Fighting Sexism in the Senate
WHITFIELD: In the nation's capital, New York's junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, says sexism is alive and well. She says she has been the target of some very inappropriate sexist comments right in the halls of Congress. Here's Dana Bash.</s>DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chubby. Porky. Hot. Honey Badger. These are all words actually used by male members of Congress to address their colleague, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, to her face. The New York Democrat reveals this in "Off the Sidelines," a new book about what it's like to be a 47-year-old woman in politics in 2014. Gillibrand is one of only a few women in history to give birth while in Congress. She talked to me about that several years ago right after her youngest son was born.</s>SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D), NEW YORK: There's a lot more interest in younger women beginning to look at public service earlier. And when we look at public service earlier, it means we have children while we're serving. It's good for the Congress.</s>BASH: She's open about struggling with weight gain after two pregnancies. As she was shedding pounds -- she lost 50 -- a male senator came up behind her, squeezed her waist and said, "Don't lose too much weight. I like my girls chubby." Gillibrand makes headlines fighting for women's rights against sexual assault in the military, yet she says male colleagues didn't realize their comments were crass because they're older, in their 60s and up, but 74-year-old House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi who came to Congress when few females served is appalled.</s>REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: It's absolutely ridiculous. It's disrespectful. Here's Senator Gillibrand, one of the great leaders in our country.</s>BASH: There are now 20 women in the Senate, an all-time high but it's still only 20 percent of the Senate and women make up more than 50 percent of the U.S. population. Barbara Mikulski is the longest serving female senator in history. When she first came only 28 years ago, women weren't even allowed to wear pants on the Senate floor. Bathrooms were limited.</s>SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D), MARYLAND: There's this place called the Senate gym. The locker room. That just couldn't accommodate me.</s>BASH: The good news is women can now exercise in the congressional gym. The bad news is, it's apparently a forum for inappropriate comments like when a colleague told Gillibrand, "Good thing you're working out because you wouldn't want to get porky," but she reports she gave as well as she got, responding, "Thanks, A-hole." Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.</s>WHITFIELD: My goodness. All right, well perhaps you need more of a political fix. Don't miss CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley, tomorrow 9:00 a.m. And this week she'll interview former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. He'll talk about 2016 and the indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry. All right, still ahead in the NEWSROOM, do you think your teenagers are getting enough sleep? A new report says they don't and it's time to do something about it.