Vicious, catty behavior in Congress is setting women back

Instruction is in the nature of older people, undoubtedly because we have lived long enough to make many mistakes and, hopefully, to learn from them. That nature compels me to offer some advice to my younger women colleagues in the House of Representatives who engaged in personal attacks and insults toward each other in a recent committee hearing.

Women my age had to navigate the early years of political involvement, when we were often dismissed and underestimated. The glass ceiling was layers thick. We succeeded only by being the best prepared and most knowledgeable people in the room, using our opportunities to speak to elevate the discussion so that we would be taken seriously as policymakers; think of Condoleezza Rice, Jean Kirkpatrick and Dianne Feinstein. These substantive, serious women paved the way for many of us to enjoy credibility in congressional committees and boardrooms.

Communicating in these times is more casual in general, but substantive advocacy is not frivolous, juvenile or debased. Three of my younger women House colleagues have strayed into verboten territory, diminishing themselves and each other in the process. Further, they diminished women who were not in the room — women who continually strive to be respected and taken seriously as policymakers.

Addressing the three of them specifically, and speaking to young women in the political arena in general, they are smart, articulate and accomplished. They worked very hard to succeed in a walk of life that few navigate successfully. By virtue of the offices they hold, they have earned a degree of respect that is accompanied by the responsibility to treat the office with dignity.

We fail ourselves and each other when we stray into petty and childish behavior, and especially when we conduct ourselves in public in an undignified manner. One can be funny, engaging and true to oneself in public, yet save such lesser behavior for private settings.

Women in elected office must hold themselves to a higher standard, out of respect for those women who paved the way and created the opportunities we now enjoy, and ultimately, for the woman we each face in the mirror each morning.

What transpired in a moment of heated exchange is something we would expect to see on reality television, not in the halls of Congress. We must ensure this behavior remains an outlier, not the norm.

Credibility takes a lifetime to build, and the women of my generation and those who came before us have sacrificed so much to secure a place for current and future generations of women in leadership. We owe it to those women to create a space where we may continue to shatter barriers by committing to the continued pursuit of virtue and civility, not allow passionate debate to devolve into low blows and unbecoming exchanges. Virtue speaks to the quality of our character, and if we are dedicated to building character, it crowds out time expended on pettiness.

This is not an attack on these women, nor is it an unfavorable assessment of their character. It is simply a friendly reminder from another woman who has fought hard for the privilege to serve in the halls of Congress: We cannot allow one moment of anger to become the headline of our professional legacies.

In choosing to run for public office, we all assumed the responsibility of setting a positive example for young women across the country, aspiring to be where we have the honor of standing now. May we have the foresight and wisdom to work together to lay a strong foundation for them to build upon and be proud.

Cynthia Lummis is the junior senator from Wyoming and the chair of the Senate Western Caucus. She serves on the Environment and Public Works, Banking, and Commerce committees. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008 and served on the House Oversight Committee. She is the first woman to serve the state of Wyoming in the United States Senate.