Women in Congress Cite Gains on Family Issues

With record numbers of women in the House and Senate, the 103rd Congress enacted more legislation on family- and child-related issues in its first session than any of its predecessors, the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues said Thursday.

“We have never come so far so quickly,” said Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), a 10-term veteran of Capitol Hill and the caucus’ co-chairwoman. “Electorally, 1992 was the year of the woman. But legislatively, 1993 has equal claim to that title.”

Schroeder and Rep. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Me.), also a co-chairwoman, cited gains in legislation on education, health, defense, taxes, family leave, abortion rights and childhood immunization.

When the next session begins in January, the caucus will try to play a major role in shaping health care legislation, hoping to fend off any restrictions on abortion and other medical treatments for women. It also will attempt to prevent “bashing” of welfare recipients through any changes in welfare law, Schroeder said.

In all, 30 bills on women’s issues were enacted this year, contrasted with five or fewer such measures in the first year of the preceding five sessions of Congress, the caucus said. One of the major themes in the legislation was fair treatment for women, the caucus said, ensuring, for example, that more health research dollars would be devoted to diseases affecting women, such as breast and ovarian cancer.

Other measures designed to prevent violence against women, assure access to abortion clinics and promote healthy child development are expected to win final approval early next year after House and Senate versions of the bills are reconciled.

To be sure, the caucus suffered some setbacks and no women were among the upper ranks of the Democratic or Republican Party leadership. Nor did a woman chair a committee in either chamber.

But with 48 women in the House and seven in the Senate, they are having an important effect in at least two ways, Schroeder said: By their participation in bill-shaping committees and by informing their male colleagues of issues important to women.

“New women members have a lot more clout than they used to have,” she said. “It’s changed the dynamic.”

Schroeder said her biggest disappointment in 1993 was the 255-178 House vote that banned government payments for poor women’s abortions under Medicaid--except in cases of rape, incest or danger to the woman’s life. The Senate adopted the same language.

Getting congressional approval for public funding of any abortions, Schroeder said, is going to be “very, very, very difficult” in the near future.