>> Carla Hayden: We are
delighted to be here today
at the beginning of
Women's History Month,
and I'm Carla Hayden, the
Librarian of Congress.
And in that light, I must
say, I'm the first female
to be a Librarian of
Congress since 1802.
And I'm delighted to be here
talking about women in Congress,
and this is the 117th
Congress, and as you can see
from our title, it's Diverse
Voices Making History.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee: Great.
>> Carla Hayden:
So, Congresswoman,
thank you for joining us.
>> Sheila Jackson
Lee: My pleasure.
Thank you so very
much for having me.
It's been a long day.
>> Carla Hayden: Yes, long day.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee:
Still more to come.
>> Carla Hayden: So,
this might be then --
what I am going to ask you is
a long day, but how did you --
how did you get here,
your history?
>> Sheila Jackson Lee:
That's a dual question.
How did I get to this
building right now?
[ Laughing ]
Being prepared and having
a buggy move real quickly
from the floor of the House.
>> Carla Hayden: That's part
of the things we were talking
about, the balancing acts
that you all have to have.
You have to -- your family
and things like that,
but what inspired you
to go into service?
You all serve together,
what, 14 years?
>> Shelley Moore
Capito: Fourteen years.
Sheila was there
before I got there.
When did you start?
>> Sheila Jackson
Lee: Ninety five.
When did you come?
>> Shelley Moore
Capito: Two-thousand.
>> Sheila Jackson
Lee: Yeah, for now,
I am one of the pioneering
women that came
to the United States Congress.
There was a generation
before me, obviously.
They were in ones and
twos, because, you know,
the names that I remember, of
course, are Shirley Chisholm
and Barbara Jordan, but
there was Lindy Boggs.
She took the place of
her beloved spouse,
and Connie Morella,
and a number of others,
but they were ones
and twos and threes.
>> Carla Hayden: And you
mentioned Lindy Boggs,
who replaced her husband.
Wasn't that -- and Senator
Capito mentioned that, in a way,
that there was a time when
that was the traditional way
for women to get into Congress.
They replace their spouses.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee:
In many instances.
And then, of course, if
we went over the list,
there were a lot of who came in.
You know, I remember the
Senator from New Jersey.
She was clearly a out-of-the-box
person, way back in the 50s.
So, we had the ones and twos,
but the numbers really came
in in 1992, the Year
of the Woman.
It really was, relatively
speaking, the year of the woman.
That's when Carol
Moseley-Brown was elected
to the United States Senate, and
then, there was a decent amount
of women elected to the
United States house.
Te numbers are still very small.
I think my journey was a,
really, it was not a journey
that would lead to the
United States Congress.
I mean, I can go back and start
talking about these things
like running for student
government in middle school
and being sort of
an aberration there.
I actually became the
student government president
of all the student governments
in the city of New York at 13.
>> Carla Hayden: Whoa.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee: Now
was I thinking about Congress?
Absolutely not.
>> Carla Hayden: Well, maybe so,
if you were doing that at 13.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee: That
was not even in my window,
but it was a kind
of activism, or,
let's be engaged in
the civic process.
Shirley Chisholm was active
during that period of time,
but then onto high school,
and so, you all will think
that I'm a relic, but in high
school, when I went to run
for vice-president, the
boys said you cannot run
for vice-president
of the government.
You have to run for secretary.
And to those who are in the
audience, don't be dismayed,
nd we had a red and blue
party, I did run for secretary.
But it was a life-changing
experience.
I ran because we
were on a ticket.
And so, I took one
for the ticket.
XYZ boy was running
for vice-president,
and I was running -- I
had to take that spot.
And so, I remember it vividly.
I remember being asked
not to run for --
and so there goes the beginning
gubernatorial, or governmental,
experience, not governor.
And then onto college, and
then, the unevenness even then,
the unevenness even in
college of that time frame.
And you can calculate the
time frame that it was,
but there was unevenness.
There was leadership, and
then there were worker bees.
We fell into the
worker-bee category.
>> Carla Hayden: The women?
>> Sheila Jackson Lee: Yeah,
we fell into the worker-bee
category, but I was also someone
that never stopped sort
of engaging in the things
that were unique in
that I wanted to do.
So, you know, I competed against
them in oratorical contest
and won, to the dismay
of the defeated male.
