Feminist Legislator Spotlight on: Carolyn Maloney

I've been inspired as of late by Washington DC and the copious amount of legislators fighting in Congress for women's rights. Therefore, I want to initiate a Friday Feminist Legislator Spotlight for my next six weeks here, sharing with y'all some deets about inspiring congress-people who are taking our fight to the floor.

This first week I decided to start with Carolyn Maloney, who I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday! I hadn't heard of Maloney before I came to Washington, but her name is like an institution in the women's orgs in DC; she is our champ. I'm now shocked that I didn't know who this BAMF was, so let's make sure you do too!

Maloney serves in the House as a Representative of 14th District of New York (which is the East Side of Manhattan, Astoria, and Queens). She was first elected to the House 1993, previously serving on the New York City Council for 10 years. Maloney is the first woman to ever represent this district!

This is a lady who, while facing a competitive primary this year, has maintained her legislative fight for women’s rights, something that is almost completely unheard of in national politics. Two week ago, she introduced a bill called “Stop Deceptive Advertising in Women’s Services.” This awesome piece of leg aims to hold Crisis Pregnancy Centers accountable for their deceptive tactics (something that we here at FMF have been fighting for with our "Expose Fake Clinics" campaign). Maloney is also the chief house sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment and introduced legislation in 2009 to move the National Women's History Museum to the National Mall (more on that soon).

Us of the college aged crowd may also be interested in the work Maloney has done as Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, namely passing the "Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act", which enforces regulations on credit card companies so they can't hike their interest percentages without warning.

Maloney has been a force for women's rights in the house and has become one of my idols in a matter of four weeks just by sharing a city with her. To learn more about her, check out her website!