- Collection:
- Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives
- Title:
- Steinberg talks about serving on the Judiciary Committee and amending the rape laws (4:25)
- Creator:
- Steinberg, Cathey W. (Cathey Weiss), 1942-
- Contributor to Resource:
- Paulk, Janet, 1932-
- Publisher:
- Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 1997-03-21
1997-03-28 - Subject:
- Feminism
Social movements
Women's studies - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, 33.79025, -84.46702
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
United States, Pennsylvania, 40.8, -77.7 - Medium:
- audiocassettes
- Type:
- Sound
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Description:
- Cathey W. Steinberg, born in 1942, is recognized and admired as a leader for women's rights through her work in the Georgia House of Representatives (1977-1989 District 46 DeKalb County) where she was the primary sponsor of the 1981-1982 ERA legislation. She also served in the Georgia Senate (1991-1993 District 42). While in office, Steinberg introduced legislation which would minimize pressure on rape victims. Steinberg received a B.A. from Carnegie-Mellon Institute and a M.A. degree in guidance counseling from the University of Pittsburgh. She has been a consultant in public and community relations and marketing, and a frequent guest speaker and lecturer. From 1993 until June 1999, she was the managing partner for Ahead of the Curve, a public policy consulting and advocacy training firm. In July 1999, Governor Roy Barnes appointed Cathey Steinberg Georgia's first Consumer Insurance Advocate. She left the post in March 2003.
Steinberg begins by describing her childhood in rural Pennsylvania and her relationship with her family. She goes on to describe her transition from Northern Jewish girl to a married woman living in the South. Steinberg explains how she became involved in Georgia politics, specifically how her campaign for the Georgia House of Representatives in 1977 was very much a grass-roots effort, and because she was a woman in this predominantly male field, how she became inextricably linked with women�s issues, and was called �Cathey Steinem,� by some of the men in the Georgia Assembly. She says her foray into public office was not a deliberate pursuit but rather something that was suggested to her by a friend. In office, Steinberg was instrumental in helping to change language regarding rape victims. The Rape Bill of 1977 helped to put Steinberg and women�s issues on the map in Georgia and also propelled her into working for the Equal Rights Amendment: She was the primary sponsor of the ERA in the Georgia legislature. She explains that because she was the popular face of women�s issues in Georgia, she became referred to as the �ERA lady.� Steinberg discusses some of the organizations that helped to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment including the Feminist Action Alliance, Georgia Women�s Political Caucus, NOW and People of Faith for the ERA. She also recounts some of the interpersonal conflicts amongst women in the different organizations both at the state and national level. Steinberg openly discusses both the accomplishments and the obstacles of the Women���s Movement and how even her own personal involvement and her public persona as the �ERA lady� became somewhat problematic when she was looking for a job outside of the legislature. She also stresses the importance of women continuing to influence, write and address public policy issues, particularly those concerning women.
Transcript of this excerpt: CS: I was on the Judiciary Committee -- first and only woman. I was determined to go in there and be a "good girl," at least in the beginning, because I wanted to help Pierre. I knew a lot of these guys from when I was in the House. I just was going to try to go along, to get along for the first few weeks at least. And they were doing this legislation called -- they were trying to revise what they called the Rules of Evidence; for a very -- a hundred-page piece of legislation that the Georgia Bar Association wanted -- technical, legal stuff. As any conscientious, good, new female Senator, I decided I'd better look at this thing before I voted on it. I was flipping through it about the second day of the session -- a hundred pages, and just happened to flip, because no person, unless they are a technical lawyer would read all of this stuff: [it was] gibberish to me. In the middle of it, I found some language that would have amended the past sexual history of women [in] law dealing with rape -- in the middle of the Rules of Evidence -- buried in the middle of it! I mean, and I remember sitting there -- I think I was sitting having a cup of coffee in McDonald's, reading this one page over and over and over again. I was in such shock that this was happening. The person who was sponsoring this Rules of Evidence Bill was the President Pro-Tem of the Senate, Nathan Deal, who happened to be the second most powerful person in the Senate. I got along very well with him over the years -- pretty low key kind of guy. He had learned to listen to me on some things. And we come in for the vote and they thought they would just pass it out because nobody was paying attention to it, and it was Nathan's bill. And I said, "Excuse me, but we have something to discuss. Why is this in here? You are trying to hurt women. What is this [repeal of the past sexual history law] doing in these Rules of Evidence?" There was a stunned silence in this packed room. This guy got up from the University of Georgia and tried to get out of it. Somebody from the [GA] Bar [Association] tried to get out of it. I said, "This is unacceptable. I can't vote for this. I need time to understand what this is. We can't vote this out today." They adjourned the meeting in a huff. What was interesting about it was it became front page news. Every woman in the Capitol -- the secretaries and the wives got involved in this. It was fascinating. Pierre stuck solidly with this and they turned the whole thing around. I found myself going up against the President Pro Tem. I said to myself, "My lord, that's why you have to have women here." Because a lot of women had worked on -- from the Bar -- had worked on this, but just never realized it was going to be in there. So, no matter where you go, those things happen. It was a very interesting experience. JP: But the President Pro Tem did know it was in there? CS: Yeah, he did. He said it would amend the federal statute, something like that. I think it was really instigated by his legislative assistant. It was a defense attorney mode. Nathan had been not good on most domestic violence issues in the past. After this he voted -- while he was in the senate -- on everything the way Pierre and I wanted it. He has now become a Republican and is in Congress. I really don't know what he's about at all. It was a fascinating thing and people still talk about it: Those legislators -- when those secretaries got involved and the wives got involved. One legislator came over to me and said, "Just tell me how to vote -- whatever you say, we will do." It was a very interesting experience. My point is that it's not me, Cathey Steinberg. My point is that while it's very frustrating, at the same time, one woman being in that position that I was in, was able to keep a very bad piece of legislation from passing. And soeverybody makes a difference in this process. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/coles/id/2110
- IIIF manifest:
- https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/iiif/2/coles:2110/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to this item is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this item available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
- Extent:
- 61 pages (three audio cassettes)
- Original Collection:
- Georgia Women's Movement Project Collection
Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives - Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
