“I like my girls chubby,” a male Senator told Kirsten Gillibrand. Yes, really.
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) has a new book coming out, "Off the Sidelines," and has been making the media rounds to promote it. The New York Post highlighted parts of the book today, in an article titled, "Gillibrand: Male colleagues called me ‘porky’ after baby."
As awful as that headline is, things get worse in the book, according to the story. One quote in particular stands out. Gillibrand reveals that one male Senator, after she lost about 50 pounds, came up behind her and gave her waist a squeeze. “Don’t lose too much weight now," he told her. "I like my girls chubby.” She says that he was one of her favorite senators(!).
As Gillibrand's title infers, the book goes into detail about the things that women in politics still have to deal with that their male counterparts, well, don't.
Yes, there are more women in Congress than ever before, but there are still far fewer women than men serving. There are 20 women in the Senate, and 79 women in the House. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, women make up only 24.2 percent of all state legislators. A 2013 article from the Texas Observer highlights how this is a problem for women legislators across the country. The reporter tells of the stories women politicians told her.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/08/27/who-says-the-senate-isnt-an-old-boys-club-anymore/
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