Women hold multiple seats of the Statehouse than ever. After #metoo, do they feel safer?

Rep. Abby Major, Pennsylvania Republican, says that male colleagues have treated women better after the recent Scandals of sexual harassment.

“I think perhaps men are afraid to do anything in order not to do a press conference on them later,” said Major, referring to his dissemination that a colleague representing in 2022 proposed it and followed it in his car. “If that’s what you need to keep people who behave well, that’s okay. I will be the boogeyman.”

Michigan Democratic State Sen. Mallory Mcmorrow, who presented a Complaint of sexual harassment Against the Senator of the Republican State Peter Lucido in 2020, he said that the improvements have less to do with political changes and more to do with the fact that the more women are responsible.

“By our very nature, we changed the way the legislator operates,” he said.

Lucid did not respond to requests for comment.

According to data kept by the for American Women and politics center at Rutgers University, the number of state legislators have seen the largest increase in 2018 since the 90s, largely led by the success of democratic women In the middle of that year. Women now occupy 33% of all legislative seats at national level, although The representation by the state varies.

Others still see sexism, especially in the rooms with a republican majority dominated by men.

“Sometimes it seems that we should simply smile more and not be disruptive and not challenge anyone. He did not go away,” said the representative of the Georgia state of Georgia Shea Roberts, who resigned as a democratic treasurer of Caucus to protest after the leader of Caucus was accused last year of having sexually harassed a staff.

Even with updated sexual harassment policies and cultural shifts, the decision to report is bristling.

Bad conduct relationships can be managed by third parties or more commonly by Caucus ethical or leadership committees. Accusers often consider as leaders and parties are in power, according to the National Women’s Defesen League.

“This is a political workplace and therefore the harassment inside the state house are intrinsically political,” said Emma Davidson Tribbbs, founding director of the NWDL.

Experts say that a third party is essential to guarantee an equitable investigation and to encourage relationships.

Only about a quarter of the legislative chambers requires external investigations when these complaints, according to the AP survey. Dozens of others allow external investigations to discretion in case of legislative leaders.

The legislative share office of Oregon, who investigates the complaints, found in his Annual report Issued at the beginning of this month that the legislative staff contacted the office more than any other group.

The Oregon Democratic State Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin was one of the two legislators who presented complaints on an unwanted touch by a colleague senator in 2017.

“I still remember the first time I turned on the radio and I heard my name and people talk about my breast or my thighs,” he told the AP. “It seemed very, very invasive. And it made me much clearer because people don’t make a complaint or because they don’t go on.”

Despite the legal protections against retaliation, the reputation and careers of accusers often suffer a blow after making themselves forward.

Gabrielle Brock, then communication staff for the Democrats of the Senate of the Indiana, was 23 years old when she and three other women accused the then actor general Curtis Hill, republican, of keeping them at a 2018 party. Their accusations led to a hearing of misconduct conducted before the Supreme Court of the State e Hill’s law was suspended for 30 days.

Hill, who denied the accusations, lost his offer as a re -election of 2020 later and ran non -successful for the governor in 2024.

As a result, Brock and the other women left their jobs in the Statehouse.

“I felt like that story in the shade any work I was doing for the state, for my Caucus at that moment,” said Brock.

Brock had found a passion for work in the government, but says that Statehouse’s environment made a place to work too uncomfortable.

“Every woman had a story of a sort of inappropriate interaction, mainly with an elected official,” he said.

Women has dropped a cause Against Hill last December, saying that through their lawyer they heard that the trial would not bring any relief: monetary or other.

When it was reached for a comment, Hill called the original “vague” and “thin” accusations.

Men still make up two thirds of all state legislators in the United States and although #metoo has mainly highlighted the voices of women, some claim that the reckoning has given them the space to join women to discuss bad conduct and to recognize more work.

The representative of the Republican State Mark Schreiber of Kansas, who joined the legislator in 2017, said he had seen an Ethos of “Boys Be Boys” when he started coming to the Statehouse decades ago as manager of the service service service company. This later gave way to recognize harassment, while blaming women.

In recent years, he said, men have understood: “We are blaming the wrong people” and “we must correct the behavior of these men”.

Supporters and legislators hope that improvements continue, stating that hostile work environments remain quite pervasive to prevent women from running for the office.

“When men run in office, it is if they can do their jobs,” said Erin Maye Note, Democratic Senator of Minnesota. “When women run in office, it is much more.”

Many question the overall progress of #Metoo, indicating the accusations of misconduct sexual conduct against many of the appointed to the cabinet of President Donald Trump and the president himself, many of whom have denied them.

“Send a normalization message on this type of behavior,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the center for American Women and politics.

“I think things are better than them. I think the Metoo movement has impactful,” he added. “But this momentum must remain because it is not only repaired in a couple of years.”

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The writers of the Associated Press Claire Rush, Sophie Austin, Mark Scarforo, Jeff Amy, John Hanna, Stevers Karnowski and AP Writers who cover the state in the United States have contributed to this relationship.

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The women of the Associated Press in the workforce and in the coverage of the state government receive financial support from the key initiatives. The AP is the only responsible for all content. Find ap’s standard To work with philanthropies, a list of supporters and coverage areas financed a Ap.org.