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You notice I haven’t mentioned any women.

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We only had, I believe, 13 women in 1971 when I started, 
and when I left in 1981, there were, I believe, 22—21 or 22 women Members.

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So 13 to 21, 22 in 10 years—of Members of Congress.

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And women Members were tolerated 
because they were duly elected by their constituents. 

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They had a right to be there.

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Were they accepted? Grudgingly. 

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It was still a bastion of male chauvinism, 
and particularly in the Democratic Cloakroom.

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Women were not comfortable—
women Members were not comfortable going in back there 

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with the cigar, cigarette, smelly, you know, lounge area, 
Member—male Members sleeping on the couches.

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It was just, it was very uncomfortable.

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They had every right to be there. 
They were duly elected Members of Congress.

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But it just was uncomfortable.

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So Members—most women Members in the—
at least early, when I first started in the Whip Office and Leader’s Office—

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it changed as I got in, as we got into the Speaker’s Office—
but they would come, and they would cast their vote.

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They might sit on the floor for a bit, 
but then they’d go back and do their work.

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They were busy doing their work.