Keynote Address

I sense that women are transforming Congress on several levels simultaneously. Women are increasing their numbers in Congress with just about every election. We are changing priorities, adding to the debate, and, frankly, disappointing the skeptics. We thereby empower a whole new generation of women voters who increase their participation with every election. Changing priorities, adding to the debate, and in some cases helping to elect women to Congress to disappoint the skeptics - it is a continuous process with no end in sight, except for two concerns that I will pose as questions at the end of my remarks.

Let me first say that some aspects of politics can be gender neutral. I was twenty-seven years old when I first got elected to the New York City Council. There were thirty-five members, ten women. New York City was pretty advanced in electing women to the legislative arena, but New York City was not very advanced in electing Republicans to the council. I stood out less because I was a woman than because I was twenty-seven and the only Republican. In fact, on my first day in office on the floor of the city council, I was elected the minority leader of the New York City Council. My parents were there, and the New York Times, the New York Post, the Daily News, and all of the TV stations. Ed Koch had just gotten sworn in for his last term as mayor. Andrew Stein, president of the City Council, called for nominations for minority leader. I had to stand up and say, "I, Susan Molinari, do hereby nominate Susan Molinari for minority leader of the New York City Council." Stein went through the whole rigmarole: "Are there any more nominations? Alright, the nominations are closed. All those in favor say 'aye'. All those opposed?" I was gaveled in as minority leader, at which point I thanked myself for my support, reminded the speaker that he just barely squeezed through while my vote was unanimous, and noted that I would have full attendance in all my Republican caucuses. 

My experience in New York City does illustrate one measure of how far women have come in politics. In 1986, as minority leader, I was debating the mayor on the budget. Anytime somebody said something bad about Ronald Reagan, I had to get up out of my chair and speak. As you can imagine, the New York City Council had me standing and debating more than sitting. The question came up about whether the minority leader should get all the so-called perks, like her own office. The Council spokesperson said, "Give her her own office? She doesn't even know where the little girls' room is." My point about progress is that ten years later our male colleagues might still think that, but they wouldn't be stupid enough to say it. 

After four and a half very challenging years, I was given the great honor of serving in the House of Representatives, and controversy seemed to follow me. In my second week, I was giving a one-minute, down in the well at the beginning of the legislative day, defending a naval installation on Staten Island. I spoke on the need to stay active on defense, and the need to make sure that the military was still prepared, and New York City's role in that. When I went back to my office, my equally young and inexperienced staff was - I believe the appropriate term would be - 'freaking out'. The New York Times, The Daily News, The Regis and Kathie Show all called to do an interview with me. I thought it was because I had really shown that a young woman could be tough on defense. Could it be that I was the first woman to wear pants on the floor of the House of Representatives? I was singled out for my wardrobe (but I must admit I did the Regis and Kathie Show.)

Jokes aside, I was honored to serve for seven years in the House of Representatives. And it was a historic time in 1994 as Republicans took over for the first time in forty years. There was an interesting dynamic in the leadership elections. We knew who was going to be speaker, who was going to be majority leader, and who was going to be chairman of the House conference. Then I got elected to be vice-chair of the House Republican Conference, and Barbara Vucanovich of Nevada was up in the next election. Everybody assumed at that point that Tim Hutchinson [R-Ark.] was going to win because, hey, we had our one woman, do we need to do more? Well, the House Republican Conference elected Barbara Vucanovich, and for the first time two women were elected to leadership in the House of Representatives. 

Those heady times took on a personal dimension for me. During that time, I met my husband. We courted on the House floor, and he did, in fact, propose on the House floor. We thought nobody was watching. The cameras were on the debate, and we were in the back. But by the time we left the House to go down the Capitol steps, there was a huge press conference. This was news: two members of Congress getting engaged on the floor of the House of Representatives! We did press conferences the whole day, and we went home exhausted that night to lots of late night television jokes. 

For both men and women, our egos allow us to run for office, yet from the day that we make the decision to run for office, our opponents, the media, our campaign team, and the voters work to deflate that ego. 

Yet in spite of the scrutiny, women are running for office in record numbers. Let's look at some numbers very quickly. In 1990 when I got to Congress, women occupied twenty-six seats in the House of Representatives. Today there are fifty-six in the House of Representatives. Let's not take that growth for granted. That is huge. Women occupied two seats in the United States Senate when I got there; today there are nine in the Senate. On the state level, there are three female governors and nineteen lieutenant governors. Women hold ninety-one statewide elective offices. And Elizabeth Dole ran a credible but short race for president of the United States. 

Once elected, these women are translating their successes into victories for all women. We do it by serving as role models for the younger generation and by raising issues that, until recently, were not considered the business of government. Let's just take a quick look at three policy areas. 

