[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 64 (Thursday, May 9, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4949-S4950]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               IN CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN PUBLIC SERVICE

 Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I would like to take this 
opportunity to share with my colleagues a unique conference which took 
place earlier this week--the sixth annual Southern Women in Public 
Service conference hosted in Birmingham, AL, by the John C. Stennis 
Center for Public Service. The theme of this gathering was ``Coming 
Together to Make a Difference.'' Over the past 6 years, this event has 
become the most significant annual bipartisan gathering of women 
political and business leaders throughout the South. The event has 
grown each year but the purpose remains the same: to make government 
better, more effective and more responsive by bringing women into 
public service leadership.
  As a board member of the Stennis Center, I have watched this 
organization consistently enable women to pursue public service careers 
by providing an avenue in an area of the country which needs it more 
than any other. This challenge is illustrated by the fact that only 1 
of 8 women in the U.S. Senate is from the South; 1 Southern State has 
never elected a woman to statewide executive office while another has 
never sent a woman to Congress; 9 of the 11 States which rank lowest in 
the percentage of women in State legislatures are in the South and no 
Southern State currently has a female Governor. I can tell you however, 
Mr. President, this will not be the case for much longer. This 
conference is changing attitudes by its very visibility in training and 
inspiring women for appointed and elected office each year. In fact, 
the Stennis Center was credited this week as the last great glass 
ceiling breaker. Much credit goes to former Congresswoman Lindy Boggs, 
who serves as the chair of the conference year after year. She is an 
inspiration for many women and she is continuing to use her platform to 
define public service for others. Quite simply, Lindy is contagious.
  Recently, our Nation celebrated the 75th anniversary of women's 
suffrage--to coin a phrase, women have come a long way, baby. We now 
have women serving in the public policy arena in nearly all capacities, 
yet the pace is agonizingly slow. In the early 1970's, only 4.5 percent 
of all State legislative seats were held by women. Today, 21 percent of 
the 7,424 State legislative seats in this country are held by women. 
Women hold 56 or 10.5 percent of the 535 seats in the 104th Congress. 
One State in the Union has a woman Governor--New Jersey, led by 
Christine Todd Whitman.
  In 1994, four States had women Governors, including my own State of 
Oregon which was led by Barbara Roberts. Governor Roberts is currently 
teaching at the John K. Kennedy School at Harvard University. My State 
has a strong history of capable women serving in statewide and locally

[[Page S4950]]

elected positions. Currently, the mayor of Portland is Vera Katz, a 
talented legislator. Our chief State school officer, Norma Paulus, 
serving in a nonpartisan, statewide elected capacity, has been the 
trailblazer for women in government in Oregon. Even with this history, 
Oregon only has women serving in 28 percent of its elected positions. I 
hope that the Stennis model can be duplicated in other regions across 
the country, with the Northwest at the top of the waiting list.
  Among the reasons for increasing the number of women in public 
service leadership is to improve government at all levels. Women make 
up 52 percent of the population and the majority of all registered 
voters. Without large numbers of women in government, America is 
missing out on some of its most capable, effective leaders who can 
improve the quality of life not just for women, but for all Americans.
  I would like to just add a word of personal tribute to all of the 
forms of public service women give. Some of our strongest role models 
were never elected but served in one of the most difficult positions of 
power--from Eleanor Roosevelt to Nancy Reagan to Hillary Clinton--all 
of these First Ladies deserve our gratitude for blazing the trail to 
serve their country. Their example will serve the initial ``First 
Gentleman'' quite well.
  The Stennis Center, established in 1988 to exemplify the life of 
public service defined by Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi, is 
doing quality work not only for women in the South, but for many of our 
own staff family. This is the second year of the John C. Stennis 
congressional staff fellows--a program which provides senior 
congressional staff with an opportunity to focus on improving the 
performance of Congress as an institution. The center also operates the 
John C. Stennis National Student Congress, a State executive 
development institute, a legislative staff management institute and a 
national black graduate students conference--an activity designed to 
recruit minorities to be congressional aides. All of this work is done 
by a small staff led by the very capable Mr. Rex G. Buffington II, the 
executive director of the center. We all owe Mr. Buffington and his 
staff a debt of gratitude for the time and effort they are expending, 
in the name of my friend John Stennis, to insure that young people are 
attracted to careers in public service, that training and development 
opportunities exist for those in public service and that congressional 
staff are better equipped to perform their duties more effectively and 
efficiently.
  This week's conference provides just the most recent example. As one 
of the conference participants shared this week ``If this conference 
didn't light your fire, then check your wood, because it must be wet.'' 
Mr. President, I suspect that many flames are burning bright right 
now.

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