The Legacy of Anita Hill : Making the sexual harassment issue into Topic A

When she finally went home, after testifying before an all-male Senate Judiciary Committee that then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her, more Americans believed Thomas than Anita Hill. But a poll shows that now, one year later, 44% of registered voters say they believe that the University of Oklahoma law professor told the truth and only 34% say Thomas did. In one year Prof. Hill has acquired symbolic status as a kind of Davida against the Goliaths who still congregate on the assembly line, in the boardroom, in the military.

Hill’s televised testimony one year ago Sunday before the Senate committee riveted the nation. Millions of women immediately recognized some part of her experience as theirown. And the deep, visceral anger that she ignited has far from burned itself out.

Hill’s testimony sparked an extraordinary national debate over the definition of harassment and the extent of the problem. For months after her appearance--and Senate confirmation of Thomas--sexual harassment was Topic A on talk shows and around office water coolers.

That discourse has already produced new laws, in California and elsewhere, clarifying and strengthening existing rules about harassment.

But Hill also prompted many women to do more than just talk. A record 11 are now running for U.S. Senate seats; several attribute their decision to run directly to Hill’s unseemly treatment by the Judiciary Committee.

Other women--ranging from military officers to secretaries--drew the courage from Prof. Hill to come forward with their own disturbing accounts of sexual harassment.

Now, one short year after her testimony, Anita Hill’s legacy appears certain to be enduring.