home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- THE WEEK, Page 21ELECTION `92From Anita Hill To Capitol Hill
-
-
- A flurry of fresh female faces vindicates "The Year of the Woman"
-
-
- If the women's movement of the '70s was the lightning flash of
- female empowerment, then the long-awaited roll of thunder began
- to resound in this year's election results. From coast to coast,
- women candidates, thrust forward by Anita Hill-inspired outrage
- and helped along by anti-incumbency sentiment, were in
- contention as never before.
-
- A record 11 women sought Senate seats. Five won (including
- an incumbent), bringing the number in that body to seven, from
- three. In Illinois, an obscure Cook County recorder of deeds,
- Carol Moseley Braun, rolled to victory in the primary over a
- Democratic incumbent who had supported Supreme Court Justice
- Clarence Thomas, then won in the general election over an
- ex-Reagan official. Braun will be the first black woman Senator.
- California, with two seats open, chose establishment Democrat
- Dianne Feinstein and liberal firebrand Barbara Boxer. Once
- mocked as "a mom in tennis shoes," Washington state senator
- Patty Murray becomes a U.S. Senator after a campaign that turned
- insult to advantage. But Lynn Yeakel lost to Pennsylvania
- Senator Arlen Specter in a fierce battle.
-
- Dozens of new women are coming to the House, perhaps
- doubling the current number of 28. The fresh faces include Eva
- Clayton, the first black Congresswoman from North Carolina, and
- New York's Nydia Velazquez, the first Puerto Rican female in
- Congress.
-
- "When I ran," recalls two-time Senate candidate and former
- Missouri Lieutenant Governor Harriett Woods, "there was a 10%
- automatic disadvantage for a woman. This year there may have
- even been a slight benefit" -- a trend that will not easily be
- reversed.
-
-
-
-
- <<end article>>
-
-