Senate women are missing from Democratic working groups, too

Democrats are no better than Republicans in making sure women play a prominent role in the process when it comes to Senate working groups.

Senate Republicans are fielding criticism for establishing what is so far an all-male working group to write a proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare.

"To not have women in the smaller working group, that we know is making the real decisions, is very, very bad," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. "They are half the population. It is so wrong."

But Senate Democrats have often left women out of their own back-room negotiations as they drafted major legislation, including Obamacare.

In the spring of 2009, as the Democratic-led Senate embarked on healthcare reform, Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee convened a working group that became known as the "gang of six." The group, which met privately, drafted a healthcare reform proposal that eventually evolved into Obamacare.