--- title: Senator Barbara Mikulski Paved the Way for Pants in the Senate description: The retiring Maryland Democrat was one of the first women to wear pants in the Senate. canonical: https://time.com/3728510/barb-mikulski-hillary-clinton-pantsuits/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-02T17:08:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-24T14:43:48.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Senator Barbara Mikulski Paved the Way for Pants in the Senate og:description: The retiring Maryland Democrat was one of the first women to wear pants in the Senate. og:url: https://time.com/3728510/barb-mikulski-hillary-clinton-pantsuits/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0085a8798631d661/698781ae35ba6ffd2ec075a3/barbara-mikulski-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Dinner og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senator Barbara Mikulski Paved the Way for Pants in the Senate twitter:description: The retiring Maryland Democrat was one of the first women to wear pants in the Senate. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0085a8798631d661/698781ae35ba6ffd2ec075a3/barbara-mikulski-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Barb Mikulski Paved the Way for Hillary Clinton's Pantsuits by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Updated: Jan 24, 2024 2:43 PM UTCPublished: Mar 2, 2015 5:08 PM UTC  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) make a few remarks at FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Dinner at U.S Department Of State's Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Room on April 30, 2012 in Washington, D.C. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) make a few remarks at FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Dinner at U.S Department Of State's Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Room on April 30, 2012 in Washington, D.C.Paul Morigi—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Updated: Jan 24, 2024 2:43 PM UTCPublished: Mar 2, 2015 5:08 PM UTC The legislative legacy of six-term Sen. Barb Mikulski, who announced Monday she would retire in 2016, is long. The [longest-serving woman](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/barbara-mikulski-honored-as-longest-serving-woman-in-congress/2012/03/21/gIQA6d5JSS%5Fblog.html) in Congress, the Maryland Democrat has had a hand in everything from health care to the budget, sponsored the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and [helped bring female senators to work together](http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/16/women-are-the-only-adults-left-in-washington/). But one of her signature achievements is also so mundane today that it’s hard to appreciate: Thanks to Mikulski and former Republican Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, women can wear pants in the Senate. Here’s how it unfolded, according to [a 2011 story](http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57%5F9/a-show-of-arms-207433-1.html?pg=2&dczone=hill-life) from Capitol Hill publication _Roll Call_: --- > “” --- Mikulski [later told CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/27/mikulski.senate/) that the pants-wearing was a “seismographic event.” “The Senate parliamentarian had looked at the rules to see if it was OK,” she recalled. “So, I walk on that day and you would have thought I was walking on the moon. It caused a big stir.” > [](https://twitter.com/PattyMurray/status/572503145106046976) These days, when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is able to joke about her [“sisterhood of the traveling pantsuit,”](http://theweek.com/speedreads/452686/hillary-clinton-jokes-considered-calling-memoir-scrunchie-chronicles) it’s hard to appreciate the importance of Mikulski’s rebellion. But as Clinton herself noted testily once, male politicians are [rarely asked which fashion designers they wear](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2010/12/hillary%5Fclinton%5Fasked%5Fwhat%5Fdes.html). Pantsuits are practical, they’re apolitical and they save time and mental energy. President Obama once [told _Vanity Fair_](http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2012/10/michael-lewis-profile-barack-obama) that he only wears either blue or gray suits so that he [can save his decision-making](http://www.fastcompany.com/3026265/work-smart/always-wear-the-same-suit-obamas-presidential-productivity-secrets) for weightier matters. The pantsuit leveled the playing field for Clinton and other female politicians, and they can thank Mikulski for it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3728510/barb-mikulski-hillary-clinton-pantsuits/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3728510/barb-mikulski-hillary-clinton-pantsuits/"},"headline":"How Barb Mikulski Paved the Way for Hillary Clinton's Pantsuits","datePublished":"2015-03-02T17:08:27.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T14:43:48.000Z","description":"The retiring Maryland Democrat was one of the first women to wear pants in the Senate.","url":"https://time.com/3728510/barb-mikulski-hillary-clinton-pantsuits/","keywords":["Congress","Hillary Clinton"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0085a8798631d661/698781ae35ba6ffd2ec075a3/barbara-mikulski-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0085a8798631d661/698781ae35ba6ffd2ec075a3/barbara-mikulski-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Dinner","caption":"FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Dinner","creditText":"Paul Morigi—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3728510/barb-mikulski-hillary-clinton-pantsuits/","name":"How Barb Mikulski Paved the Way for Hillary Clinton's Pantsuits"}}]}] ```