Congress

Current and historical fact sheets, graphics, research reports, and other information about women running for and serving in Congress.

Women in the U.S. Congress 2025

Women in the U.S. Senate 2025

Women in the U.S. House of Representatives 2025

Women Serving in the 119th Congress (2025-2027)

Congressional Leadership Roles and Committee Chairs (Current and Past)

History of Women in the U.S. Congress

Widows Who Succeeded Their Husbands in Congress

Fact Sheet Archive on Women in Congress (1998-present)

  • Legislating by and for Women: A Comparison of the 103rd and 104th Congresses

    by Mary Hawkesworth, Debra Dodson, Katherine E. Kleeman, Kathleen J. Casey, and Krista Jenkins
    Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 2000, 51 pages

    This report examines the political work of women legislators in the 103rd and 104th congresses as they attempted to transform their commitment to represent women into law. 

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    Impact of Women Public Officials
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    DownloadLegislating by and for Women: A Comparison of the 103rd and 104th Congresses

  • Welfare Reform in the 104th Congress: Institutional Position and the Role of Women

    by Susan J. Carroll (with Kathleen J. Casey)
    Book chapter in Women and Welfare: Theory and Practice in the United States and Europe, edited by Nancy J. Hirschmann and Ulrike Liebert (Rutgers University Press, 2001)

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    Impact of Women Public Officials
    Congress
    Order the book

  • Representing Women: Congresswomen's Perceptions of Their Representational Roles

    by Susan J. Carroll, 2000, 12 pages

    This report assesses the extent to which women members of Congress see themselves and act as surrogate representatives for women who may live beyond the borders of their districts. (Data based on larger CAWP report on women members of the 103rd and 104th Congresses.)

    Report
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Impact of Women Public Officials
    Congress
    DownloadRepresenting Women: Congresswomen's Perceptions of Their Representational Roles

  • Voices, Views, Votes: Women in the 103rd Congress

    by Debra L. Dodson, Susan J. Carroll, Ruth B. Mandel, Katherine E. Kleeman, Ronnee Schreiber, and Debra Liebowitz
    Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 1995, 32 pages

    This report examines how the women in the 103rd Congress acted to shape the content of legislation, to build support for bills, and to create a political environment in which they could effect change. 

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    Impact of Women Public Officials
    Congress
    DownloadVoices, Views, Votes: Women in the 103rd Congress

  • Gender and Policymaking: Studies of Women in Office

    Ed. Debra L. Dodson 
    Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 1991, 133 pages

    This collection of essays investigates the impact of elected and appointed women officeholders at the local, state, and national levels.

    Report
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    Women Political Appointees
    Impact of Women Public Officials
    State Legislature
    Local
    Congress
    DownloadGender and Policymaking: Studies of Women in Office

  • Profile of Women Holding Office II

    by Marilyn Johnson and Susan Carroll with Kathy Stanwick and Lynn Korenblit
    Center for American Women and Politics, 1978, 71 pages

    CAWP produced the first-ever directories of U.S. elected women, who were surveyed in 1975 and 1977. The directories included names, addresses and background data. Each directory included a statistical essay, also published as stand-alone documents, examining the numbers, personal characteristics, political backgrounds, issue orientations, and ambitions of women in federal, state, county, and local government as reported in the surveys. 

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    State Legislature
    Local
    Statewide Executive
    Congress
    DownloadProfile of Women Holding Office II

  • Profile of Women Holding Office I

    by Marilyn Johnson and Kathy Stanwick
    Center for American Women and Politics, 1976, 37 pages
     

    CAWP produced the first-ever directories of U.S. elected women, who were surveyed in 1975 and 1977. The directories included names, addresses and background data. Each directory included a statistical essay, also published as stand-alone documents, examining the numbers, personal characteristics, political backgrounds, issue orientations, and ambitions of women in federal, state, county, and local government as reported in the surveys. 

    Report
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    State Legislature
    Local
    Statewide Executive
    Congress
    DownloadProfile of Women Holding Office I