COLUMN ONE : Sexism Still Alive in Sacramento : The sniping surrounding the election of Assembly Speaker Doris Allen shows that the double standard is entrenched among some legislators.

The next thing you know, they’ll be calling her perky .

Barely had newly minted Assembly Speaker Doris Allen mounted the ceremonial podium last Monday when the comments began:

“The first thing she ought to do is her hair,” sneered one fellow Republican assemblyman about Allen’s coif, which looked perfectly stylish to outsiders.

The snide remarks also dogged Democratic Assemblywoman Martha M. Escutia of Huntington Park, who flew to Sacramento to cast a vote for Allen despite her advanced pregnancy.

“I was quite surprised to see her,” sniffed one disapproving Republican assemblyman. “I didn’t think she would jeopardize her baby.”

To those comments and others, many women in Sacramento and elsewhere let out a collective ugh . And they voiced anew a question that erupts with unsettling frequency in the capital of the biggest state in the union: When will the sexism end?

This is, after all, a capital that has yet to see a woman governor and seated its first woman state senator only 19 years ago, and where women politicians are overwhelmingly outnumbered by men.

To be sure, there are plenty of people who disagree with Republican Allen on ideological grounds, as they did with her Democratic predecessor, Willie Brown, and many made their views known. But it is hard to recall criticisms of Brown’s hair--which, for the record, is barely there.

And many observed that when men take extraordinary steps to show up for a vote, as Escutia did, they are regarded as heroic defenders of democracy--”like John Waynes,” as one woman lawmaker put it. When he was a U.S. senator, Pete Wilson once rolled in on a stretcher to cast a vote despite a recent appendectomy. No one suggested he was endangering himself.

What it all boils down to is old-fashioned sexism, which has never quite gone out of style under the Capitol dome. Slurs against groups, such as blacks or Jews, are rarely made or quickly apologized for--but somehow, sexist remarks continue to hold a rebellious cachet. And worse, the attitude extends to issues crucial to women members.

Democratic Assemblywoman Jackie Speier of Burlingame puts it bluntly.

“This institution is a jock-ocracy,” she said. “When I first came here, [in 1986] I was stunned by how scheduling was determined more by what national sporting events were taking place than by anything else. There’s a lot of locker room humor. And issues of importance to women are often not treated with respect. It is very demoralizing.”

It is not that women in California’s Capitol are particularly sensitive to insult. Indeed, they take the rough-and-tumble of political discourse as something of a given. But they see a distinct difference between the criticisms that greet men and those that greet women.

Take, for example, the excoriation earlier this year of Assemblyman Paul Horcher, who was recalled after abandoning his Republican colleagues to vote for Speaker Brown. It was his vote that kept Brown in power until Allen’s ascension.

“Clearly, Paul Horcher was beaten up as well,” said Anne Blackshaw, a legislative consultant to state Sen. Tom Hayden, a Democrat from Santa Monica. But the comments had “a very different nature to them--one that didn’t include things like ‘get a new suit,’ ‘get a new haircut,’ and ‘isn’t it bad for your baby to do this.’ It stank. . . . It’s still the way women are marginalized around here.”

Those making the most recent remarks deny that they were driven by sexism. Assemblyman Larry Bowler was among those questioning Escutia’s maternal judgment and has been the most vocal in attacking Allen. He has described California’s first woman Speaker as “totally over her head,” “unfit” and “Willie Brown in drag.”

“My problem is not with women, it’s with this woman,” said Bowler, a Republican from the Sacramento suburbs. “I wouldn’t be talking like this if [the new Speaker] was [Assemblywoman] Paula Boland or [Assemblywoman] Marilyn Brewer. Those are qualified women. Doris isn’t.”

But one of the most conservative members of the Legislature in recent years, former Orange County Assemblyman Gil Ferguson, said the treatment of Allen illustrates a prevalent belief in the Legislature.

“Most male politicians have that feeling toward women politicians--a demeaning attitude,” said Ferguson, who was Allen’s seatmate for two years. “And if the women are strong like Doris Allen, they are especially averse to them.”

