Women and the 118th U. S. Congress

 Women and the 118th U. S. Congress (convenes 3 January 2023)

There will be a record number of women in the 118th U. S. Congress--149 women, a grand total of two (TWO!!!) more than in the 117th Congress. 

Of this total, 124 women will serve in the House of Representatives (91 of them Democrats). And 25 of the 100 U. S. Senators are women (16 of them Democrats). 

From Center for American Women and Politics

But before you party too hard, this number represents only 27.9% of the total seats in Congress (535). As Beth Daley notes for The Conversation: "At this rate, it will take 118 more years – until 2140 – for there to be an equal number of male and female lawmakers in Congress."

And in the broader picture? Again, here's Daley: "While women are underrepresented in governments around the globe, it is a particularly significant problem in the United States. Currently, the U.S. ranks 73rd in the world when it comes to female representation in government."

Another revealing graphic, this one from CNN: 

Women and the 117th U. S. Congress

 Women and the 117th U. S. Congress (convenes 3 January 2021)

I've waited to post on the representation of women in the U. S. Congress--two months after the 3 November 2020 election, the numbers are still not clear.

Graph from Represent Women

Ten days after the November election, reporting for the Represent Women website, Cynthia Richie Terrell wrote that, since numbers were still "trickling in," the final tally was still not clear: "we don't yet know the final tally for the number of women elected to Congress."

Still, she noted, the 117th Congress would show a significant increase in the number of women--and of women of color--elected to office. But, a note of caution: "the results also show that the vast majority of incumbents were re-elected and that while while 162 women ran as challengers just 8 have won as of today, for a total win rate of 4%. These incremental gains place the United States at about 70th globally along with neighbors Mali, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Bulgaria and Iraq [emphasis in the original]."

Today, the situation is still unclear. The Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics published data accurate as of 3 January: 

In 2020, 126 (105D, 21R) women hold seats in the United States Congress, comprising 23.6% of the 535 members; 25 women (25%) serve in the U.S. Senate, and 101 women (23.2%) serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Four women non-voting delegates (2D, 2R) also represent American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the United States House of Representatives.

As a 3 January 2021 CAWP press release makes clear, these figures will change:

• Senator Kamala Harris (D) will be sworn in as vice president on January 20th.

• Representative Marcia Fudge (D) has been selected to serve in the Cabinet as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

• Representative Deb Haaland (D) has been selected to serve in the Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior.

• Senator Kelly Loeffler (R) is in a runoff election on January 5th.

• The House race in NY-22, featuring Claudia Tenney (R), is undecided.

• Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) will be provisionally seated while the House race in IA-02 is under review by the U.S. House Committee on Administration. Miller-Meeks’ opponent – Rita Hart (D) – has petitioned for the review. . . . 

Counts below do not include 4 (2D, 2R) women who will serve as non-voting delegates in the 117th Congress.

So, the good news. A total (so far) of 144 women will serve in the 117th U. S. Congress, which "surpasses the previous record of 127 . . . set in 2019."

But if you're a reader of this blog, you will know that I am never satisfied. So the bad news: that new record of 144 women is still pitiful--that represents only 26.9% of all members of the U. S. Congress. 

For previous posts on women in the U. S. Congress, click on the label, below.

Women and the 116th U.S. Congress

The 116th United States Congress and a "Record Number of Women" (convenes 3 January 2019)

A great deal has written about the changing demographics of the 116th U.S. Congress--the House of Representatives, in particular, is remarkable for its great diversity. The Center for American Women in Politics notes that a "record number of women will serve in the U. S. Congress in January 2019."

But before we get too excited, here is a graphic illustrating the change in the number of women Representatives, from the 115th Congress to the 116th:

The 115th U.S. Congress,
Men and Women in the U.S. House of Representatives,
graphic from Business Insider

And here is the make-up of the  House of Representatives, 116th Congress:

116th U.S. Congress,
Men and Women in the U.S. House of Representatives,
graphic from Business Insider*

Wow. See that???? Huge change, huh?

There may be "historic gains" for women, men and women of color, and members of the LGBTQ community, and a greater range of ages, but "historic gains" still doesn't mean that much. 

The "record number" of women elected to the House this year is 102--of a total of 435 Representatives.* That may be a gain of 22%, but women still hold fewer than 24% of the seats in the House.

In the Senate, where there are 100 Senators, five women were newly elected; added to a woman appointed after the election and to the sitting members who are women, that brings the total to 25. So, 25% of the U. S. Senate is female.**

My math skills are not the best, but all this means that about 24% of the seats in the U.S. Congress will be held by women in 2019. May I remind you that women constitute nearly 51% of the population of the United States (50.8%, according to the most recent statistics of the U.S. Census Bureau).

If you've read many entries on this blog, you will probably be saying, "Damn, this crazy woman is just never satisfied." And you'd be right.

*As of 1 January 2019, the seating of a representative from North Carolina is still questionable, so there may be 434 congressmen at the beginning of the 116th Congress.

**After the CAWP report, dated right after the election, Martha McSally was appointed to the Senate in Arizona, bringing the number of women to 25.

Back to the Future--Making America Great Again for Women!

