--- title: Women in Washington DC: LIFE Magazine Photos from 1962 description: In the 1960s, the women making history in Washington, D.C. were a cohort that often lived and ate and socialized with one another canonical: https://time.com/4196768/women-washington-politics-gender/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-14T16:00:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T19:40:34.000Z og:title: See What Life Was Once Like For Women in Washington, D.C. og:description: In 1962, LIFE Magazine documented them at work and at play og:url: https://time.com/4196768/women-washington-politics-gender/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt228097a1adf69762/69887ae9f887dc4650e94579/washington-girls-life-magazine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1525 og:image:height: 858 og:image:alt: Washington Girls og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See What Life Was Once Like For Women in Washington, D.C. twitter:description: In 1962, LIFE Magazine documented them at work and at play twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt228097a1adf69762/69887ae9f887dc4650e94579/washington-girls-life-magazine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See What Life Was Once Like for Women in Washington, D.C. > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:40 PM UTCPublished: Jun 14, 2016 4:00 PM UTC  From the March 23, 1962 issue of LIFE Magazine. From the March 23, 1962 issue of LIFE Magazine. Art Rickerby—LIFE Magazine by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:40 PM UTCPublished: Jun 14, 2016 4:00 PM UTC **Correction appended, June 15, 2016** When Gayle Quisenberry arrived in [Washington, D.C.](http://time.com/4296175/washington-dc-statehood-history/) in the early 1960s, she had already lived through a minor scandal: during her junior year at Goucher College, the Long Island native had moved to Lagos, [Nigeria](http://time.com/3899638/madeleine-albright-johnnie-carson-nigeria/), under the auspices of the Experiment in International Living. As her daughter Leyla Sharabi tells TIME, “The whole social circle \[her family\] moved in—this was just not done. She was in the newspaper.” After returning from Nigeria to work for the humanitarian organization CARE in New York City and then moving on to D.C. to work for the monthly journal _Africa Report_, Quisenberry was one of several young women photographed by LIFE’s Art Rickerby for a 1962 story titled “[How Nice To Be a Pretty Girl and Work in Washington](https://books.google.com/books?id=SlUEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=twopage&q&f=false).” Their place in the capital city wasn’t quite a scandal, but these women working with senators and diplomats were unusual enough to warrant a photo essay, with language that reads today as patronizing—their looks are mentioned as much as their brains—but which was, at the time, characterized by a sense of wonder at their decision to forgo settling down in favor of “glamor, excitement and romance.” Recent conversations about women in Washington have tended to focus on a [particular woman](http://time.com/4355797/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-transcript/) [making history](http://time.com/4359288/hillary-clinton-democratic-nominee-woman/) in our nation’s capital. And for the last eight years, Americans have had a First Lady who has made a point of bringing issues affecting women to the forefront, as she’s doing on Tuesday with the [United State of Women](http://time.com/4359156/michelle-obama-united-state-of-women-video/) summit. Back in the 1960s, the women making history in the city were, to the general public, largely nameless. They were a cohort that often lived and ate and socialized with one another. The young women held jobs ranging from lawyer to stenographer to, as in Quisenberry’s case, right-hand woman to one of the nation’s leading experts on Africa—who just so happened to also be a woman, a specialist named [Helen Kitchen](http://journalism.uoregon.edu/news/memoriam-helen-kitchen-42-member-sojc-hall-achievement/). The LIFE story told of women with “eyes full of stardust,” drinking in their proximity to power and enjoying the favorable ratio of 1.8 men for every woman. After work they taught dance classes or played co-ed football, juggled dates or sorted placecards for fancy state dinners. For some of these women, this chapter would be short-lived. For Quisenberry, it would end after she married Hisham Sharabi, a Palestinian-American author, intellectual and professor, and had Leyla, her first and only child, at the relatively advanced age (for those times) of 32\. “Even though she was a relative powerhouse by 1950s and ‘60s standards,” says the younger Sharabi, “by the time she was a mother, we were right back to the 1950s. She was a housewife.” Still, the kind of woman who at 20 eschews all expectations placed upon her isn’t apt to let her life get boring. Sharabi confirms that her mother (who changed her name to Gayle Sharabi) wasn’t content to limit her tasks to her homemaking duties. She became an expert horticulturist, maintaining an impressive garden of native plants. Each morning, she left no page of the New York _Times_ or the Washington _Post_ unturned. Each night, she watched the evening news. But as a woman of few words, Quisenberry rarely spoke of her working days to her daughter. “That’s the thing about moms,” says Sharabi. “Once they become moms to their children, they’re moms. I didn’t know about her life and her career.” As Rickerby’s photos of her had not actually been published in the LIFE photo essay, it wasn’t until after her mother died at 58 in 1995 that Sharabi came across his images of her, offering a glimpse of a young Washington woman at work. The LIFE story didn’t quite have the language to describe the exploits of these career-oriented women. It often described them in terms of the way their presence affected those around them: “A pretty young girl for some reason,” it read, “seems to improve everyone’s mood.” But it did venture a prognostication about the generations to follow this group of “Washington girls” which, more than 50 years later, could well come true: “One day,” the magazine said, “a woman will be President.”  From the March 23, 1962 issue of LIFE Magazine. Art Rickerby—LIFE Magazine **Correction:** The original version of this story misstated the type of plants that Quisenberry maintained. They were native plants.  Caption from LIFE. With her eyes full of stardust, Nancy Becker of Columbia, Mo. dreams outside office of her boss. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. With her boss. Making the rounds, Layte and Senator Smathers pause to swap banter with Joe Duke, the Senate's sergeant at arms. Layte hopes to help the senator with campaigning. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Attorney General Robert Kennedy with his new receptionist, Nancy Becker. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A gracious word. At reception, Natalie Naugle greets Secretary Rusk and Protocol Chief Angier Biddle Duke. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Layte Bowden in Congress in Washington, D.C. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Editorial Assistant of Africa Report, Gayle Quisenberry. Art Rickerby—LIFE Magazine  Gayle Quisenberry at work on Africa Report. Art Rickerby—LIFE Magazine  Gayle Quisenberry takes notes on the job. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Gayle Quisenberry enjoys a moment with a friend. Art Rickerby—LIFE Magazine  Editorial Assistant of Africa Report Magazine, Gayle Quisenberry. Art Rickerby—LIFE Magazine  Caption from LIFE. In girls-and-boys touch football, Suzanne Rodgers—who works for Senator Jordan of North Carolina—and research secretary Nancy Thorpe (right) rush passer. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  From the 1962 photo essay "How Nice to Be a Pretty Girl and Work in Washington." Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. The beautiful and the damp. Layte Bowden dries off after swim in a hotel pool. She watches her diet and does daily calisthenics. Layte earns $5,600 a year, has $125-a-month apartment. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. After browsing through several shops, Natalie settles down in an old rocker to practice a new political art. One day, a woman will be President. Art Rickerby—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Interesting a Congressman. Under glow of the Capitol and a lighted fountain, Layte enjoys the undivided attention of Representative John Bradmas of Indiana. 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