WASHINGTON - The year that Marcy Kaptur became a member of Congress, "Return of the Jedi" was the top grossing film, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was the top record album, and Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.

Since those days in 1983, barriers have tumbled that kept women out of politics and other formerly male bastions. When the Toledo Democrat joined the U.S. House of Representatives, there were roughly two dozen women. Now that number has quadrupled, although women still comprise just 20 percent of legislators, says Kaptur. Most people she meets believe that proportion is higher, she adds.

"Women bring a broader range of experiences to Congress and give voice to issues and challenges that sometimes have been on the shelf for too long," says Kaptur, 71.

Edith Nourse Rogers was already a legendary member of Congress and supporter of military veterans when her portrait was donated by veterans in 1950 to honor her service chairing the Veterans' Affairs Committee. Howard Chandler Christy's 1950 portrait of Rogers shows her as the seasoned and powerful member that she was. (Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives)

Kaptur soon will become the longest serving woman in the U.S. House of Representatives. On Sunday, March 18, the 35 years, 2 months and 15 days she's spent in Congress will break a 1960 record set by Massachusetts Republican Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers, who died of pneumonia while in office at age 77.

The male record for congressional longevity was set by Michigan Democratic Rep. John Dingell, who retired in 2015 after nearly 60 years in Congress.

And former Maryland U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski holds the record for longest service by a woman in both houses of Congress. She spent 10 years in the House and 30 in the Senate.

On Wednesday, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi - the fourth longest serving woman in U.S. House history - will host a Capitol Hill event to mark Kaptur's milestone. It will be live cast on Pelosi's Facebook page at 3 p.m.

"Marcy is an icon and a trailblazer, and her relentless, principled leadership has encouraged countless young women to enter politics," said a statement from Pelosi, who was the House's first female speaker. "We are all deeply grateful for the strong, powerful voice she has given to the hard-working Americans who have too often been left out and left behind in the 21st century economy."

Kaptur - who wrote a 1996 book called "Women of Congress, A Twentieth-Century Odyssey," says her path to the job differed from many of her female legislative forebears. She didn't win office by succeeding a deceased husband - as Rogers did when she was elected in 1925 - and she didn't come from a rich family like Rogers, whose father was a textile plant magnate.

"I am one of the few women elected who comes from the working class of people," Kaptur says. "My service has helped to broaden representation in the Congress."

Where are the women in politics? Rep. Marcy Kaptur talks about the gender gap

Kaptur's father was an independent produce trucker who opened a family grocery store outside Toledo, and eventually became an auto worker so his family could have health insurance. Kaptur's mother worked at a Champion spark plug factory, where she helped organize a union.

The first in her family to graduate high school, Kaptur says she decided to become an urban planner as a way to help rebuild cities that "were burning to the ground" during the 1960s when she graduated from University of Wisconsin at Madison.

In the 1970s, she became one of President Jimmy Carter's urban policy advisers. Democrats from Toledo recruited her to run for Congress while she was seeking a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She won the race, and says she never obtained that degree because the school wouldn't accommodate her job schedule.

In Congress, Kaptur wrote legislation that established the World War II memorial. She also counts securing funding for the Veterans Glass Skyway Bridge over the Maumee River in Toledo among her proudest achievements.

Over the years, she was courted as a vice-presidential candidate by Ross Perot, and was featured in the Michael Moore film "Capitalism: A Love Story" after she publicly urged people who face eviction to be "squatters in their own homes."

Kaptur is running for re-election this fall and says she's not sure how long she'll stay in office. She observes that it took 17 years to get the war memorial built and 16 to build the bridge. Her current projects include boosting urban agriculture, containing damage from the North American Free Trade Agreement, achieving U.S. energy independence and cleaning up Lake Erie.

"I could give you a list of unfinished tasks," she says. "I want to stay to finish some of these, or influence enough people that if I do want to leave, these ideas will be implemented in the future."