Virginia lawmaker Jackkeepi Voice said she had received a “security short” when joining the legislature.
“I was told with whom not to drink, with whom not to be alone and with whom we just to be careful,” she said ofState floorIn 2024. Addressing the speaker of the male home, she said, “I think you haven’t received it short.”
The Democrat discussed a widespread culture of sexual behavior in the state house, something that remains despiteMovement #MeteoHitting a critical mass in 2017.
The movement is overthrownpoliticiansCelebrities and others across the country. The allegations of harassment and misconduct, some of the years before, came to light – emphasizing toxic culture where such behavior was perhaps as widespread and accepted as the silence that buried it.
Many state legislation has responded by adopting or strengthening policies against sexual behavior. HowNumber of female state lawmakersIt achieves new heights, some say state houses are less than a “boy club”.
But the allegations continue to appear – at the state leveland out.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Voice was wondering why he would encourage women to join the legislative lines when he feels a little changed.
“I just don’t know how we keep women – and well, frankly, people – safe when she feels like going hand in hand with work,” she said.
12 dozens of lawmakers accused of 8 years
Since 2017The Associated Press has been cataloged at least 147 state lawmakers in 44 states accused of sexual harassment or sexual behavior.
Over a third resigned or expelled from office and approximately another third faced with repercussions, such as losing party positions or committee leadership. Dozens of top state executives, including governors and attorneys, also faced charges of sexual behavior at the time and resigned.
The total number includes charges of incidents in and outside the state government. This includes the Republican Senator in Minnesota, Justinatin Eichorn, whoResigned on Thursday after being chargedby requesting a minor for prostitution. A federal defender said Thursday that Eichorn is still in the process of hiring a private lawyer.
Most charges were reported inThe first two years of #MetooBut more appeared every year.
Only in 2024, AP leveled at least 14 state lawmakers from a dozen states that were accused – twice as much as the previous year.
According to the National Women’s Defense League, which advocates sexual harassment policies in state houses and keeps its own figure,Republicans and Democrats are almost equally accusedAnd 94% of they are in general are men.
New policies and training, but not always transparency
The AP Survey of the Legislative Chambers in each state, conducted from last November to January, found that about half updated theirPolicies for sexual harassmentOver the past five years.
For example, the Nevada Legislature has expanded its definition of sexual harassment to include “visual” behavior – such as offensive photos or gestures.
And Kentucky’s General Assembly added sexual harassment to its list of “ethical behavior“Taking action several years after finding that four lawmakers signed a secret settlement for sexual harassment among women’s employees.
Near the beginning of #Metoo, a study by the AP found that about a third of the legislative chambers did not require lawmakers to undertake sexual harassment training.
Almost all state legislation now offer it, although it is not always mandatory and content, format and frequency vary.
Academic experts and representation groups for women say that frequent training is the best-checked personally and with real-life scripts. While most chambers offer persons training, only about a third of national behavior training annually, according to AP research.
Not every legislative chamber is transparent about its policies or efforts to alleviate sexual harassment and bad behavior.
The Senate of Oklahoma and the two chambers of the legislature of West Virginia have refused to provide them with sexual harassment policies, claiming to be internal documents free from discovery. Mississippi Senate did not respond to requests for its written policy.
Arkansas’s Senate is the only legislative chamber without a specific sexual harassment policy, but the Senate legal adviser said there is an ethical code and authority to discipline members.
Lawmakers in California have created a body independently of the legislature to investigate reports of sexual harassment with a call line. However, the findings of the investigation are publicly publicly established if it is found that the appeal has been proven against MP or high -level personnel.
“If that’s what is needed to keep people acting properly, that’s good”
Lawmakers and others are divided on whether something has changed – and if so, why.
Representative Abi Major, a Republican from Pennsylvania, says male colleagues treated women better after recentSexual harassment scandals.
“I think maybe men are afraid to do something so as not to do a press conference for them next,” Major said, referring to her discovery that a colleague representative in 2022 suggested and followed her to her car. “If this is what is needed to keep people acting properly, then that’s good. BE BE BUGIMENT.”
