It wasn’t a great look: 11 white male senators, lined up to question the woman who’d come forward with sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — something that happened because there’s not a single female senator on the Republican side of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has an explanation for that lack of diversity: Supposedly, Republican women don’t want to be there because it’s too much work. 
 
 The Wall Street Journal reported that Grassley made the assertion while speaking with reporters on Friday — and later walked it back. 
 
 “It’s a lot of work — maybe they don’t want to do it,” Grassley said. “My chief of staff of 33 years tells me we’ve tried to recruit women and we couldn’t get the job done.” 
 
 According to WSJ, Grassley later came back to clarify that he didn’t mean to single out women. 
 
 “We have a hard time getting men on the committee. It’s just a lot of work whether you’re a man or a woman, it doesn’t matter,” he said. 
 
 “It’s a lot of work - maybe they don’t want to do it,” Grassley said, explaining why there aren't more women on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “My chief of staff of 33 years tells me we’ve tried to recruit women and we couldn’t get the job done.” https://t.co/UxFJMsOFV0 — Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) October 5, 2018 
 
 Further trying to clean up his comments, Grassley said that he hopes next year more women will join the judiciary panel and said he believes that “on average, any woman in the United States Senate, whether they’re on the Judiciary or any other committee, probably works harder than the average man.” 
 
 Grassley also said he thinks “probably five” would be the right number of women on the nine-member US Supreme Court. He voted to confirm Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, nominated by Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, respectively, and against the confirmation of Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, both nominated by President Barack Obama. 
 
 Judiciary Committee Republicans tweeted that reports of Grassley’s remarks were a “media mischaracterization” and said the senator “encourages but never determines” who joins the panel. They also tweeted a link to the audio of his remarks — the cleanup effort, not his original comments. In them, the Iowa Republican says the committee has had difficulties getting enough senators of either gender to join the panel. 
 
 Republican senators request & select committee assignments based on their preferences. Sen. Grassley encourages but never determines who becomes a member of the Judiciary Committee & does so regardless of gender. Audio without media mischaracterization: https://t.co/72tAJCfDZe — Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) October 6, 2018 
 
 The Senate Judiciary Committee is more than 200 years old. Republicans still haven’t had a woman serve on it. 
 
 The Senate Judiciary Committee was established on December 10, 1816, according to the panel’s website, as a “forum for the public discussion of social and constitutional issues.” In the nearly 202 years since, Republicans haven’t been able to find a single woman to sit on the panel. 
 
 And it’s not that women aren’t in the Senate, both Republicans and Democrats. A total of 52 women have served in the Senate, starting with Rebecca Latimer Felton, who served for just 24 hours after being appointed in Georgia in 1922. Eighteen Republican women have served in the US Senate in its history. 
 
 There are currently 23 women serving in the Senate, 17 of whom are Democrats and six of whom are Republicans: Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Susan Collins of Maine, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. 
 
 Democrats have found women to fill out their Senate Judiciary Committee ranks. There are four women among its 10 members, including ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein from California. 
 
 That disparity didn’t do Republicans any favors during the Kavanaugh hearings: The optics of 11 white Republican men interviewing the nominee and Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexual assault (allegations he denied), were bad. That’s why the GOP brought on a female prosecutor to do some of the interviewing. The all-white, all-male committee members advancing Kavanaugh’s nomination is a bad look, too. 
 
 The GOP appears aware of the optics, but instead of putting a woman on the committee, Grassley claimed they just can’t find one — despite at least five current members fitting the bill. 
 
 Update: Story updated with Senate Judiciary Committee tweet. 

 Alex Wong via Getty Images Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters on Oct. 5 that it was difficult to recruit Republican women for the panel. 
 
 Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested to reporters on Friday that it was difficult to recruit Republican women to his panel because it requires a lot of work. 
 
 “It’s a lot of work ― maybe they don’t want to do it,” Grassley said, according to The Wall Street Journal. “My chief of staff of 33 years tells me we’ve tried to recruit women and we couldn’t get the job done.” 
 
 Grassley later returned to the reporters to clarify his remarks, adding that it was also hard to recruit male senators. 
 
 “We have a hard time getting men on the committee,” he said. “It’s just a lot of work whether you’re a man or a woman, it doesn’t matter.” 
 
 He further walked back his comments on the workload, saying female senators generally work harder than men. 
 
 “On average, any woman in the United States Senate, whether they’re on Judiciary or any other committee, probably works harder than the average man.” 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Saturday that the GOP was not avoiding having women on the Judiciary Committee, adding that he would commit to bringing more women on the panel going forward. 
 
 “We’ve encouraged several of our women senators to go on the committee, and I intend to do that again at the beginning of the next session,” he told reporters at a press conference. 
 
 “There’s been no effort to avoid it,” McConnell added. “I’ve tried to encourage them to do it, obviously without success, and we’d love to have one of our women senators on Judiciary. And hopefully, that will be the case next year.” 
 
 On Saturday, the Senate Judiciary Committee responded to the media attention by pointing out that the chairman does not determine who becomes a committee member. 

 Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) predicted that there would be more Republican women on his panel next year, after suggesting that the panel’s workload was a deterrent. 
 
 “It’s a lot of work - maybe they don’t want to do it,” Mr. Grassley told reporters. “My chief of staff of 33 years tells me we’ve tried to recruit women and we couldn’t get the job done.” 
 
 Mr. Grassley later returned to clarify that he did not mean to imply women could not handle the committee’s workload, but rather that it made it less appealing to senators of both genders. 
 
 “We have a hard time getting men on the committee,” he said. “It’s just a lot of work whether you’re a man or a woman, it doesn’t matter.” 
 
 When asked why it was difficult to attract senators to the panel, Mr. Grassley said he personally did not understand the sentiment. 
 
 “Well, I love it. I’ve been on it 38 years,” he said, predicting that the GOP female ranks would increase in January. 
 
 Mr. Grassley also said he did not believe women senators sought a lighter workload than men. 
 
 “On average, any woman in the United States Senate, whether they’re on Judiciary or any other committee, probably works harder than the average man.” 
 
 Mr. Grassley also said he thought more women should be on the Supreme Court. 
 
 “Probably five would be about right,” he said.
– "It's a lot of work—maybe they don't want to do it." So says Sen. Chuck Grassley on why the Senate Judiciary Committee that supported Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination had no female Republicans, per the Wall Street Journal. "My chief of staff of 33 years tells me we've tried to recruit women and we couldn't get the job done," adds Grassley, the committee's chair. But the 85-year-old Republican later walked back his remarks, saying the committee's workload made it less enticing to male and female senators alike: "We have a hard time getting men on the committee. It's just a lot of work whether you're a man or a woman, it doesn’t matter." What exactly makes it so hard to get senators on board? "Well, I love it. I've been on it 38 years," the senator responded. "On average, any woman in the United States Senate, whether they’re on Judiciary or any other committee, probably works harder than the average man." Continuing his apparent change of heart, Grassley said the Supreme Court should have more women: "Probably five would be about right." All Republicans on the committee are male, while the Democrats have ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein and three other women, per the Huffington Post. In fact Republicans haven't had a single female member since the committee was established in 1816, Vox notes.