They couldn't understand how
I could win and beat him.
And these were experiences,
I think, that carried
through in those early
years, and I'm, obviously,
it's not the 1800s, but it was
certainly some earlier years
when it really was a dichotomy
between what women were expected
to be able to accomplish.
I was a pioneer with my
name, Sheila Jackson Lee.
So, Lee is my married name.
I refused to give
up my maiden name.
That was a big deal in that era.
You can calculate the
eras of the 70s and 80s.
It was a big deal to keep
bringing, and, you know,
then there was a big deal about
whether you hyphenate it, etc.,
etc. But I have insisted,
I'm on the board
in Congress, Sheila Jackson Lee.
I insist that you make sure --
so, my voting name
Sheila Jackson Lee.
But I say that to say
that things have evolved.
That women were considered
in a certain place.
And so, I continue to be the
person that wanted to serve.
I obviously like being
involved in government,
from student government on, and
it's very unique that you cast
that is your beginning, but
it was, and I admired persons
like Shirley Chisholm,
like Barbara Jordan, but,
like Bella Abzug, who was --
>> Carla Hayden:
In New York, right?
>> Sheila Jackson Lee:
Yes, a real whippersnapper,
if you will, and Eleanor
Roosevelt, who was someone
who [multiple speakers].
A feisty type of life,
and then, onto law school.
So, once you get in law school,
you have a whole
different mindset,
and that was to be a judge.
So, it was never to be a person
to me public civic elected life.
You get into law school,
and you are ascending
to one bench after another.
That's the beauty of loving
the law and doing that.
In law school, there were
three African-American women,
and probably one or two others,
and it was mostly law schools
at that time frame
had very few women.
So, we really hadn't made
the real home runs until,
as we moved into the late
1990s, like into the 2000s.
We have, obviously,
made a seismic change
in the United States Congress,
with over 100 women and growing,
which is extremely positive, and
that's the world I live in now.
But women still have,
I think, places to be.
I'd like to see us as more
corporate CEOs, more members
of the boards of corporations.
We have yet to become
President of the United States.
>> Carla Hayden: The senator
mentioned that, as well.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee:
Yet to become President
of the United States.
I think we are still
needing to achieve that.
And just look at the pandemic.
I'm sort of going off the point.
>> Carla Hayden: No.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee: But
just look at the pandemic.
Statistically, sociologically,
women were the most
devastatingly impacted
with the pandemic.
We are still trying to get
women back into the workforce.
Women had to come out.
Children were out of school.
Childcare was at a premium.
You couldn't find it, or
you couldn't pay for it.
And so, it still shows
the contrast that occurs
between men and women.
And of course, we have
family medical leave now,
and men are taking
care of children.
There are single parents
who happen to be men.
So, I don't want to disregard
that men are engaged more
than they've ever been, but
if you look at different types
of history, you'll find that
we still have so many miles
to travel in the course
of the full equality.
There's fighting in the Congress
to pass what I think should be
bipartisan is the enhancement
of childcare.
So, you can bring down the cost.
That it doesn't cost any
more than 7% of your income.
Can you imagine, even if you are
single parent, and you happen
to be a woman, the idea
of childcare being half
of your income is pretty
stark, particularly
if you have other
children besides those
who need to have childcare.
So, I constantly have,
as my legislative agenda,
to ensure that every
legislative initiative you look
to see what amending can
do to create a better,
a more effective, impact on
the lives of women in America.
I wanted to make sure that I
voted on this last amendment.
This last amendment by
Congresswoman Brownley
and Miller-Meeks dealt
with the larger bill,
which was dealing with veterans.
You never want to not vote on
something dealing with veterans,
and it dealt with the impact
of the toxicity of the burns
that they would do in war
mostly, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I would go there, and they'd
have the big burn pits
and all the things
that had to be burned,
and it was an enormously
toxic and never diagnosed.
But in any event, this
last amendment indicated
that there should be
more mammograms available
to women veterans, because they,
too, were impacted by, you know,
you just of these
things that add
to creating a better
life for women.
So, that so goes
a roundabout way.
>> Carla Hayden: Right,
and being a woman.
So, but also, I want to go back
to that turning point for you.
You're in law school.
Were you and Yale?
I know you went to Yale.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee:
I was a Yale undergrad.
I was at University of
Virginia Law School.
