‘He who does not go to drink, who is not alone’: Virginia says the legislator has received ‘security short’ when she joined the legislative body as an inconsistent behavior in the country.
Virginia MP Jackie Glass said she got a “safety short” when she joined the legislative body.
“I was told who I don’t drink with, who I don’t like to just be careful,” she said onFloorIn 2024. Addressing the speaker of the male house, she said, “I don’t think you are short.”
Democrat discussed the pervading culture of sexual misconduct in the country, something that remains despite#Metoo movementhitting a critical mass in 2017.
The movement crashedpoliticiansglorious and other countries. The allegations of harassment and misconduct, some of many years before, came to light – emphasizing the toxic culture in which such behavior may have been furious and accepted as the silence that buried it.
Many state legislative authorities responded by adopting or improving politics against sexual misconduct. AsNumber of state legislatorsThey reach new heights, some say that state houses are less “boy club”.
But the accusations still appear – at the state levelAnd beyond.
In an interview with Associated Press, Glass questioned why they would encourage women to join the legislative ranks when it seems that it has changed a bit.
“I just don’t know how we hold women – and well, honestly, people – surely when she feels like he’s going hand in hand in hand,” she said.
12 tens of accused MPs in 8 years
Since 2017Associated Press has cataloged at least 147 state lawmakers in 44 countries accused of sexual harassment or sexual violation of behavior.
Over a third, he resigned or were expelled from duty, and about another third faced the consequences, such as losing the position of a party or committee. A dozen top state executive officials, including governors and general lawyers, also faced accusations of sexual abuse at that time, and resigned the most.
In total, it includes charges of incidents in and out of the state government. This includes the Republican State of Minnesota, Justin Eichorn, whichresigned on Thursday after being chargedwith the search for a minor for prostitution. The federal defender said on Thursday that Eichorn is still in the process of employment of a private lawyer.
Most of the quotations were recorded inFirst two years #methoobut it has appeared more every year since then.
Alone 2024. AP has collected at least 14 state lawmakers from a dozen countries who have been charged – about twice the previous year.
According to the National Women’s Defense League, which is committed to politics of sexual harassment in state houses and retains its numbers,Republicans and Democrats are almost equally accusedand 94% of them are men.
New policies and training, but not always transparency
AP research of legislative chambers in each country, conducted from last year until January, it was found that about half had updated itspolicy of sexual harassmentover the past five years.
For example, the legislative power in Nevada has expanded its definition of sexual harassment to “visual” behavior – such as derogatory photos or gestures.
And the General Assembly in Kentucky added sexual harassment to her list “ethical misconduct“Taking action several years after the discovery that four MPs signed a secret settlement for sexual harassment with an employee.
Near the beginning #Metoo, AP -AP survey found that a third of the legislative chambers did not demand that the legislators would undergo training of sexual harassment.
Almost all state legislative authorities are now offering, although this is not always required both content, format and frequency vary.
Academic experts and advocacy groups for women say that frequent training is the best-founded personally and with real scenarios. While most chambers offer personal person training, only about a third of training in the entire country annually, according to AP research.
However, not every legislative council is transparent in terms of their policies or efforts to relieve sexual harassment and misconduct.
The Senate in Oklahoma and both chambers of the legislative authorities of Western Virginia refused to provide their policy of sexual harassment by AP, claiming that internal documents were exempt from publication. Senate Mississippi did not respond to the requests for his written policy.
The Senate of Arkansas is the only legislative council without a special policy of sexual harassment, but the legal advisor of the Senate said he has an ethics Code and authority to discipline members.
California MPs created the body independent of the legislative body to investigate the reports of sexual harassment with the call line. However, the findings are published only publicly if it is determined that the appeal is undergraduated against a high -level representative or employee.
“If it takes people to behave correctly, that’s fine ‘
MPs and others are divided about whether anything has changed – and if yes, why.
Tail.Sexual harassment scandals.
“I think that maybe men are afraid to do anything so I wouldn’t do the press conference next,” Major said, talking about her discovery that a colleague of 2022 was proposed and followed by her car. “If it takes people to behave correctly, then that’s okay. I’ll be Boogeyman.”
