Places at the Table

Panel discussion to celebrate the 100-year-history of women in Virginia’s House of Delegates.

As a woman, House of Delegates representative Vivian Watts could only enter the Commonwealth Club for legislative receptions through the side door, not the front door.

When Watts, who represents parts of Fairfax County, was elected in 1982, she was only the 22nd woman ever to serve in Virginia’s General Assembly. She was the first woman delegate to still have children in school -albeit high school- and plenty of voters let her know that they found that unacceptable. Not even a decade earlier, girls had finally been allowed to be house pages.

After her first year in the House, she was voted the “most promising freshman” delegate. Watts left the House to serve as Virginia’s secretary of transportation and public safety from 1986 to 1990, returning six years later. Currently, she’s the longest-serving female member of the House of Delegates.

The Library of Virginia will present a panel discussion, “A Women’s Place is in the House … of Delegates” on Wednesday, March 29 to celebrate a century of women in the Virginia House of Delegates.

In 1923, the first women won election to the House and in the century since, 109 women have served, with a record number of 37 women in 2023. Jennifer L. Lawless, commonwealth professor of politics at the University of Virginia, will moderate the discussion as current House members Vivian Watts, Carrie Coyner, and Charniele L. Herring discuss the challenges, opportunities and changes they’ve experienced in Capitol Square.

Not only had there been few women who’d served when Watts came on board in 1982, there’d never been five at any one time among the hundred members. Watts recalls what a breakthrough it was for her and four other newly elected women to be elected behind the push to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment before the congressional legislative deadline.

“This meant that the male leadership had run out of ‘women’s committee’ slots dealing with education, health, and social services to appoint us to, so I was appointed to House finance, the tax writing committee, which was my strength,” she explains. “Competence in this heretofore assumed to be male field gave me invaluable credibility across the board.”

The culture of the General Assembly at the time wasn’t geared to include women. Determined to be part of the afterhours networking that took place in the hotel lounge where many members stayed, Watts was attempting to break new ground where women members hadn’t gone before. More than one document during her first term was directed to Mr. Watts. “It was two decades before any woman could enter the lounge off the House of Delegates floor, which, of course, also was an important location for legislative exchanges,” she recalls. “Barred from that, I made sure I was in the General Assembly cafeteria by 7:30 a.m. for breakfast conversations with male legislators whom I wouldn’t have seen the night before.”

The challenges continued as Watts learned to be effective as a “numbers person.” Rational resolution of many policy issues depends on an accurate understanding of the on-the-ground reality of what trend lines, revenue projections, and economic demographics really represent. Many people, delegates included, glazed over when they looked at a page of numbers. Watts found herself very successful in translating Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) recommendations for transportation funding re-structuring, which led to her becoming secretary of transportation and public safety.

“Tax reform and modernization have been far more challenging,” she says, “making it difficult to fund public education, mental health, and other essential state and local services.”

Watts had a front row seat for the evolution of women’s role in government since first being elected in 1982, the biggest change being the number of women serving. Until 2018, there had never been more than 19 women at one time in the House of Delegates and at one point, that number had dropped to 17.

“Now, in just four years, there are 37 and many of the women have recognized professional credentials,” she points out. “As a result, women’s concerns are more clearly understood rather than just being rolled over.”

For women considering running for the House of Delegates, Watts recommends building voter trust.

“Truly paying attention to others as well as to new information will make them better legislators,” she says. “While they must be articulate and knowledgeable, my hope is future candidates will value the strength they tend to have as women in multi-tasking and in being inclusive.”

Being exposed to new ideas, people, experiences, and innovations has been her biggest opportunity in serving as a legislator. As for how it feels to be the longest-serving female member of the House, Watts sees no difference from when she was first elected.

“It was an awesome responsibility then, to take on the mantle of the 21 women before me and it’s no less challenging to be relevant to the women of today in contributing my experience and institutional knowledge,” she says.

But even after decades in the room where it happens, Watts knows there’s far more work to be accomplished.

“The ongoing challenge –as it’s always been– is for women to be at the table when decisions are made, not just in the room.”

“A Women’s Place is in the House…of Delegates” panel discussion, March 29 at 6 p.m. at the Library of Virginia, 800 E. Broad Street. Free, registration required at: https://lva-virginia.libcal.com/event/10267460

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