>> Carla Hayden: Okay, and
when did you make that turn
to say I'm not going
to the judgeship?
>> Sheila Jackson
Lee: I never did.
I went on to practice law
right here in Washington DC
with the major administrative
law firm,
which means that we practiced
in front of all the agencies.
That's another story, as well.
When I came to practice,
even though there were women
and law firms, I think
I might've been the --
well, good news was I
was the only associate
that came in, I think that year.
And so, I was a woman but I was,
obviously, was and am a woman,
young associate,
hired a law school,
but the firm was really
predominantly male.
And I was driven
to prove myself,
and we had a major
employment litigation
in the federal courts, and
if any of you practiced
in the old days, they had these
gigantic suitcases of documents.
>> Carla Hayden:
Sometimes on wheelies.
>> Sheila Jackson
Lee: That's correct.
And I made sure that I was
the one that carried them,
but I think they made sure I
was the one that carried them.
It was just things like that
that you felt like you had
to be one of the boys.
You had did not have anybody
try to do anything for you.
So, in those early years,
I still didn't deviate
from what I ultimately wanted.
I took a stint up here on The
Hill from the law firm here
in Washington and worked on
the Assassination Committee
of yesteryear, the ones
that re-investigated
the John F. Kennedy
and Martin Luther
King assassinations.
I thought I had the dream job,
and I really did, but I still,
all the way, went through
dealing with this question
of ascending to the judgeship.
When I relocated to Houston,
Texas, which I've now lived more
than half my life, I
went to a law firm.
So, there was no stepping away
from what you would do next
would be to be on the bench.
But ultimately, in the course
of life, I did get on the bench,
but a tragic loss of life of
a name that you would know,
Congressman Mickey Leland.
>> Carla Hayden: Oh, yes.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee:
Who died in a plane crash
in Ethiopia triggered a
series of opportunities.
A person in one position
wanted to run for his position,
and then I was encouraged to run
for the Houston City Council,
who had never had a black
woman on, and that was in 1989.
So, that is quite recent
but quite a while back.
They had never had a black woman
and very few women of any kind.
They certainly had not
had a Hispanic woman.
I think there might have
been one white woman
on the Houston City Council.
They were not welcoming,
to say the least.
>> Carla Hayden: Well,
here we are, at the start
of Women's History Month, but we
just concluded the celebration
of Black History
Month, and you are both.
>> Sheila Jackson
Lee: I know that.
>> Carla Hayden: And so,
in terms of being in
Congress and that.
Is it a dual role?
>> Sheila Jackson Lee: You know,
that's a very good question.
You do wear many hats, and
it's interesting that both hats
that you wear have their
own independent journey.
I think that I like
to view myself,
and I enjoy representing
a very eclectic, diverse,
but richly evenly
dispersed, distributed members
from the Anglo-Caucasian
community, Hispanic,
African-American,
Asian, in Houston, Texas.
We are a very diverse community,
and I consider myself a patriot.
So, that means that you have to
represent the American people,
as well, and they are very
diverse, and they're East,
West, North, and South.
But in doing so, I
have a strong affinity
for social justice issues.
I'm on the Judiciary Committee.
I've been there since
I got elected
to the United States Congress.
That is a long time, and
I believe it is important
to make the law and make the
values of this country --
I spent a lot of time on the
Constitution, and I'm reminded
of those opening words, "to
create a more perfect union."
To do that, you have
to cure some
of the continuing
discriminatory practices by law
and by social affinity.
And so, I work hard on that.
At the same time, we
work as caucus members,
there's a Woman's Caucus,
where we work as Republicans
and Democrats, and there's
a Democratic Caucus,
and we look at everything from
the disparities in healthcare
for women and the disparities in
black maternal mortality rate,
and we get women of all
backgrounds to realize
that black women have a
higher mortality rate.
So, you combine that issue.
I am the lead sponsor on
an initiative that I have
to continuously explain, but
once I explain it to people,
they say it is relevant today.
We should try to
address it, and that is,
I think I've even mentioned the
HR-40, which is the commission
to study slavery and
develop reparation proposals.
That is, to establish an
academic and sociological,
psychological, scientific,
educational group of individuals
who would study that
246 years of slavery,
and how has it transcended
into the 21st century?
You know, that's a really far
out social justice that you have
to really get people
to understand
that it's not yesteryear.
