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How Has America Changed Since Anita Hill?
The senate’s treatment of Dr. Blasey Ford would have been very different without her
I remember 1991. Having graduated from college in 1989, and with a passion for politics, I, like many of my ilk, migrated to Capitol Hill to find work I deemed important. Luckily, in the 1990 election, I had worked for a congressional campaign that defied expectations and won in what was then rock-ribbed Republican New Hampshire. As a result, I had a leg up and landed a job as a legislative assistant.
I had visions of changing the world in this position. I thought I had become a big deal. But the mundane nature of the work soon brought me to reality. Answering mail, taking notes at meetings, and taking phone calls the congressman didn’t have the time for became a daily grind. As my mother expressed when I described the work to her, I was a good secretary — and a low-paid one, at that.
Anita Hill’s poise and obvious honesty changed the way people viewed sexual harassment in particular and women in general.
What made up for these frustrations was my pride in walking the halls of Congress. I felt like I was witnessing history up close. My boss’s first big vote was on the resolution…
