for having NO women in either chamber:
Alabama
Arizona
Delaware
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa
Kansas
Massachusetts (wtf?)
Mississippi
Montana
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Utah
Vermont
And one of my new favourites politicians: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat in the House who's pro-gay rights, pro-choice, pro-gun control, and stole my heart when I read that whilst in the Florida Senate she fought to try to make language in the state more gender neutral. Oh yeah, and she shares my birthday (September 27).
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Comments
OK, why is it particularly rockin' to have graduated from a women's college? Women of HRC's generation didn't have access to the all-male elite colleges, so it wasn't like she picked Wellesley over Harvard. And even if she did, I don't get why it's better. Seriously--I'm not trying to troll.
FYI, when visited Wellesley on a college tour many many moons ago, the undergrad who led the campus tour spent most of her time telling us about how they had plenty of opportunities to socialize with men from Harvard and MIT. My reaction: if you want to meet a man from Harvard, just go to Harvard already.
First, don't judge all women's colleges by your visit to wellesley. While it'll give you a great academic record, it tends to be rather uppity and yes, they do tend to overemphasize on the harvard thing. But that, my dear, is to try to counter the Lesbian Stigma attached to women's colleges -- they play up how easy it is to meet men, especially on tours, so that the parents/homophobic prospectives don't freak out about the fact that *gasp* there are lesbians at the school.
Second, there are innumerable advantages to attending a women's college, the most important, in my opinion, being the empowerment that women at these colleges can experience. Unlike coed schools, where most of the leadership positions are held by men, women's colleges only have women/biologically-female persons in these positions. I don't have the statistics on hand (and the Women's College Coalition site seems to be down, so I can't get to them), but it's astounding how much more opportunity women at women's colleges have to succeed.
And yes, I am tooting the women's-college horn because I am a student of one (well, was a student of one -- Wells College -- before it went coed, and now I'm a student of a real women's college -- Smith), and I've seen firsthand the amazing advantage it's given me already, after only 2 years.
I could go on and on about this, but in a nutshell: women's colleges empower women, and are extremely important in a patriarchal society such as ours, because coeducation does not mean equal education, and can't until the beliefs instilled in us via social conditioning change.
They have ovaries - and that's a whole new level of courage. I hope they stick to it!
Morgaine-ism© #8
"A Woman's Sexual and Reproductive Autonomy is Sacred and Absolute."