USA Today’s Women of Year: S.C. Rep. Henderson-Myers works to ‘make lives of women better’
Originally published by Samantha Swann for Spartanburg Herald-Journal
S.C. House District 31 Rep. Rosalyn Henderson-Myers says her main focus is to “make the lives of women better.”
A graduate of Tulane University, Henderson-Myers has practiced law since 1993. She lived in Louisiana and Pennsylvania before returning to her hometown of Spartanburg. She served on Spartanburg’s City Council from 2015 to 2017 before winning the District 31 seat in 2017.
“I vowed that if I came back home, that I would be very intentional about being involved in my community,” Henderson-Myers said. “So when the seat came open, I said, ‘This is my opportunity.’”
Her 2020 S.C. Lactation Support Act, which required employers to provide time and a private and sanitary space for breastfeeding workers to pump, was used to model the federal Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Act, passed in December 2022. She was honored at the White House for her efforts last May.
In 2022, while establishing a six-month residency requirement for name changes in South Carolina, Henderson-Myers also created protections for victims of domestic violence and other forms of abuse, allowing those coming to the state for a fresh start to change their names with no wait time.
An economic champion for South Carolina, Henderson-Myers has spoken to the House of Lords in London and traveled to meet leaders in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, and Guyana, South Africa about the growth and opportunities for international business in the state.
For her service, Henderson-Myers is the USA TODAY Women of the Year honoree from South Carolina.