Margie Hendriksen papers

Margie Hendriksen was a Democratic Oregon politician. She received her BA from the University of Minnesota in 1967 and her JD from the University of Oregon in 1975. She worked in a general law practice with Therese England and Peter A. Ozanne after receiving her law degree and was particularly interested in domestic relations and civil rights litigation. She served as the State Representative for Oregon-District 40 (Eugene) from 1981-1982 and as the State Senator for District 40 (Eugene) from 1983-1985. In 1984 she unsuccessfully ran in the US Senate election against Republican Mark Hatfield, the incumbent. In 1986 she ran for US Representative but was defeated in the Democratic Part primary elections by Congressman Peter DeFazio.

Hendriksen was a member of the Oregon Advisory committee to the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights, the Democratic Central Committee, and the Democratic Executive Committee, the state Steering Committee, and the Western Oregon Health System Agency. She founded the Oregon Women's Political Caucus and was an Oregon representative to the National Women's Political Caucus. She was an advocate for women's rights, affirmative action, the Equal Rights Amendment, and comparable worth. She was active in pro-choice and domestic violence legislation. She worked to pass legislation to regulate video display terminals (VDTs). Margie sponsored the Oregon Pay Equity Bill, which passed in 1985 when she was an Oregon senator and chair of the Senate Labor Committee.