1994 election labeled the Gingrich-led Republican majority conservative crusade against “a women’s rights” (Wilgoren 1995). Yet findings presented in the previous chapter, and the sentiments Representative Kelly expressed in the quotation that begins this chapter, call this conventional wisdom into question. Those findings imply that treatment of women might actually improve, because women in the Republican majority constitute a token minority group rather than a non-token minority group. According to the tokenism logic, Republican men, feeling less threatened by their Republican female colleagues than Democratic men were, would actually treat women better than the Democratic men of the previous majority had. Indeed, this conjecture is borne out when one considers the treatment of women in the 104th Congress. Two women Susan Molinari (R-NY) and Barbara Vucanovich – (R-NV) entered Republican leadership at the top ranks, as Republican Conference Vice Chair and – Republican Conference Secretary, respectively. In contrast, the Democrats had only one woman at that level of leadership in the 103rd Congress, the result of 1992’s Year of the Woman. Two Republican women were also named to the powerful Rules Committee. The committee is generally reserved for loyal party members with high seniority, yet one of the women, Enid Greene Waldholtz, received the assignment in her first term in office, a virtually unprecedented occurrence. Speaker Newt Gingrich also held frequent meetings with Republican women, showcasing his interest in integrating women into the party (Dodson 2006: 54). Both Democratic and Republican women noticed the change. Barbara Rose Collins (D-MI) perceived the same phenomenon that Congresswoman Kelly noted in the quotation that begins this chapter: Republican women were into powerful assignments, whereas long-serving Democratic women never received such assignments. Congresswoman Collins conceded: is the only good thing I can say about the “This Republicans: They really showcased their women…Some people who had one or two terms under
1994 election labeled the Gingrich-led Republican majority “a conservative crusade against women’s rights” (Wilgoren 1995). Yet findings presented in the previous chapter, and the sentiments Representative Kelly expressed in the quotation that begins this chapter, call this conventional wisdom into question. Those findings imply that treatment of women might actually improve, because women in the Republican majority constitute a token minority group rather than a non-token minority group. According to the tokenism logic, Republican men, feeling less threatened by their Republican female colleagues than Democratic men were, would actually treat women better than the Democratic men of the previous majority had. Indeed, this conjecture is borne out when one considers the treatment of women in the 104th Congress. Two women – Susan Molinari (R-NY) and Barbara Vucanovich (R-NV) – entered Republican leadership at the top ranks, as Republican Conference Vice Chair and Republican Conference Secretary, respectively. In contrast, the Democrats had only one woman at that level of leadership in the 103rd Congress, the result of 1992’s Year of the Woman. Two Republican women were also named to the powerful Rules Committee. The committee is generally reserved for loyal party members with high seniority, yet one of the women, Enid Greene Waldholtz, received the assignment in her first term in office, a virtually unprecedented occurrence. Speaker Newt Gingrich also held frequent meetings with Republican women, showcasing his interest in integrating women into the party (Dodson 2006: 54). Both Democratic and Republican women noticed the change. Barbara Rose Collins (D-MI) perceived the same phenomenon that Congresswoman Kelly noted in the quotation that begins this chapter: Republican women were into powerful assignments, whereas long-serving Democratic women never received such assignments. Congresswoman Collins conceded: “This is the only good thing I can say about the Republicans: They really showcased their women…Some people who had one or two terms under