Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, known for her groundbreaking work and advocacy for women during her 24-year career in the House of Representatives, voiced her concerns about the election and the state of gender equality in America at a webinar series on Thursday afternoon.

Schroeder served in Congress from 1973 to 1997. During her first term she was only one of 14 women in the House of Representatives.

She was a passionate and vocal advocate for the pro-choice movement and supported the Equal Rights Amendment. She founded the Congressional Women’s Caucus and helped pass the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. She was also able to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act, which she worked on for 10 years.

Schroeder battled blatant sexism as soon as she stepped foot in Congress. When she fought to earn a chair on the all-male Armed Forces Committee during her first term, the chairman of the committee made her and African-American representative Ron Dellums share a chair because according to the chairman, women and black people were only half of one regular member, and didn’t deserve a full seat. However, Schroeder fought back and was able to oust the chairman in 1975. She remained on the committee for the rest of her Congressional career.

Having experienced incredible amounts of sexism herself, Schroeder weighed in on the discrimination Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is facing today. “The discrimination against Hillary is a lot more subtle, but it’s very real,” Schroeder said.

“She is very qualified, but [people] will turn around and say ‘I don’t like her.’ It seems almost impossible for a woman to be qualified and ambitious enough to go out there, and take … everything else thrown at them and still be likable,” she said.

Schroeder also spoke of the possibility of Clinton getting actual work done in the White House should she be elected.

“When she was Senator, everybody was shocked at how well she worked with the Republicans, and how well she got along with them. Even now, you talk to Republican senators and they will tell you she was very fair … she worked on bipartisan bills. I think that’s exactly what she would do this time,” she said.

Her message to those who are concerned about Clinton’s emails was, “If you’re not going to vote for her because of her emails, I want to see all of your emails.”

Despite her efforts to close the gender gap while in Congress, Schroeder is “disappointed but not shocked” at the state of gender equality in the country today. She quoted the World Economic Forum, saying it reports that women and men will have equal pay in America in 170 years if the country continues at this rate.

“In 2020, we will have had the right to vote as women for 100 years,” she said. “I think our foremothers … are probably looking down at us saying, ‘For crying out loud, people, why can’t you get it together?’”

Despite this, Schroeder still believes that “when you get a critical mass of women, they can really change institutions.”

The webinar was the first in a series called “Conversations with Extraordinary Women,” sponsored by the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WMGS) department. Wendy Cadge, Sociology professor and chair of WGS, organized the series.

“The idea developed in conversation with the Board of the WGS Program,” she said in an email to The Brandeis Hoot. “We hope to connect with a broad range of alums and friends as well as the on-campus community in an intellectually exciting and vibrant way.”

To organize the series, Cadge invited speakers and contacted faculty on campus who would be able to facilitate conversation with the speaker.

“We invited prominent women who we consider to have made extraordinary contributions to American public life. The speakers were enthused to participate,” she said.

Over a hundred people signed up to attend Schroeder’s webinar. After registering in advance, participants were able to join the webinar by clicking a link provided in a confirmation email, or they could dial in via phone with phone numbers provided.

Florence Graves, director of the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, moderated the webinar. She encouraged attendees to ask questions for the duration of the webinar by submitting them via a form at the top of the screen. Graves then relayed audience questions to Schroeder.