It is no secret that politics have typically been dominated by men. According to the Center for American Women and Politics, only 25% of the U.S. Senate are women and only 29% of the U.S. House of Representatives are women. As far as positions in state government, the numbers are slightly better. State Senate seats are 30.2% women, and State House seats are 33.9% women. With lower representation in government, it begs the question, what is the role of women in influencing policy? The LBJ Museum of San Marcos, in celebration of Women’s History Month, had a panel discussion on women in politics to answer this question.
The moderator for the panel was Dr. Ann Burnette, Texas State University Department of Communication Studies regents’ teacher. On the panel was Talan Tyminski — senior vice president of Mach 1 Group (a firm serving organizations and causes at the crossroads of public opinion and public policy), Trish Bode — client communications specialist for Hillco Partners (public and government affairs consulting firm), and Bonnie Bruce — owner of Mesquite Strategies (organization that provides a wide range of services to businesses and nonprofit clients to achieve political, administrative and legislative goals in Texas).
The panel touched on imposter syndrome, which according to psychology today, involves feelings of being undeserving of one’s achievements and the high esteem in which they are held and is particularly common in highly competitive environments. Being that the political sphere is incredibly competitive, it is no surprise that each of the panel members have had their own experiences with imposter syndrome.
“I enter every situation reminding myself that I don’t know everything,” Tyminksi said. “Especially in politics. It’s so insider. Everyone knows everyone.”
Bode said the key to success ad pushing past any feelings of inadequacy is to advocate for yourself, but that is not always easy.
“Because you have to do it in the right way,” Bode said, referring to the negative implications for women who are assertive in the workplace, which is often seen as a positive trait in men.
Bruce said she had a young staffer in 2012 who came to her and asked her why there weren’t more women in the lobby. She said part of the reason is that it is a male dominated industry and certain clients still don’t think women are capable of doing the job without a man present. But she said there is more to it than that.
“Most chief of staffs are female. The next level is completely inverse, and a lot of the reason why is women have children. And it is still a 24/7 business where I entertain a lot. I go out to dinner with legislators,” Bruce said. “I got pregnant with twins, and everybody at the capitol was like, ‘She’s done. She’s going to quit. She’s going to go home and raise her children.’ I was so mad, because nobody said that about my husband … I will not discount the fact that it’s hard …[but] I am just as qualified as any man in the industry.”
Bruce said for women working in the political sphere trade-offs are often necessary.
“Every single one of them said they lost the ability to get married and have kids. They gave up something to be able to serve,” Bruce said. “[Texas State Representative] Mary González came in young … She was a state legislator, a doctoral candidate [and a] female legislator, and she said ‘Who’s going to date me? Who wants to take that on?’ It’s a different power structure for a woman. Our female legislators are so dedicated to serving their constituents that that’s the kind of stuff they give up.”
Burnette asked what the panel thought could be a way to combat the issues faced by women in politics.
Bode said, in addition to advocating for yourself, it is important that women advocate for each other.
“You need people in your corner that when you have angry tears will tell you, ‘It’s okay to have angry tears,’” Bode said. “You need people in your corner that you can go talk to that will back you up and help you continue to back yourself up.”
Bruce said the landscape amongst lobbyists has really changed in her time in her career. There are more women lobbyists than when she started. In addition to that she said there is less acceptance of inappropriate behavior toward women in the workplace.
“I’ve had friends that have been sexually harassed [in the workplace]. I’ve had friends who were demoted because they became pregnant. I’ve had people who were fired because they were single and got pregnant,” Bruce said, adding that, in the past, a complaint for any of those reasons would mean a woman was banned from politics. “That was the environment 20 years ago, and it is not now. This past session we had the House kick out a member for sexually assaulting an intern. That also is a huge, huge message for the women coming in.”
The panel had recommendations for women interested in pursuing politics as a career.
Bode said a good way to get a foot in the door is by doing an internship and finding a mentor. She said her mentor happens to be LBJ Museum Board President Wayne Kraemer because of her time under his tutelage at the TXST debate team.
“The work that I did at speech and debate showed me that there are two sides to an argument and to research and advocate for both sides,” Bode said.
She cautioned people from turning those on the opposing side of an argument into 'others' and instead encouraged them to try to understand where those people are coming from.
'You don’t want to 'other' people. It’s trying to pull the pieces together to know that there are two sides, and … that’s so important when you’re making a policy.”
Bruce brought up an organization called Pink Granite, which, according to its website, is a non-partisan community of women supporting women in politics.
“It is an organization for [and] by women inside the Texas Capitol. It has programming. It puts out awards. But I think one of the most fabulous things it does, it connects mentors of young women who want to work in the capitol with women who are in the capitol or women who are elected officials,” Bruce said. “I think it is so powerful.”
Tyminksi said volunteering is another way to meet the right people and make a difference.
“If there’s something that you're passionate about, show up to that,” Tyminski said. “I got my current job from a Facebook group, which sounds ridiculous to say. But at some point, someone told me there’s this capitol crowd Facebook group, and people post jobs in it. … So just start showing up and making those connections.”
The LBJ Museum of San Marcos hosts regular events, which can be found on the website. It will be hosting the 21st annual Ted Breihan Open Golf Tournament at 8 a.m. on April 19 at the Kissing Tree Golf Club. If interested, register at lbjmuseum. com/tc-events/ ted-breihan-21st-annual- golf-tournament.