Sexism is hardly limited to Sacramento or to either of the major parties. Rep. Pete Stark of Hayward, a Democrat, drew catcalls this spring when he called Rep. Nancy L. Johnson (R-Conn.) a “whore for the insurance industry.” A year earlier, Stark said the same woman had learned what she knew of the subject from “pillow talk” with her physician husband.

Many elected officials, Sacramento veterans and political observers believe that politicians are less sensitive to women because there are so few of them in positions of authority. Although California has weathered more than a few “Year of the Woman” political cycles--and has elected two women as U.S. senators--the political hierarchy here remains solidly male.

While more than half of the state’s population is female, the governor and five of the seven top state officers are men. So are 59 of the Assembly’s 79 members and 35 of the 40 state senators. Most of the attendant circles of influence--lobbyists, consultants, journalists and senior campaign officials--are men. And most of those involved at the high levels of political campaigns are men as well.

“One of the problems with the state Legislature is that there are too few women,” said Jane Hasler Henick, the California director for the bipartisan National Women’s Political Caucus. “Men can disregard them, make sexist comments and get away with it.”

The group’s California chapter has never endorsed Allen, because its backing is reserved for women who favor abortion rights, which Allen opposes. Yet Hasler Henick, like other women who do not subscribe to Allen’s ideology, took offense at the remarks directed toward the new Speaker’s hair.

That comment was made by Oceanside Republican Bill Morrow, who like other Republicans was incensed that Allen won the speakership with the backing of all the Assembly’s Democrats--and none of its Republicans, save herself.

Morrow denied that the comment was sexist, and said he always accords his female colleagues “the respect and the courtesy they deserve.” But critics had a different interpretation.

“Instead of talking about her competence, the criticism they immediately reach for relates to her looks,” said Assemblywoman Sheila J. Kuehl (D-Santa Monica). “I’ve heard other talk about how she dresses. It’s the old ditzy, dumb blond routine.”

Assemblywoman Grace F. Napolitano (D-Norwalk), head of the Legislature’s women’s caucus, said such talk underscores “a prevailing attitude here, which is that women don’t belong. Many men still feel we should be home tending to our husbands and children and domestic duties.”

As for Allen, she says she is not surprised by “all the name-calling”--including remarks that she is “emotional” and “unstable”--nor by repeated questions from male reporters about whether she is “tough enough” to lead the contentious Assembly. From her earliest days in the Legislature, Allen said, she has coped with “chauvinistic attitudes” among many of her Republican colleagues.

“It’s persistent, and it’s especially difficult for Republican women because there are so few of us,” said Allen, of Cypress, one of four GOP women in the Assembly. She was first elected to the lower house in 1982 and is its senior Republican. “I’d like to think having a woman Speaker will make an impression, but I’m not going to hold my breath.”

Nonetheless, many women feel that things have improved somewhat in Sacramento over the past 20 years, as women have broken through the gender line in the Assembly and state Senate.

The first woman state senator, Rose Ann Vuich, was elected in 1976. In one of her first encounters with sexism, she learned there was no restroom for women senators included in a restoration of the state Capitol under way at the time. Vuich protested, and ultimately a mail room was converted into the Senate’s women’s restroom. To this day, it bears a rose on its door and a memorable name: The Rose Room.

Vuich also kept a cow bell on her desk, which she would not-so-discreetly ring every time anyone addressed the Senate as “gentlemen.” And her former aide, Marilyn Hawes, recalls that male senators would either send flowers or “give her a little kiss on the cheek” when seeking her vote.

State Sen. Diane Watson of Los Angeles, a Democrat, arrived in the Senate two years after Vuich, and said she suffered innumerable slights. Getting recognized to speak on the floor was often a challenge, and “the men laughed at my legislation, calling it light and frivolous” because it dealt with women or children’s issues, she said.

Watson also recalls her indignation at being routinely addressed by her first name by lobbyists, state agency personnel and others: “The men were all Senator This and Senator That, but I was Diane, “ she said. To this day, she requires her own staff to address her as S enator.

