Bella Abzug

b. 1920
American lawyer and politician

"Women have been trained to speak softly and carry a lipstick. Those days are over."

Introduction

Bella Abzug was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives after a long career as a labor lawyer, civil-liberties advocate, and peace activist. During the time she served in Congress she challenged congressional decorum by bluntly denouncing her male colleagues as a privileged elite of white, middle-aged men who were out of touch with the needs and aspirations of most Americans. Abzug was among the most vocal members of congress demanding an immediate withdrawal of American military forces from Indochina during the Vietnam conflict in the 1970s. She also took strong positions in favor of women's and minority rights and federal aid to cities.

Abzug was born Bella Savitsky on July 24, 1920, the daughter of a Emanuel and Esther Savitsky. Her father was a butcher in New York City. In 1942 she graduated from Hunter College in New York with a bachelor of arts degree. Two years later she married Maurice Abzug, a stockbroker and novelist, with whom she had two daughters. After earning a law degree from Columbia University in New York in 1947, she practiced law privately for 23 years, until she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Flamboyant congresswoman

During her two terms in Congress (1970-74) Abzug served on the committee on public works and transportation and was chair of the subcommittee on government information and individual rights. She was also assistant Democratic whip to Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Soon after Abzug reached the floor of Congress she became a highly visible, flamboyant figure, with her trademark wide-brimmed hats and feisty manner. While her strongly worded, forthright speeches had great popular appeal, her political allies often believed her personal style detracted from their cause. Abzug was criticized for preferring to make headlines on her own instead of negotiating and compromising to pass legislation. But the New York Democrat earned increasing respect from her colleagues over the years while remaining true to her political vision.

In her capacity as chair of the House subcommittee on government information and individual rights, Abzug conducted inquiries on covert and illegal activities by agencies of the federal government. She helped produce the "Government in the Sunshine" law, which gave the public greater access to government records. Abzug co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971 and authored numerous bills intended to prevent sex discrimination and improve the status of women. On local issues she devoted much of her time to securing federal funds for New York City during the city's fiscal crisis in the mid-1970s. In 1972 she wrote Bella! Ms. Abzug Goes to Washington, an account of her experiences as a congresswoman.

Returns to law practice

Abzug gave up her congressional seat in 1976 to seek the New York Democratic party nomination for the U.S. Senate, narrowly losing the race to Daniel Patrick Moynihan. She went on to run unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City in 1977 and for a congressional seat representing the East Side of Manhattan in 1978. Political analysts attributed these losses to her confrontational image and the conservative nature of the electorate. President Jimmy Carter appointed Abzug co-chair of the National Advisory Committee for Women. Carter dismissed her in 1979 after the committee issued a report criticizing the president's decision to cut funding for women's programs. She then returned to her legal practice. Abzug remained in the public eye, however, as a lecturer, television news commentator, and magazine columnist. She was also an executive for women's organizations, including Women-USA, a grass-roots political action organization, and the Women's Foreign Policy Council.

Writes book on "gender gap"

Abzug drew on her decades-long leadership experience in the women's movement to write Gender Gap: Abzug's Guide to Political Power for Women, which was published in 1884. With co-author Mim Kelber, Abzug examined the possible causes and political consequences of the "gender gap," the wide disparity in voting patterns between men and women noticed in some American elections. In the 1980 presidential election, for instance, many more women than men voted to reelect Carter, and the gender gap made the difference in a number of elections for state governors later in the decade. Although statisticians have had trouble identifying the specific political differences that may separate the sexes at the ballot box, Abzug credits the feminist movement for encouraging women's independence.

Becomes environmental advocate

In her book Abzug also outlined a range of political, social, and economic issues on which women can have an impact. Among them is the environment, an area in which Abzug herself became active in the early 1990s. Appointed as special adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), she became a leading advocate of environmental security and a more economically just world. In 1991 she was an organizer of the Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet as part of the Earth Summit sponsored by the United Nations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The congress issued the "Action Agenda for the Twenty-first Century," which challenged men and women to work together for a "safe and sustainable future." Abzug identified a particular role--and a higher degree of freedom--for women in cleaning up "the mess" that has been made throughout the world: "I believe women will bring a new vision, with new perspectives as to how and what to change," she told an interviewer. "It's easier with women because they are not part of what has taken place. They aren't totally unshackled, not only by lack of ownership but by lack of involvement in decisions to date. They are freer and more independent."