First is women's health. Not too long ago, we learned that drinking a glass of red wine and taking an aspirin everyday would improve our cardiovascular health. After we were all drinking wine and taking aspirin, we learned that these studies, conducted with federal funding, did not include any women in the protocols. The National Institutes of Health couldn't figure out how to isolate the different ways women's bodies reacted. The NIH has since established the Women's Health Initiative. But it also became a political issue, and women in Congress have shown an uncanny ability to cross partisan lines and get along when it came to women's health. Osteoporosis, cervical cancer, breast cancer - these had not even been discussed on the floor of the House of Representatives. 

Women's safety is number two. Violence against women used to be an issue that we just didn't discuss. It was considered a private family problem. Police officers would say, "Take a walk around the block and cool off. We don't want to get involved." Neither did the members of Congress until women like Barbara Kennelly said "This is the business of government." The Violence Against Women Act was one of the least controversial pieces of legislation that has ever come out of the House of Representatives. It was so popular that almost all of the 435 members of Congresses claimed that they were the chief sponsor. I remember working on a health insurance bill where we had to redefine the coverage for health insurance in cases of spousal abuse. A prominent insurance company claimed that a woman who was brought to the emergency room on several occasions because of spousal abuse could not be covered after the third time, even though she had a head trauma because her husband had been beating her. The insurance company said it was a self-inflicted wound because she didn't leave the situation. Members of Congress gratefully rallied to make legislative language changes so that insurance companies couldn't come up with such dumb excuses not to pay for healthcare. 

Number three: women in the workplace. Women are starting up small businesses at a faster rate than men and even that last male bastion of testosterone - the Internet - has been taken over by women. By the end of this year, women on the web will outnumber men. Think about the implications for women in the workplace and what that means to all of our futures. Women in Congress will control the outcome on issues that concern the Internet. 

A lot of these issues - women's health, women's safety, women in the workplace, all the other traditional women's issues - would come to the forefront of politics sooner or later. There are also many issues that women don't agree on - issues like abortion, family medical leave, and daycare. The important point is that women must be seated at the table when decisions on these issues are made. That is the change taking place, and there is no question that women in Congress have accelerated the pace and changed the attitudes. 

Both men and women are now looking to capture and redefine the women's vote by saying they want to run on these women's issues. When I first ran, women were told not to deal with women's issues, do something like defense instead to show that you can handle these issues. My political handlers advised me, "Susan, please don't let the first issue you deal with be a woman's issue." And I didn't do it. The truth is we all got the same advice.

Well, what changed? In the words of a dear friend of mine, "It's the voter, stupid." In 1980, women voted in numbers just about equal to men. In 1996, the percentage of women who reported voting for president was 55% compared to 52% of eligible male voters. Women outnumber men among registered voters. In 1996, there were 67.9 million women, 59 million men. Women also outlive men, so issues like Social Security, health care reform, and Medicare doubly impact women. Now women are not only trying to raise their children but they are taking care of their parents. What issues are women's issues? Just about everything that is on the table. Every election, women seem to have more at stake and they respond in kind at the ballot box. 

Women in Congress have led the way in making sure that issues which are important to the voters are being addressed on the floor of congress. More women vote, more women get elected to congress, they inspire more women to run for office, and therefore to vote. It is not going to stop. We are in place to seize this historic opportunity. 

Two questions, however, may cast a shadow on this pattern of progress. These questions are critical because how they are answered could speed up or slow down the movement toward a critical mass of women in Congress. First, are girls being raised to take risks? Are young women being encouraged to stand up in front of the American public and say, "I am going to try something and there is a darn good chance I am going to fail"? That was the hardest thing I had to do in running for office - taking a risk and possibly failing. I worry that women are still raised with the idea that failing is a bad thing as opposed to just not trying at all. We have to say to women, "You just give it your all, sister, and if you fail, good for you for trying." 

When I told my dad that I wanted to run for the New York City Council, he gave me a card and told me to keep it with me at all times because I was going to need it if I got into politics. The quote is from a speech that Theodore Roosevelt gave at the Sorbonne in Paris in April of 1910. It is called, "The Man in the Arena".

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

I submit to you that if we are going to be a fair and representative country, one of our greatest challenges is to redefine that man in the arena to include women - and we are almost there. 

The second question I leave you with has to do with the struggle between having children and working in the House of Representatives. I consider working in the House of Representatives one of the greatest honors that you can be given, but it is a twenty-four-hour-a-day, seven-days-a -week job. I had one child and felt the pull to have another. I personally made the decision after seven years that I had had enough and I was selfish about my family. I faced the question: Should I be at your kid's soccer game or mine? That is when I decided to stop. 

How can members of Congress reconcile working on issues that affect the freedom of one Cuban boy or determining the budget while also making sure they are home in time to help their children with their homework? I don't know the answer. Perhaps Cherie Blair has the answer since she has insisted that her husband, the prime minister, take some time off with family and medical leave to help raise their children. That is the kind of attitude change that we need [in this country] so that we can make the shift and make the adjustment. We do not put men through the cookie cutter approach of how to balance job and lifestyle. Women need the same freedom to find what works for them, their families and circumstances.

Another great British female once said, "In politics, if you want anything said, you ask a man. If you want anything done, you ask a woman." Margaret Thatcher, we thank you.