Anita Hill, who accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual misconduct during his confirmation hearings in the 1990s, said that women in the 2020 Democratic primary race “are not being taken seriously as presidential candidates.”
“And I think if we don’t take them seriously as presidential candidates, we are not going to hear those voices,” Hill told The New York Times in an interview on Tuesday. “And that would be a tragedy.”
She added that she finds it “really, deeply troubling” that many of the women candidates are being discussed as good vice presidential picks. {mosads}
Hill’s treatment at the 1991 hearing for Thomas’s confirmation has come under renewed focus in the “Me Too” era. The behavior of 2020 Democratic front-runner Joe Biden, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, has particularly been scrutinized.
The Times asked Hill if her comments were directed at Biden, to which she said: “I don’t know that it’s just him. I think that that presumption about women as vice-presidential choices is not just about Joe Biden specifically, it’s about Joe Biden as the front-runner.”
Hill told The Times that she hopes to see more candidates taking on issues of sexual harassment and assault.
“I don’t know that the Biden campaign is addressing the issue directly, so I can’t say I’ve seen any,” she said. “I’m not even saying that Biden has to be the one to do it, or the only one to do it. I would really like to see all of the candidates address this issue.”
Biden said he spoke with Hill before the former vice president launched his campaign, expressing remorse for “what she endured,” but Hill has stated that she does not feel it was enough.
“I cannot be satisfied by simply saying, ‘I’m sorry for what happened to you,’” she told the Times last month. “I will be satisfied when I know that there is real change and real accountability and real purpose.”
Six women are among the two dozen people vying for the 2020 presidential nomination: Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) as well as Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and spiritual adviser Marianne Williamson.