Why is Senator Tom Harkin so relentless in battling for women? Maybe because he feels like he's one of the girls.
by Katrina Woznicki

Eighty-six percent of American women support government initiatives to improve equal-pay laws. Nearly half are pro-choice and support a tax credit for the full cost of child care. Female legislators from both sides of the aisle typically support these issues. But with only seventy-four of the 535 sears in Congress being warmed by women, our best ally in Washington comes in the unlikeliest package: Tom Harkin, a laconic coal miner's son who likes to buy his clothes at the discount store Syms.

The Iowa Democrat, who last November won reelection to a fourth term in the Senate, has long prided himself on battling for the little guy. And when Harkin arrived in the Capitol, he quickly discovered the little guy was often female. "Women were at the bottom of the heap and didn't have much of a voice here," he says.

So what has he done about it? He co-sponsored the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which created a Justice Department division to protect at-risk women. Then, he introduced the Fair Pay Act to close the salary gap between men and women working the same job. And the fight continues: In the 2003 session, he'll reintroduce into Congress the Safe Motherhood Act for Research and Treatment, to pump federal dollars into studying pregnancy complications.

Harkin's mind was opened early. His mother died when he was ten, leaving his father to raise the family. Harkin and his brothers cooked, cleaned and did laundry alongside their sisters. "I never thought there was one role for women and one role for men," he says. (Impressed with his housekeeping skills, his Navy buddies dubbed him "Mother Harkin.") Then, in the 70s, both his sisters died of breast cancer; Harkin immersed himself in women's health issues. After discovering medical research often didn't include women, he pushed the National Institutes of Health to reverse this. He also fought to fund the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. "When I came to the Senate in 1986, I was one of only two women," says Maryland senator Barbara Mikulski. "Senator Harkin stood with us from the beginning. I call him our Galahad."

At sixty-three, Harkin is eligible for senior citizen discounts, but he appears unwilling to surrender his sword. "I'm not going to let up," he says. "We're going to fight really hard."