The 115th U. S. Congress (convenes 3 January 2017)

In the kick-off to a year when American women will almost surely face challenges and set-backs and hostility on a number of fronts, it is important to remember that women are still woefully under-respresented in the U. S. Congress. Only 19 percent of the members of the new Congress are women. Yup, that's right--19 percent. 

(And just in case you were wondering, 51 percent of the U. S. population is female.)

Here's one view of what the numbers look like:

Graphic from The Hill,
17 November 2016

Of the 535 members who will take their seats when the 115th U. S. Congress convenes today for the first time, only 104 of them will be women. And that's exactly the same number as in the last congress. Women made no gains at all in representation.

Numerous sources proclaim--accurately, to be sure--that this will be the most racially diverse congress ever (see, for example, Christina Marcos's piece in The Hill). And while this is a good thing, it's important also to note that these "record" numbers are still pretty lame: 49 African American members (up from 46), 38 Hispanic members (no change), 15 Asian American members (up from 11), and two Native American members (no change). (For a profile of members of the 114th U. S. Congress, click here and download the .pdf)).  

In other words, 102 men and women of color will hold seats in the 115th U. S. Congress--19 percent. For the record, racial and ethnic minorities account for 39 percent of the U. S. population. (For the Kaiser Family Foundation's 2016 figures, click here.) And, while many of those candidates of color are women, the new congress is still overwhelmingly white and male (almost 80 percent).

In addition to the number of legislators who represent racial diversity, there are 7 LGBTQ members of the 115th U. S. Congress--again, no change from the previous Congress.  

But, hey, in international rankings, when it comes to the numbers of women in our national legislature, we're tied for 100th place with Krygystan! And, while we might have lost out to Greece and Kenya (tied for 98th/99th place) by .5 of a percentage point, at least we beat out Tajikistan by .2 of a percentage point! Yay us!

Of course, Cuba ranks 3rd on this list, Nicaragua 5th, Mexico 8th, Costa Rica and Grenada tied at 31st, El Salvador 34th, Trinidad and Tobago, 42nd, the Dominican Republic 58th, Canada 63rd, Honduras 64th, and. . . Well, you get the picture. But at least we're not the lowest-ranked of the countries in North America--we rank higher than Panama, at 103, Jamaica at 109 . . . And we're definitely better than Beliz, at 180, and Haiti, at 187.  (For the Inter-Parliamentary Union rankings of women in international parliaments, click here.*)

One more fun fact. While the fall 2016 elections brought no gains for U. S. women when it comes to representation in our national legislature, the fall election in Iceland resulted in women holding nearly 48 percent of the parliamentary seats. (The top 3 countries on the Inter-Parliamentary Union list--Rwanda, Bolivia, and Cuba--mandate levels of representation for women, though women's participation exceeds the mandated minimums. But there are no constitutional requirements for women's representation in Iceland, fourth on the list of 193 countries.) 

So, as we look ahead to Making America Great Again, Women's Edition: fasten your seat belts, ladies--it's going to be a bumpy year . . .  

, 

*Update, January 2018: I'm calling this the "shithole update"--if you check out the list of international rankings, noted above, you can see how many shithole countries in Africa beat the U.S. when it comes to representation of women in their national legislatures . . . Just sayin' . . . 

As of 2022, this link now takes you to data from 2019--where the U.S ranking shot up to 76! In that year, we were tied with Afghanistan and Cabo Verde. This particular site is now archived, but a red box at the top provides you with a new link to the Inter-Parliamentary Union numbers, a "monthly ranking of women in national parliaments." If you're hoping the U.S. has shot up to the top of the list in the years since I originally posted this link in January 2017, well . . . 

Women and the 2014 Election

Women and the 114th Congress--Good News, Sorta (Or Is It Bad News?)

The Center for American Women and Politics (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey) has issued its "Election Watch" report for the 2014 election: "2014: Not a Landmark Year for Women, Despite Some Notable Firsts." While there is some improvement in representation for women, the pace is glacial. 

So, first, the good news: "At least 101 women--and possibly as many as 105--will serve in the 114th Congress" (CAWP). And then the bad: even with 20 women in the Senate and 81 in the House, women will still hold only 18.5 percent of the combined 535 seats in the U.S. Congress. If all five women whose races have not yet been decided (1 in the Senate and 3 in the House of Representatives) are ultimately elected, this percentage could climb all the way to 19.5 percent.

By way of contrast, there were 99 women serving in the 113th Congress, 20 in the Senate and 79 in the House.

This graph is from Slate's report on the election

The figures for statewide elective office aren't cause for much optimism either. While the highest rate of representative for women in statewide elective offices is 41.1 percent (Vermont), the lowest rates are grim (South Carolina, 10 percent; Louisiana, 12.5 percent; Oklahoma, 13.4 percent). 

As Gail Collins notes in her post-election op-ed, "Always Look on the Bright Side," at its current rate of growth, American women can expect to achieve equality of representation "sometime around 2078." That's about twenty years after women might finally achieve equal pay: the Institute for Women's Policy Research calculates that, if change continues at the same slow pace it has since the passage of the 1963 Equal Pay Act, it will take another fifty years, until 2058, for women to finally reach pay parity. 

Unlike Collins, I pretty much never look on the bright side.