WASHINGTON -- One member of Congress was once a single mother on welfare.
Another member was a nurse until her family was torn apart by a shooting on the Long Island Railroad in 1993.
And yet another was a former pre-school teacher who changed her life when -- while challenging her state legislature on a funding decision -- she was told that she could not make a difference, being only a "mom in tennis shoes."
For the students in the "Women in Legislatures" class who traveled to Capitol Hill last Wednesday to explore women's role in Congress, the image of a male-dominated bastion began to fade away amid such can-do stories.
"The reason is that all of us bring our lives to our jobs -- you don't check that at the door when you walk in," Representative Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin told the group of 10 about the increased prevalence of women in Congress. "If you have... legislative bodies that are not reflective of the whole society, then you don't have policies that are addressing the concerns of the entire society - that's why it matters."
The members of this class, which is offered by the Fels Center of Government, were told that only 75 out of the 541 members of Congress are women.
But according to some, signs of change abound, as half of the California Congressional delegation is female, for example, and many other minorities have gained representation as well over the years.
"I was elected 25 years ago, and back then there weren't a lot of blacks, there weren't a lot of women, and there weren't any Hispanics at all," said Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts. "Now, if you look at the aerial picture from the Gallery looking down on the House of Representatives, it looks more like the [United Nations]."
Although personal dramas have motivated many of these women to run for Congress, others attribute it to women's increasing role in society.
"The numbers are going up because women have been successful in the workplace, and they decided that the next arena they want to get into is the political arena," said Bradley Edgell, senior policy advisor for Rep. Ken Bentsen of Texas. "They bring the issue of family out in front."
These issues currently include the popular topics of healthcare and education, something that Senator Mary Landreau of Louisiana calls the "feminization of the agenda."
"When I got to the [state] legislature back in 1979, there wasn't a lot of attention on these issues," Landreau said. "But now every candidate that runs addresses them, and that didn't happen because men just woke up one day and said, `Oh, wouldn't it be great to talk about these issues.'"
However, Fels Center staff member Brette McSweeney looked forward to the day when issues would no longer be typed by gender.
"Hopefully, it'll get to the point when everyone will ask the question, `Well, what about daycare?'" McSweeney said.
Raising a family has remained a concern for many of the Congresswomen, as they spoke of the separate pull between politics and children.
"I wanted to run for office and start my political career and I wanted to have a baby," Representative Shelly Berkeley of Nevada said, describing her situation when she was 30. She decided to do both, and two weeks after her son was born, they both were out campaigning.
"He's known no other life, and everyone told me that we wouldn't bond," Berkeley said. "But we bonded beautifully."
Amid the Capitol's flashing lights and blaring buzzers that warn of upcoming votes, some Congressmen demonstrated their appreciation for the opposite sex that serves alongside them.
"I'm absolutely committed to the notion that if I want to be successful, I have to work out a partnership with a woman in the House," Representative George Miller of California said on introducing legislation. "The guys are really interesting, but they just don't quite get it."
However, Senator Patty Murray of Washington said that upon her recent appointment as chair of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee -- the first national political position to be held by a woman -- she found the atmosphere to be no different than when she was a "mom in tennis shoes" some 20 years earlier.
"There are male colleagues here in the U.S. Senate in my own party who underhandedly are saying to the press, `God, I just don't know if she can do it,'" Murray said.
To try to change such sentiments, many of the members of Congress thought that the students' visit was a step in the right direction.
"Your interest is a source of encouragement to all of us," Representative Nancy Pelosi of California said.
The students had a chance to meet 21 senators, representatives and Congressional staff members during their hectic day, which included lunch in the members' section of the Congressional Dining Room.
"It's like a tidal wave," Education graduate student Sean Vereen said of the day's activities, organized by former Pennsylvania representative and current Fels Center lecturer Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky.
"It's all about [the students] being able to pull these things together, so at some point there is this `Ah-ha' moment," Margolies-Mezvinsky said.
For some of her students, their peek inside the halls of power had already begun to have an effect.
"When I was a little girl, I used to say that I wanted to be President, and then I stopped saying that because there were not any girls in politics," College junior Mary Braun said.
"But it's given me courage," Braun said at the day's end. "I used to dream those things, and maybe now I can turn them into reality."
