Historic female Congress could shatter norms in upcoming legislative session

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A record 126 women were elected this year to the United States Congress, according to the Center for American Women and Politics, opening the door for a historic upcoming legislative session.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth made history this year when she brought her newborn to vote on the Senate floor. Political scientist Nadia Brown, who studies the policy-making of women and minority lawmakers, expects more Capitol Hill customs to transform as Congress becomes more diverse in terms of race, religion and gender.

The need for nursing stations, baby-changing tables, child care and flexible schedules is being addressed, according to a report by Politico. But more accomodations must be made for the incoming class of congresswomen, Brown said.

“With the election of the first Somali American woman in Congress, Ilhan Omar, and other Muslim women, the rules of what is allowed on the House floor will have to change because she wears a hijab,” said Brown, a professor of political science at Purdue University. “Such religious artifacts of clothing have been prohibited on the floor, so this will certainly have to be amended so she can vote as a practicing Muslim woman and do her job as an elected official for the U.S. Congress.”

Brown, author of “Sisters in the Statehouse: Black Women and Legislative Decision Making,” over the past five years has observed and interviewed minority legislators and their constituents to assess how race and gender influence voters, campaigns and policies. Women politicians tend to be influenced by their spirituality, their role as a parent and their ability to work across the aisle, Brown said.

“Women are known to be consensus builders, and they seek to bring people along on party issues,” she said. “Because of that, we should see much more legislation making its way to executive offices to be signed. I think that’s a marked difference than other time periods when there was a lot of partisan rancor. Women are really not going to go for that; women are really going to find ways to speak across the aisle.”

As more women take the reins, they are likely to focus on policies traditionally characterized as “women’s issues,” Brown said. For example, the Family and Medical Leave Act, as well as the Violence Against Women Act, were passed following 1992’s “Year of the Woman,” according to a report by Vox.

“I think we are going to see movement on what we call ‘women’s issues’ – things dealing with women, families, children, education and heath care,” she said. “We’ll see those kind of legislative items because of the number of women, but also because these are things that voters have gone the polls to say they care about. The nation is really primed on some of these big issues.” 

Writer: Joseph Paul, 765-494-9541, paul102@purdue.edu  

Source: Nadia Brown, 765-494-0460, brown957@purdue.edu