As more women come forward and the number of sexual assault allegations against powerful men grow, we can look back to 1991 and thank Anita Hill for opening the conversation on sexual harassment in the workplace. She appeared in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee to assert that Clarence Thomas, who she’d worked with in Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, was not fit to sit on U.S. Supreme Court because in years prior, he repeatedly sexually harassed her. In the end, Thomas was confirmed and Hill’s claims proved ineffective at keeping him away from the Supreme Court, but they did pave a way for women to speak up about their experiences.

At this year’s Glamour Women of the Year Awards, Hill shared this #MeToo story on stage alongside other women who have raised their voices against harassment and assault. She also spoke of her pride in her experience’s ability to help other women speak up against their harassers. “The outcome of my testimony was not what I’d hoped, but in no way was it the final word,” Hill said. “In the five years after I testified, sexual harassment complaints filed with the EEOC more than doubled. Legislation against harassment slowly but surely started to pass. And I saw that we had a chance to shift this narrative.”

One of the most outspoken advocates for women in the government recently has been former Vice President Joe Biden, who in 1991 was the senator serving as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee during Hill’s hearing. But his actions during the hearing, which included pressing Hill about her charge that Thomas had complained to her about pubic hair on a soda can, have come under criticism recently, with some saying he didn’t do enough to support Hill—who was asked to testify to an all-white, all-male committee about her experiences.

Biden apologized during the Women of the Year Awards to Hill as he talked to Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive about his actions on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I’m so sorry that she had to go through what she went through,” he said. “I’m confident he did what she asserted. I believed in Anita. I voted against Clarence Thomas.”

However, Hill doesn’t feel that he’s taken enough responsibility for his part in her unsuccessful hearing. A few days after his apology, Hill spoke with the Washington Post about Biden’s apology. When asked if she accepted it, Hill replied, “Some part of it. But I still don’t think it takes ownership of his role in what happened. And he also doesn’t understand that it wasn’t just that I felt it was not fair. It was that women were looking to the Senate Judiciary Committee and his leadership to really open the way to have these kinds of hearings.”

“They should have been using best practices to show leadership on this issue on behalf of women’s equality,” she explained to the Post. “And they did just the opposite.”

She acknowledges that things have evolved since the ’90s—but also that we’re far from solving the problem. “Just having somebody come forward is not enough. You’ve got to be able to come into a system that respects and values our experiences and our work and our integrity. And we’re not there yet,” Hill said.

Related Stories:
–Post-Weinstein, These Are the Powerful Men Facing Sexual Harassment Allegations
–State Senator Gayle Goldin: Why Speaking Out Against Sexual Harassment Backfires for Women in Office
–Ashley Judd Just Shared Her Go-To Way to Respond to Sexual Harassment

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