But the gap widened in the 1970s and has persisted, despite a temporary narrowing during the Reagan-Bush 1980s. Until the 1929 stock market crash, most of the dozen women elected to the House were Republicans, and for several decades afterward the two parties were generally close in numbers in that chamber. The partisan gender division hasn’t always looked this way. Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat and the first female speaker of the House, is serving her fourth term as speaker after being reelected earlier this month. That number doubled this year to 30, the highest total ever.Ĭalifornia Rep. Between the 115th and 116th Congresses, the number of GOP women in the House fell from 25 to 15. Of the 27 newly elected representatives who are women, two-thirds (18) are Republicans. Republican women made significant gains in the House in the most recent election cycle. The 2020 general election sent just one new congresswoman to the Senate, Republican Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, making her the first female senator to represent that state. Women account for 40% of House Democrats and 32% of Senate Democrats, compared with 14% of House Republicans and 16% of Senate Republicans. Across both chambers, there are 106 Democratic women and 38 Republican women in the new Congress. Women make up a much bigger share of congressional Democrats (38%) than Republicans (14%). For 2020-21 election results, we used data from Ballotpedia and the Associated Press, as well as news reports. House of Representatives Office of the Historian, the Congressional Research Service’s “Women in the United States Congress, 1917-2014” and CQ Roll Call. We are, however, counting her seat as Democrat-held because a Democrat has been named to take her place.įor historical data on Congress, we used data from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, the U.S. Kamala Harris will ascend to the vice presidency this month, we are not including her in the count of female senators. Independent members of Congress are counted with the party they caucus with.īecause Sen. This analysis includes nonvoting members. 3, 2021, so the current number of representatives is 439. Both seats were vacant when Congress was sworn in on Jan. In the House, one New York race has not been called yet, and one Louisiana seat is empty because the congressman-elect died before he could be sworn in. This analysis builds on earlier Pew Research Center work to analyze the gender makeup of Congress. 20, and Kelly Loeffler, who lost a runoff election in Georgia earlier this month. Kamala Harris, who is expected to resign her seat ahead of her inauguration as vice president on Jan. Figures for the 117th Congress exclude two House seats that were vacant as of early January. This analysis counts voting as well as nonvoting members of Congress. In the Senate, women hold 24 of 100 seats, one fewer than the record number of seats they held in the last Congress. A record 120 women are serving in the newly elected House, accounting for 27% of the total. That represents a 50% increase from the 96 women who were serving in the 112th Congress a decade ago, though it remains far below the female share of the overall U.S. Related: 118th Congress has a record number of womenĬounting both the House of Representatives and the Senate, 144 of 539 seats – or 27% – are held by women. history and a considerable increase from where things stood even a decade ago. Women make up just over a quarter of all members of the 117th Congress – the highest percentage in U.S. House of Representatives are sworn in by Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the first session of the 117th Congress on Jan.
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