It's not why are you
bringing that up again?
It is a repairing,
restoring approach
that will fill this library
with major documentation,
even more than you
have, which I would want
that commission once
this work is finished,
to lodge its materials and
its work for others to come
to understand that era and what
and how it has impacted
even today.
So, those are far-reaching.
On the other hand, I'm dealing
with cybersecurity,
intelligence, budget.
So, and women are
doing all these things.
>> Carla Hayden: Women.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee: And
you are able to keep your eye
on what you can do to
improve the lives of women,
because you are historic,
in that you still have not
been in the Congress long.
Even though I've had
some tenure there,
new members that are
coming in that are in two
and three and four years.
So, you try to do it where --
>> Carla Hayden: Where you can.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee:
-- you wear two hats.
>> Carla Hayden: Well,
we just appreciate it,
and the Kluge Center, in
particular, you making it
over here, because we knew
it was getting a little tough
when you're voting
and you're doing it,
but you said you really wanted
to make the time to come.
And I hope that you know
that we appreciate it,
and there's more to the month.
So, we'll get you over here,
and just a parting thing, too.
If you had any words of advice
for young women who are thinking
about public service who
might be in law school,
might be in library
school, might be anywhere,
but just a few words
to leave us with.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee:
I think it's good to --
and you're in public service,
and we're so honored for you
to be uniquely in this position,
the first, and followed a man.
So, as a woman and a woman of
color, you are, in fact, unique,
and I don't know whether or not
you have a direct dream or wish
to be -- and you may have.
>> Carla Hayden: No.
>> Sheila Jackson
Lee: But maybe not.
Maybe not.
I knew I was right.
I don't know if -- and
I felt that you did not.
But let me just say to
women and to young women.
I could say something trite,
and I wouldn't want you
to think was trite,
to follow your dream.
That's one way of giving advice.
But it is clear that many of us
did not start out with the dream
of which we are now in.
And so, what I'd like to
offer is never doubt yourself.
Do the best at what
you're doing.
There are several ways of
ascending to positions.
One, you are directly focused,
and you have building blocks,
and you are networking
with people,
and you're getting phone
numbers and now emails,
more sophisticated, or you're
getting their Instagram,
or you're on LinkedIn.
Or it is that you are prepared
and someone notices you
and tells you this is what
I think you should do.
Of course, they engage
you to see whether
or not you're interested.
When the congressional position
came up in my community,
it was because Mickey
Leland had died.
My entry into an
elected position, he died
and someone else was
running for his position.
Not me at that time, and I
went on to the city council.
But some years later,
after, I guess,
making someone take notice as
a member of the city council,
again, one of the first
women, and certainly,
first woman of color,
I ran for Congress.
So, it was a time when
there were community people
that said you can do this.
I want young women to
know that the best way
to achieve their dreams is
one, not only have the dream,
but also, to be prepared if
someone else comes and says,
"You would be perfect for this."
Civic participation is
crucial, but I always think seek
out inter-generational
relationships.
Find us. We're eager
to be engaged,
to be able to give the
insight of our journey.
But also, take a
moment to pause.
Sometimes it happens where
you can leap to a position.
Many people think that
is the route to take.
I think the route to
take is getting seasoned.
No, I'm not saying get to be 90.
Getting seasoned, engage
inter-generationally,
having experiences, and
then finding your way
to what seems to be for you.
Again, I emphasize that what
you may think is for you,
someone else may come with
a completely different idea
because you're prepared,
and you will view
that as a wake-up call.
You know what?
That is something
I would like to do.
That is a place that I'd like.
So, don't doubt yourself.
Be prepared.
Engage in civic-minded
activities
that are not necessarily through
the election, and of course,
to make a difference by the
service that you give to others,
and you'll be amazed
how far you can go.
>> Carla Hayden: Well,
thank you, Congresswoman,
for sharing your
journey with us.
>> Sheila Jackson
Lee: Look at you.
>> Carla Hayden: We
really appreciate it
and taking this time during
Women's History Month.
So, you so much.
>> Sheila Jackson Lee:
Thank you for having me.
Thank you for waiting
a little bit.
>> Carla Hayden:
Oh, you were voting.
We were going to wait.
So, thank you so much, and
thank all of you for being here
and for being with us today.
[ Applause ]