Button of Nancy Pelosi as Rosie the Riveter (used with permission).

Elated, awed, in tears of joy. These words pretty much describe how I have felt these past few days as I’ve been privileged to be able to attend several of the events organized to celebrate the election of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. And while everyone I’ve discussed these events with has been similarly thrilled, I also note the criticism that has come that Speaker Pelosi is making too big a deal–huh?
First woman speaker of the house ever, second in line to the Presidency (after Vice President Cheney) and we are all making too big a deal? This is just the first wave of the many critiques she will receive, all of which will be conditioned by her gender. Women leaders and all feminists have a role to play in speaking out in support of Pelosi and other women members of Congress when they are attacked for being where some think they don’t belong–in the halls of power!
Please join me in a New Year’s Resolution to support our women members of Congress with our voices and actions in 2007. At only 16 percent in both the House and the Senate, women have still not achieved a 20 percent share, a proportion that many observers think would indicate that women have advanced beyond the token stage in which they can be relatively easily marginalized (see the CAWP site at Rutgers University for more data on women’s office holding).
– Heidi Hartmann