“Hillary made every woman proud,” Capito, R-W.Va., said of the former first lady and current senator from New York. “And she exited gracefully — like a winner.”
Capito’s remarks came just before she addressed the opening night of Girls State, a gathering of of approximately 400 high school girls from throughout West Virginia that opened this week at Wheeling Jesuit University.
The intent of the six-day event is to spur interest in government, public service and elections among young women who might themselves run for Congress or president.
Capito acknowledged that 2008 has been and continues to be an exciting year for women and elections, but she would like to see more females serving alongside her Congress.
Capito noted that of the 535 members of Congress, only 80 are women.
There have been 256 women ever to serve in the history of the U.S. Congress, compared to 10,913 men, according to Capito.
“Women in Congress are increasing in numbers,” she said. “But we’re doing so in small chunks.”
Capito told the high school girls of Jeannette Rankin, who in 1917 was the first woman elected to Congress at a time before women had the right to vote. Rankin would go on to be the only member of Congress to vote against U.S. involvement in both World Wars.
She also spoke of her own first election to the U.S. House in 2000. Her father, Arch Moore, himself a former member of Congress, was permitted to accompany her onto the House floor for her swearing in ceremony.
On that day, Capito said she casually asked him if he might remember where the ladies restroom was located.
“He told me that when he was there 30 years before, there had been no ladies room,” she said. “There were just three women in Congress, and they used the men’s room.”
Capito told the girls that there were some advantages women in Congress do have over the men.
“We can wear red,” she said. “We can talk about issues with a compassion that men can’t. There is also always so much in front of us that we need to do. We know how to multi-task better than men do.”
West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland and Gov. Joe Manchin also will address Girls State before it concludes Thursday.
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Photo by Joselyn King
U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., gives the opening night address at Girls State on Sunday night. Girls State, a gathering of of approximately 400 high school girls from throughout West Virginia, has set up this week on the Wheeling Jesuit University campus.