Michigan Democratic State Senator Mallory McMorrow, who endured aA complaint about sexual harassmentAgainst the Senator of the Republican State Peter Lucido 2020, he said that improvements have less to do with the changes in politics and more relationships with the fact that more women are in charge.
“By our nature, we have changed that the legislative body works,” she said.
Lucido did not respond to the commenting requests.
According to data guarded by the US Women’s Center and Politics at Rutgers University, the number of state lawmakers has experienced the biggest increase in 2018 since the 1990s, to a large extent run by the success of democratic womenIn that year. Women now occupy 33% of all legislative places throughout the country, althoughThe representation of the condition varies.
Others still see sexism, especially in the chambers of a Republican majority dominated by men.
“Sometimes he feels like we should smile more and not interfere with and not cause anyone. It has not disappeared,” said Ambassador Georgia Shea Roberts, who resigned as a treasurer of a Democratic MP in protest after being accused of sexual harassment of staff last year.
Forward sometimes has other consequences
Even with the updated policy of sexual harassment and cultural shifts, the reporting decision was fulfilled.
Reports on incomplete behavior can be resolved by a third party or more often, ethical committees or coucus leadership. The accusers often consider what leaders and parties in power, according to the National League for Defense of Women.
“This is a political job and therefore the issues of harassment within the state house are inherently political,” said Emma Davidson Tribbs, director of NWDL.
Experts say the third party is crucial to ensuring a fair investigation and encouraging reporting.
Only about one quarter of legislative chambers require external investigations when such complaints are submitted, according to AP research. Dozens of others allow external studies according to the decision of legislative leaders.
Oregon’s Office for Legislative Capital, which explores complaints, found in ITSannual reportPosted earlier this month that the legislative staff had addressed the office more than any other group.
Oregon Democratic State Senator Sara Gelser Blouin was one of two MPs who filed complaints with unwanted touching colleagues in 2017.
“I still remember when I first got involved in the radio and heard my name and people talking about my breasts or thighs,” she told AP. “It felt very, very invasive. And it became much clearer to me more clearly why people did not file their appeals or why they did not go forward.”
Despite legal protection against retaliation, the reputation and career of the accuser often hit after appearing.
Gabrielle Brock, then staff of communication for Democrats of the Indiana Senate, was 23 years old when she and three other women accused the then Attorney General Curtis Hill, about the RepublicanGroup them at a party for 2018.. Their accusations led to the hearing for inconsistent behavior before the Supreme Court of State andHill’s legal license was suspended for 30 days.
Hill, who denied the allegations, then lost his offer to re -election in 2020 and raised unsuccessfully for the governor of 2024.
Brock and other women left the job in Statehouse.
“I felt like that story overshadowed any job I did for the state, for my then MP,” Brock said.
Brock has found a passion for the Government’s work, but says that the environment in the country has made a too unpleasant place to work.
“Every woman had a story about a kind of inappropriate interaction, primarily with an elected official,” she said.
Womenrejected the lawsuitAgainst Hill last December, saying that through their lawyer they thought the trial would not bring relief – monetary or otherwise.
When he arrived for a comment, Hill called the original charges “unclear” and “thin”.
‘Let’s blame the wrong people’
Men still make up two-thirds of all state-laws in the US, and although #metoo primarily saw women’s voices, some say that the showdown gave them space to join women in discussion of misconduct and admit more work.
Republican State Ambassador Mark Schreiber of Kansas, who joined the legislative government in 2017, said he saw Etos “boys will be boys” when he started coming to Statehouse as a company’s executive a decade ago. This later gave way to the place of recognition of harassment – while still blaming the women.
In recent years, he said, the men realized, “We blame the wrong people” and “We have to correct the behavior of these people.”
Proponents and legislators hope that improvements will continue, saying that enemy work environments remain enough permeate that women do not run for duty.
“When men say duty, it’s about whether they can do a job,” said Erin Maya Quade, a democratic senator in Minnesota. “When women are running for the office, it’s a lot more than that.”
Many call into question the overall progress #metoopointing to sexual abuse of allegations against several candidates for the cabinet of President Donald Trump and the President himself – many of whom denied them.
“She sends a message of normalization about this kind of behavior,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the American Women and Politics Center.
“I think things are better than they were. I think Metoo movement had an impact,” she added. “But that momentum must remain because it is not repaired only in a few years.”
This story is originally shown on Fortune.com
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