“Stringent abortion foes put up billboards and sent out mailers in their districts calling the three Republicans “baby killers.”
ABC reports: “Each of the Republican Sister Senators said the GOP is tougher on women because of conservative thoughts on gender roles. A man finds problems. A woman complains. A man is forceful and decisive. A woman is bossy and pushy. . .. “It can be exhausting sometimes. I felt like I was always being judged in a way my friends who are Democrats were not,” Gustafson said after her primary loss.”
It’s all been in an effort to drag change into a General Assembly where women have often been minimized and forgotten. On Shealy’s first day in 2013, the session opened with “Gentlemen of the Senate, please rise.”
The sudden departure of the Republican women presents a potential power issue because the Senate doles out clout and responsibility to the majority party based on seniority. Half the members in the GOP dominated state were elected in 2012 or before, so it will likely be the 2040s before any Republican woman elected in the future can rise to leadership or a committee chairmanship.