WASHINGTON. Oct 9: President Bill Clinton's case before Congress has touched upon some of the worst fears for women — an unfaithful husband. a younger woman involved. sex in the workplace, and how to explain it all to children, reports Reuters.

Women lawmakers who cast a historic vote on Thursday for the House of Representatives to open an inquiry into Clinton's conduct said ultimately they will judge the president on legal issues such as perjury and obstruction of justice.

But they also viewed the case about whether Clinton lied under oath about an extramarital affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky as mothers, wives and working women.

"We are the freest society in the world. We have also made the greatest progress toward equality."' representative Nancy Johnson, a Connecticut Republican. said.

"How do we deal with infidelity? It's really not easy. There are a lot of issues here. Ultimately our most serious is-

sues for those considering impeachment have to be perjury, obstruction of justice." Johnson said.

There are 56 women in the House of Representatives, including the delegate for the district of Columbia, of which 39 are Democrats and 17 Republicans.

Almost all of them voted along party lines. Among the democrats, two women voted to open the inquiry, while republican Deborah Pryce of Ohio was absent.

Women have traditionally been strong supporters of Clinton and the Democratic Party. Since the Monica Lewinsky scandal first erupted this year, feminist groups have struggled over what position to take, divided over a president whom they think has advanced women's issues but whose private conduct they cannot condone.

Feminists appear to have switched from saying "the personal is political" to a new standard that "the personal is personal and it doesn't matter." said representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. a Florida Republican.

She said the Clinton case could have implications for sexual harassment issues.

"By setting a new standard, a new low standard that says that lying about sex in court is now acceptable, it's permissible and in fact it's expected — men will have affairs with younger women, men will lie about it. and it's OK — then whaf we will have done through all of this hard work is really perpetrated a fraud upon the public and a fraud upon women,” Ros-Lehtinen said.

"Well it's not OK to lie. it’s not OK to lie even if it s an embarrassment to you." she said.

Democratic women lawmakers said they didn’t condone Clinton's behaviour but also questioned whether it met the bar of an impeachable offence. They also said perhaps a censure would be a wiser course of action than impeachment.

"I still maintain he (Clinton) should not have put the country through this.” representative Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio democrat. said.