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"What is a woman?", Mace's recurring hearing-room test

Across at least six House Oversight appearances from June 2024 to March 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace pressed an adversarial witness, Maya Wiley, Martin O'Malley, Fatima Goss Graves, Gov. Tim Walz (twice), and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, to answer 'What is a woman?' on camera. The clips, the verbatim exchanges, and her own posts are collected here.

"What is a woman?", Mace's recurring hearing-room test

"What is a woman?" has become one of Rep. Nancy Mace's signature lines of questioning. On at least six occasions before the House Oversight Committee and its subcommittees, from June 2024 to March 2026, Mace put the question to a witness she was sparring with, often demanding the person say the words "adult human female" on camera, and treating the answer (or the refusal) as the headline of the exchange. She has paired the hearing-room demand with a broader legislative and rhetorical push to fix the definition of "woman" in federal law as a biological category.

The witnesses dispute her framing, several have called the question a performative trap rather than a good-faith inquiry, and the National Women's Law Center has said one of Mace's accompanying accusations is false and defamatory. What the footage documents is a sitting congresswoman's own words at public hearings. Each exchange below is captioned from the official feed; her side and the witness's side are both shown.

The supercuts

Maceopedia has cut four of these exchanges into vertical clips. Click any poster to watch:

Mace vs. Maya Wiley, "It's not story time" Mace vs. Fatima Goss Graves, "You're groomers" Mace vs. Mayor Bowser, "I'm a woman. Are you a woman?" Mace vs. Gov. Tim Walz, "If you can't define a woman…"

June 27, 2024, Maya Wiley

At a House Oversight hearing on employment discrimination, Mace questioned Maya Wiley, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Mace: "Can you define what a woman is?"

Wiley: "A woman is a person who says she is, and let me just tell you one story about this..."

Mace: "You're not gonna tell me a story. We're not doing that right now. It's not story time." … "I'm going to reclaim my time. Be quiet."

The Mace-Wiley exchange, June 27, 2024, House Oversight Committee feed (uploaded by Forbes Breaking News). Maceopedia supercut →

Wiley and the Leadership Conference dispute the characterization implied by the questioning; Wiley has said her answer reflects the lived experience of transgender and nonbinary people. (Fox News coverage.)

January 15, 2025, Martin O'Malley

At a House Oversight hearing on federal telework policy, Mace turned the question on Martin O'Malley, the former Maryland governor and Social Security commissioner, then a candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee, asking him to define what a woman is. He declined to engage, according to reporting by Raw Story and The Hill.

O'Malley: "I'm talking to a woman right now, a distinguished woman, elected representative." … "I think you're kind of denigrating the purpose of this hearing."

Mace told the chairman, for the record, that "the potentially future chair of the Democrat Party cannot define what a woman is." O'Malley framed the question as off-topic for a telework hearing and did not offer a definition.

Sources: Raw Story · C-SPAN user clip · Washington Times

May 7, 2025, Fatima Goss Graves

At the DOGE Subcommittee hearing "Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," Mace questioned Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO of the National Women's Law Center, framing the question around Goss Graves's statement that "trans women are women."

Mace: "Ms. Goss Graves, what is a woman?"

Goss Graves: "A woman is an adult female; a woman identifies as a woman."

Mace: "Democrats have gone so crazy women can have penises. That's not biology. It's not science." … "You're groomers."

The Mace-Goss Graves exchange, May 7, 2025, DOGE Subcommittee hearing (C-SPAN). Maceopedia supercut →

Goss Graves and the National Women's Law Center dispute Mace's characterizations and have stated that her "groomers" accusation is false and defamatory and that inclusive policies do not harm women's sports. Mace posted her own real-time commentary on the hearing:

"Fatima Graves is making a fool of herself in @GOPOversight today. She is stuck in her fantasy land where men in dresses count as women."

Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace), May 7, 2025

June 12, 2025, Gov. Tim Walz (first time)

At a House Oversight hearing titled "A Hearing with Sanctuary State Governors", with Govs. JB Pritzker (IL) and Kathy Hochul (NY) testifying alongside him, Mace pressed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Mace: "What is a woman?"

Walz: "I'm not sure I understand the question here. What do you want me to say?"

Mace: "I want you to say that a woman like me is an adult human female. That men can't become women."

Mace posted the clip to her own account afterward. The video of the exchange travels with the post:

The June 12, 2025 sanctuary-state-governors hearing. Full hearing on the Internet Archive (C-SPAN) · Official hearing page (oversight.house.gov)

Walz declined to engage the premise, asking what she wanted him to say.

September 18, 2025, Mayor Muriel Bowser

At a House Oversight hearing on the District of Columbia, Mace questioned D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, citing language in the D.C. Code. The exchange went viral.

Mace: "One thing we notice is the D.C. Code struggles to define the term 'woman.' So, Mayor Bowser, what is a woman?"

Bowser: "I'm a woman. Are you a woman?"

Mace: "A hundred percent."

Bowser: "I'm a woman. You're looking at one."

Mace (after Bowser interjected later): "This is not her time. It's my time. You can be quiet as I ask you questions, and then you can answer them."

"Rep. Nancy Mace to DC Mayor Muriel Bowser: What is a Woman?", posted to Mace's own official YouTube channel, September 18, 2025. Maceopedia supercut → · C-SPAN clip

Bowser turned the question back on Mace, drawing audible laughter in the hearing room. (TheGrio coverage.)

March 4, 2026, Gov. Tim Walz (second time)

When Walz returned to House Oversight to testify on alleged misuse of federal funds in Minnesota, Mace opened with the question again.

Mace: "Governor Walz, what is a woman? Have you learned that lesson? Do you know what a woman is?"

Walz: "I'm the governor of Minnesota, congresswoman. I'm not here to be your prop for your obsession."

Mace: "If you can't define what a woman is, you certainly can't define what fraud is."

Mace vs. Gov. Tim Walz, "If you can't define a woman…"

The March 4, 2026 exchange. Maceopedia supercut → · the broader Walz questioning → · C-SPAN program

Coverage split along partisan lines: right-leaning outlets framed Mace as scoring a point, while mainstream reporting led with Walz's "obsession" retort. (Mediaite.)

Sources & related coverage

The recordings

On Maceopedia

On the Record