Women on the Hill:
Subtitle: Challenging the Culture of Congress
Edition: 1st ed edition
Publisher: Crown
Published: December 24, 1996
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 282
ISBN-13: 9780812963519
Subjects: Sociology; United States.; Government - U.S. Government; U.S. Congress (General); Women And Politics; Women legislators; Politics / Current Events; United States; Government - Legislative Branch; Women's Studies - General; Non-Classifiable; 1993); (103rd, 1st session :; (103rd, 2nd session :; 1994); Congress
Description: In 1991, Anita Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee to accuse Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. The outrage among feminists that greeted Thomas's subsequent confirmation as a Supreme Court justice swept women into high political office in unprecedented numbers. Women on the Hill addresses the politics of gender in the aftermath of Anita Hill's allegations.

Of equal importance, it presents four of the women on the front lines of the gender battles: Cynthia McKinney (Rep.-Georgia), Louise Slaughter (Rep.-New York), Patty Murray (Sen.-Washington), and Pat Schroeder (Rep.-Colorado).

In Women on the Hill, Clara Bingham, a former Newsweek reporter, tells the story of what happened as all four women sought to change nothing less than the culture of Congress and the agenda of a nation. She observes that this generation of congresswomen views itself as a group of settlers rather than pioneers, free to reframe the public debate.

As a result, the congresswomen have experimented with political styles - meeting with varying degrees of success - and Bingham chronicles the political showdowns, gains, and reverses that these women have encountered.