sional consideration of the Family Medical Leave
Act, and the debate over abortion in the back-
ground, female politicians also ran “as women,” with
some explicitly highlighting their differences from
male Washington “insiders.”
Impact The strides women made in the 1992 elec-
tions came under scrutiny from all sides. Discrimination
against women was not eradicated despite high expec-
tations, while fears as well as optimistic predictions
that women would change the political culture in Wash-
ington, D.C., failed to materialize. Despite female
candidates’ gains in 1992, women remained a clear
minority in Congress, while their election rates grew
at a slower rate in subsequent congressional races.
As Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat from
Maryland, noted, “Calling 1992 the ‘Year of the
Woman’ makes it sound like the Year of the Caribou
or the Year of the Asparagus. We’re not a fad, a fancy,
or a year.” Actually, the 1992 elections were not the
consequence of a single precipitous event, but
rather reflected women’s long-term, historical gains
in the political realm. Throughout the twentieth
century, female legislators had made significant in-
roads into many state legislatures, so that the 1992
federal elections followed already-established state-
level voting and election trends.Further Reading
Cook, Elizabeth Adell, Sue Thomas, and Clyde
Wilcox.The Year of the Woman: Myths and Realities.
Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994.
Dolan, Kathleen. “Voting for Women in the ‘Year of
the Woman.’”American Journal of Political Science
42, no. 1 (January, 1998): 272-293.
Witt, Linda, Karen M. Paget, and Glenna Matthews.
Running as a Woman: Gender and Power in American
Politics. New York: Free Press, 1994.
Brooke Speer OrrSee also Abortion; Bush, George H. W.; Clinton,
Bill; Clinton, Hillary Rodham; Elections in the
United States, 1992; Family and Medical Leave Act
of 1993; Hill, Anita; Thomas, Clarence.The Nineties in America Year of the Woman 955
After the 1992 congressional elections, the number of women in the Senate increased from two to six, including (from left) Senators Patty
Murray, Carol Moseley-Braun, Barbara Mikulski, Dianne Feinstein, and Barbara Boxer.(U.S. Senate)