Story highlights
Elizabeth Warren said she's been treated differently as a woman in the Senate
Warren wouldn't talk specifics of her treatment
Sen. Elizabeth Warren told CNN she has been treated differently as a woman in the clubby upper chamber — echoing the general sentiments of her colleague Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who wrote about sexism in the Senate in a recent book.
During a wide-ranging interview on the Colorado campaign trail—where she was stumping for endangered incumbent Sen. Mark Udall—CNN asked Warren whether she had experienced any different treatment as a woman. “Yes,” she said. Would she elaborate? “Nope.” But was it surprising? “Not really, I wish it were,” she told CNN. “But it’s hard to change these big, male dominated institutions. What I am very happy about is that there are now enough women in the United States Senate to bring change to that place and I think that’s just powerfully important.” There are now 20 women in the senate.
Opinion: This is Elizabeth Warren’s moment
Warren added: “You know, others have said it before me. If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu.” Warren’s comments did make one clear case: women will be treated as equals when there continue to be more women in the Senate.
Warren didn’t want to talk specifics, or how the different treatment manifested itself. “I’ve said all I am going to say,” ending that part of the conversation. In the book, Gillibrand recounted specific details of unnamed male senators remarking about her appearance—even squeezing her waist.
The rest of the interview was about Warren’s role as one of the Democratic Party’s most sought after surrogates this election year. Our story, airing today on the Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, looks at Warren as the unusal Washington phenom—a combination of loyal Democratic soldier and outside agitator, a party star who is willing to take on her own party—including the president.
And will she take on Hillary Clinton? Watch the full piece.
