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Year of the Woman

 
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Year of the Woman
 
 
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The Year of the Woman was a popular label attached to 1992 after the election of a number of female Senators in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
.

The hotly contested Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas is an American jurist. He has served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1991, the second African American to serve on the nation's highest court ....
 involving the allegations of Anita Hill
Anita Hill

Anita Faye Hill is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and a former colleague of Supreme Court of the United States Justice Clarence Thomas....
 raised the question of the dominance of men in the Senate.

In 1991, the Senate included two female members, but neither Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas
Kansas

The State of Kansas is a Midwestern U.S. state in the Central United States of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the United States "Heartland"....
 nor Barbara Mikulski
Barbara Mikulski

Barbara Ann Mikulski is an United States politician of the Democratic Party , and the Seniority in the United States Senate United States Senate from the U.S....
 of Maryland served on the Judiciary Committee.






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Yearofthewoman
The Year of the Woman was a popular label attached to 1992 after the election of a number of female Senators in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
.

The hotly contested Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas is an American jurist. He has served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1991, the second African American to serve on the nation's highest court ....
 involving the allegations of Anita Hill
Anita Hill

Anita Faye Hill is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and a former colleague of Supreme Court of the United States Justice Clarence Thomas....
 raised the question of the dominance of men in the Senate.

In 1991, the Senate included two female members, but neither Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas
Kansas

The State of Kansas is a Midwestern U.S. state in the Central United States of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the United States "Heartland"....
 nor Barbara Mikulski
Barbara Mikulski

Barbara Ann Mikulski is an United States politician of the Democratic Party , and the Seniority in the United States Senate United States Senate from the U.S....
 of Maryland served on the Judiciary Committee. Allegedly, Washington State senate member Patty Murray
Patty Murray

Patricia Lynn Murray is the senior United States Senate from Washington. A member of the Democratic Party , Murray was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and has held the position ever since, becoming Washington's first female U.S....
 decided to run for election after watching these hearings.

While Murray set out to raise the necessary funds, two other women several hundred miles to the south in California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 began work on their own Senate campaigns. As a result, on January 3, 1993, for the first time in American history, California became the first state in the nation to be represented in the Senate by two women. In the 1992 elections, Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Feinstein

Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the Seniority in the United States Senate United States Senate from California and a member of the Democratic Party ....
, a former Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party . It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world....
 mayor of San Francisco, running for the balance of an uncompleted term, beat her opponent with a margin of nearly two million votes, while Barbara Boxer
Barbara Boxer

Barbara Levy Boxer is an United States Democratic Party politician and the current junior U.S. Senator from the U.S. state of California. She holds the record for the most popular votes in a statewide contested election in California, having received 6,955,728 votes in her 2004 re-election over former Republican Party California Secretary...
—a 10-year veteran of the U.S. House of Representatives who had joined six of her Democratic women colleagues in a march on the Senate to urge greater attention to Anita Hill's charges—solidly won a full term.

A week after the election, a popular Washington Post photograph illustrated the situation. Standing with exultant Democratic Majority Leader George Mitchell
George Mitchell

George Mitchell may refer to:*George J. Mitchell , former Senator from Maine, special envoy to the Middle East for the Obama administration, former Senate majority leader and former chairman of Disney...
 were not only Feinstein and Boxer, but also Carol Moseley Braun
Carol Moseley Braun

Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun is an United States politician and lawyer who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999....
 of Illinois
Illinois

The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....
 and Patty Murray
Patty Murray

Patricia Lynn Murray is the senior United States Senate from Washington. A member of the Democratic Party , Murray was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and has held the position ever since, becoming Washington's first female U.S....
 of Washington. Never before had four women been elected to the Senate in a single election year.

When the newcomers joined incumbents Kassebaum and Mikulski in January 1993, headline-writers described the occurrence as "The Year of the Woman." In response, Senator Mikulski said, "Calling 1992 the Year of the Woman makes it sound like the Year of the Caribou or the Year of the Asparagus
Asparagus

Asparagus officinalis is a flowering plant species in the genus Asparagus from which the vegetable known as asparagus is obtained....
. We're not a fad
FAD

In biochemistry, flavin adenine dinucleotide is a redox Cofactor involved in several important reactions in metabolism. FAD can exist in two different redox states and its biochemical role usually involves changing between these two states....
, a fancy, or a year."

Other information

  • Since 1992, Year of the Woman has become a sort of cliché
    Cliché

    A clich? or cliche is a saying, expression or idea which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning, especially when at some earlier time it was considered distinctively meaningful or novel, rendering it a stereotype....
     and it has been applied to other areas like business, film, and sports.
  • Not to be confused with Sandra Hochman's 1973 film
    Film

    Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
     Year of the Woman, documenting the 1972 Democratic National Convention
    1972 Democratic National Convention

    The 1972 National Convention of the United States Democratic Party was held at Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida from July 10 to July 13, 1972....
     and Shirley Chisholm
    Shirley Chisholm

    Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was a African-United States politician, educator, and author. She was a United States Congress, representing New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983....
    's candidacy.


External Links

  • by the International Museum of Women
    International Museum of Women

    The International Museum of Women, , located in San Francisco, California, California is a social change museum that celebrates and values the lives of women around the world....
    .