Warren says she has received sexist comments in the Senate. | Rod Lamkey Jr. for POLITICO Warren on sexism in the Senate

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday said sexism remains a problem on Capitol Hill even if some progress has been made to address the issue in recent years.

Speaking at POLITICO’s “Solving For Y: Exploring Opportunities for the Next Generation,” the first-term Massachusetts Democrat was asked whether she has encountered any “sexual taunting” like her colleague Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) recently said she has experienced during her time in the Senate.


“It’s an old institution. And – there are changes that need to be made and I think we’re making progress,” Warren responded.

( Earlier on POLITICO: Kirsten Gillibrand: Peers called me ‘porky’)

Pressed on whether she has been on the receiving end of sexist comments from male lawmakers, the senator answered: “Enough to know that we need to make changes.”

Gillibrand touched off a firestorm in Washington by writing in her new book that some of her male colleagues on Capitol Hill have previously commented on her weight.

“Good thing you’re working out, because you wouldn’t want to get porky!” Gillibrand recalls a colleague saying to her in “Off the Sidelines.”

“You know, Kirsten, you’re even pretty when you’re fat,” another member allegedly said.

( Also on POLITICO: Elizabeth Warren will 'keep hitting' at student loans)

Gillibrand has not named the colleagues who made the comments, but the anecdotes in the book sparked discussions about the prevalence of sexism on Capitol Hill and in the workplace.

Warren did note one area of improvement since she first arrived in Congress — the size of the women’s bathrooms in the Senate.

“It was tiny and stuffy and two tiny little stalls crammed in and you literally had to inch out the door to let somebody else come in. That’s what it was like,’ she said. “And we have 20 women in the Senate now! That was just not going to work. And I’d just like to announce – we now have a bigger lady’s room in the United States Senate.”

Warren, who appeared at the POLITICO event with personal finance guru Suze Orman, discussed some of her biggest legislative priorities in the Senate, including ways to tackle the growing student loan debt crisis.

( PHOTOS: Solving For Y: Exploring Opportunities for the Next Generation)

Asked earlier in the event to name her favorite GOP colleague, Warren said she believes there are plenty of Republicans in the Senate who are working to move the government in the right direction, and pointed to Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) as one example.

“Corker voted for the student loan to move the student loan bill forward. I’m very grateful for that,” Warren said. “And Sen. Corker is out there working right now to rework housing finance replace Fannie and Freddie. Boy, that is a tough job. And if we can get it right… [it] would make housing more accessible to more working families.”

Both Warren and Corker sit on the Senate Banking Committee, but the two senators are more than just colleagues serving on the same congressional panel. When Warren first arrived on Capitol Hill, she asked Corker to serve as her Republican mentor. Since then, they’ve worked together in a number of areas including legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Looking back in history, Warren highlighted Teddy Roosevelt as one of her favorite Republicans.

“He stood up to the biggest trusts – that’s what they were at that point the country. And it was done at a time when nobody believed that you could do that,” she said. “He stood up and he said no. I am willing to fight you all the way. I will break you apart. You cannot control this country. And I think that was just powerfully, powerfully important.”