Helen Sommers: An Oral History

Chapter 21
The History of Women
in the Legislature
Monahan: We’ve talked throughout this ‘Helen
Sommers Oral History’ about women’s growing
involvement in Washington State government. This
year (2010), Washington acknowledged the 100
year anniversary of the State Constitution granting
women the right to vote! When you were first
elected to the House, it had only been 62 years since
the state granted women’s right to vote!
Representative Sommers: Yes, it was a long time
coming. The role of women in government in
Washington was slow to come, but the progress
has been very significant, certainly more so than
most other states. In 1972, the year I was elected,
there had only been eight women in the House and
no women in the Senate! It was largely the ‘good
old boy’s club!’
When I took office in 1973, the number of women
House members grew by four, so there then were
12 women in the 98-member House, but still none
in the Senate! In 1975, four women were elected to
the 49-member Senate and the House female count
in the Legislature grew to 14 women and 113 men!
But, each election, the numbers of women increased
in Olympia. In 1983, we had 20 women in
the House and eight in the Senate, so women were
now 29 percent of the 147-member Legislature. In
1993 it was up to 41 women in the House and 17 in
the Senate, which was nearly 40 percent! In my final
term, 2007-08, there were 32 women in the House
and 20 in the Senate!
And women have advanced to very significant
leadership roles in both chambers! Rep . Lynn Kessler
is Majority Leader of the House and Sen . Lisa
Brown is Majority Leader of the Senate. Sen . Rosa
Franklin is Senate President Pro Tempore. I chaired
the Appropriations Committee in the House and
Sen . Margarita Prentice is Chair of the Senate
Ways & Means Committee in the Senate. Rep . Judy
Clibborn and Sen . Mary Margaret Haugen are the
Chairs of the House and the Senate Transportation
Committees, respectively.
Washington’s Governor is Chris Gregoire and
our two U.S. Senators are Senator Patty Murray
and Senator Maria Cantwell. Washington State
has certainly been a leader in the role of women in
government. And, I should also mention the first
female U.S. Speaker of the House is Rep . Nancy
Pelosi. That’s a dramatic change for women!
Patty Murray (left) served one term in the State Senate (1989-93). She
won U.S. Senate seat vacated by Sen. Slade Gorton in 1992. Maria
Cantwell (center) served in the state House from 1987-1993. She was
elected to one term in the U.S. House of Representatives (1993-94) In
2000, she was elected to the U.S. Senate. Governor Gregoire (right)
is in her second term as Washington’s Governor. She was the State’s a
first woman Attorney General, and the State’s second woman
Governor. Gov. Dixy Lee Ray (1976-80) was the first.
House
Majority Leader
Representative
Lynn Kessler
Senate
Majority Leader
Senator
Lisa Brown
Senate
President Pro Tem
Senator
Rosa Franklin
editor note: Representative Kessler and Senator
Franklin both announced in 2010 they will retire at
the end of their terms. Franklin served two years in
the House (1991-1993); and 18 years in the Senate
(1993-2011). Kessler served 18 years in the House.