We are all aware that sexism in the workplace is a hot topic lately, and while it seems to be improving, we are still so far from being where we should be in 2014. So far, in fact, that sexism still runs rampant in the highest government in the United States. Yup, even female senators are consistently judged by their peers based on their weight and appearance. Just ask New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democratic senator for New York, has been making the media rounds to promote her new book, “Off the Sidelines,” and in an interview with People magazine, she shared just who the real pigs are in Washington.
In Off the Sidelines, Gillibrand, 47, shares a sobering incident in the congressional gym, where an older, male colleague told her, “Good thing you’re working out, because you wouldn’t want to get porky!” She replied, “Thanks, asshole.” On another occasion, she writes, after she dropped 50 lbs. one of her fellow Senate members approached her, squeezed her stomach, and said, “Don’t lose too much weight now. I like my girls chubby!”
“It was all statements that were being made by men who were well into their 60s, 70s or 80s,” she says. “They had no clue that those are inappropriate things to say to a pregnant woman or a woman who just had a baby or to women in general,” added Gillibrand.
Is “not knowing” still an excuse that we’re willing to accept though? How much longer will that be a valid answer?
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Kirsten spoke out about another incident in an interview with the New York Post., in which an unidentified southern congressman once held her arm while walking her down the chamber’s center aisle, and said, “You know, Kirsten, you’re even pretty when you’re fat.”
Uhhhhh, excuse me??
“I believed his intentions were sweet, even if he was being an idiot,” Gillibrand recounted.
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Of the 100 US Senators, still only 20 of them are female. It’s well known that D.C. is a boy’s club—back in the ’80s it was hard to even come by a woman’s restroom in Congress! So in some ways, things have improved.
However, the percentage of old white men still dominating the Senate and the House (women make up 18% of the House of Representatives) is a little mind boggling. These inequalities are part of the reason that such blatant sexism still exists in our nation’s highest government.
Maybe the saddest thing about this is that it’s actually not all that surprising. We’ve come to expect reports of this kind of behavior—yet it still comes as a huge disappointment.
Why are we still here? What will it take for men to see women as equals? Maybe Hilary Clinton will shut some of these outdated men’s mouths if (when) she runs in 2016, even though that sexism shouldn’t be the only thing she’s forced to constantly talk about. C’mon guys, don’t be that guy.
David Dean
David Dean is the founder of Serial Optimist and writer of things that hopefully make you smile. Find him all over MTV, Thought Catalog, HelloGiggles and “Google.”
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