Delaine Eastin, a Democrat who was elected state schools chief in 1994 after eight years in the Assembly, said there was little improvement by the time she took office in 1987. That year, the Assembly was discussing whether to make it easier to approve the transportation budget by requiring only a simple majority vote.

When proponents argued for the change on the grounds that road repairs were important for California businesses, Eastin rose to say it was equally important to allow a simple majority to rule on issues involving children and education.

“I’m talking about real business, not an omelet shop like a girl like you would open,” Eastin recalls the retort of then-Assemblyman Ferguson of Orange County--the same man who is now defending Allen.

Ferguson denies making the comment. But he did acknowledge that he and Eastin engaged in a “running battle” for years.

“I think that things have improved, but I don’t think the Capitol is as urbane or as elevated in its discussion of matters related to gender as the private sector or most government agencies,” Eastin said.

Indeed, almost every woman contacted in Sacramento has a story to tell. Donna Lucas, a Republican consultant, recalled that during her pregnancy three years ago, she was asked if her husband still “let” her drive. Frequently, she said, people express amazement that she can simultaneously run a company and be a mother.

As for sexual advances, “[Women] I know have been confronted by legislators on both sides of the aisle,” she added.

Lucas, like other women, took pains to point out that she has also been helped by men--in Lucas’ case, mentored by several Republicans. Still, the conduct of other men can be grating.

Elizabeth Toledo, coordinator of California’s National Organization for Women chapter, was testifying on equity in women’s sports programs before an Assembly subcommittee recently when two male members began tossing an imaginary football back and forth.

Addressing another committee earlier this year, Toledo defended affirmative action programs, saying she had personally benefited from them. “After my testimony, one of the Republican members told me that since I had admitted I was a beneficiary of affirmative action, it was likely that I was not qualified to do my job,” Toledo said.

Assemblywoman Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) still remembers her encounter in the Capitol’s private elevator for legislators. “The operator said to me, ‘This is for members only, ma’am.’ I, of course, replied, ‘I know.’ ”

Bowen, however, believes that sexism is less prevalent in the Legislature than it was, say, in the large law firm where she once worked: “You have to earn your stripes up here, and it is somewhat harder for women to do that. But once you do, I believe you’re regarded by most people as an equal.”

Others, however, sense that progress has slowed, and some firmly insist that things have gotten worse.

Many blame the increasingly conservative nature of the GOP caucus. While sexism clearly transcends party lines, many observers note that Republicans sometimes have been more overt in their public comments and that some may believe, for religious reasons, that women have no place in government.

Others say it relates to a societal backlash by so-called “angry white males” who protest that they have suffered because of preferential treatment of women and minorities.

Whatever the motivation, women lawmakers lament that the attitudes are dooming important legislation.

Assemblywoman Kuehl sponsored a bill requiring employers to accommodate pregnant women in the workplace, by providing them with a chair or an extra restroom break, for instance. That bill--along with another extending the state’s sexual harassment law to independent contractors--died in committee, failing to win one Republican vote.

A bill that would have explicitly permitted breast-feeding in public met a similar fate. Authored by Los Angeles Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa, the legislation faced stiff opposition from Republicans, some of whom suggested it might create a public nudity problem by tempting nursing mothers to expose themselves.

“The idea that any of us are interested in being topless dancers while we’re nursing our babies is just appalling,” said Assemblywoman Speier. “It smacks of all the oppressive conduct we saw in our country centuries ago, when women were considered chattel and treated as such.”

In the wake of the comments that greeted Allen and Escutia, a story told by Allen was making the rounds among Sacramento women--a story that had a particularly sweet ending for her.

It seems that several years back, Allen was invited to a baseball game between lobbyists and legislators. When she arrived, glove in hand, she was told that she could not join the legislators’ team. Finally, some of the lobbyists shamed the lawmakers into letting her play.

She came up to bat. A couple of people were on base. And Allen, who wasn’t supposed to be part of the team, knocked in the winning run.