Michigan’s Democratic State Senator Malori McMore, who submitted A.a complaint about sexual harassmentAgainst the Republican state of Peter Lucido in 2020, he said improvements have less to do with changes in politics and more to be done with the fact that more women are responsible.
“By our nature, we changed how the legislature works,” she said.
Lucido did not respond to commentary requests.
According to data guarded by the Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics, the number of female state -owned lawmakers has seen the highest increase in 2018 since the 1990s, largely driven by the success of democratic womenIn that year of mid -term. Womennians now occupy 33% of all legislature at national level, althoughState representation varies.
Others still see sexism, especially in the male, Republican -dominated chambers.
“Sometimes it feels like we need to smile more and not be disturbing and not cause anyone.
Coming forward sometimes has other consequences
Even with updated sexual harassment and cultural shifts policies, the decision to report is full.
Reports of misconduct can be guided by a third party or more often, from ethical committees or parliamentary leadership. The defendants often consider which leaders and parties are in power, according to the National League for Defense of Women.
“This is a political job and that is why the questions of harassment inside the state house are inherently political,” said Emma Davidson Tribs, the founding director of NWDL.
Experts say a third person is crucial to provide a fair investigation and encourage reporting.
Only about a quarter of the legislative chambers require external investigations when such complaints are made, according to AP research. Dozens of others allow external investigations at discretion from the case to the case of legislative leaders.
The legislative -shotgun of Oregon’s legislation, which investigates the complaints, found in itsAnnual reportAnnounced earlier this month that legislative staff came to the office more than any other group.
Oregon’s Democratic State Senator, Sarah Gelser Blue, was one of the two women lawmakers who complained about unwanted touch by colleague Senator in 2017.
“I still remember the first time I turned on the radio and heard my name and people talking about breasts or thighs,” she told AP. “He felt very, very invasive. And he did it much clearer why people didn’t make their complaints or why they didn’t go ahead.”
Despite legal protection against retaliation, the reputation of defendants and careers often hit after they came forward.
Gabriel Brock, then Democratic Communications Staff in Indiana, was 23 years old when she and three other women accused the then Attorney Curtis Hill, a Republican from a RepublicanClimbing them to a party for 2018. Their accusations led to a hearing on misconduct before the Supreme Court of the State andHill’s law license was suspended for 30 days.
Hill, who denied the charges, then lost his re -election offer in 2020 and failed to run for the Governor in 2024.
Brock and other women left their jobs in the state house as a result.
“I felt like that story overshadowed every job I was doing for the state, for my caucus at the time,” Brock said.
Brock found a passion for government work, but says the state’s surroundings have made it a too unpleasant place to work.
“Every woman had a story of some inappropriate interaction, primarily with an elected official,” she said.
WomenA lawsuit has fallenAgainst Hill last December, saying that through their lawyer they consider the trial to bring no relief – monetary or otherwise.
When he made a comment, Hill called the original accusations “vague” and “thin”.
“We blame the wrong people”
Men still make up two -thirds of all state lawmakers in the United States, and although #Metoo primarily notes women’s votes, some say that counting gives room to join women in discussing bad work and admit that more work is needed.
Republican State Representative Mark Schreber of Kansas, who joined the 2017 legislature, said he had seen Etos “guys would be boys” when he began coming to the state house decades as CEO of the utility company. That later gave up a place to recognize harassment – while still blaming women.
In recent years, he said, men have understood: “We blame the wrong people” and “We need to correct the behavior of these men.”
Advocates and lawmakers also hope the improvements continue, saying that hostile work environments remain widespread enough to prevent women from running for the office.
“When men run for office, it’s about whether they can get the job done,” said Erin May Quad, a democratic senator in Minnesota. “When women run for the office, it’s much more than that.”
Many call into question the overall progress of #MeTooReferring to charges of sexual behavior against several candidates for President Donald Trump’s cabinet and the president himself – many have denied them.
“Sends a normalization message for this type of behavior,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics.
“I think things are better than they were. I think the Metu movement had an impact,” she added. “But that intensity must remain because it not only repaired for a few years.”
This story was originally shown on Fortune.com
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