State Legislature

Women in State Legislatures 2025

Women in State Legislative Leadership 2025

Women as a Percentage of Democratic and Republican State Legislators

State-by-state data on women as a percentage of Democratic and Republican state legislators.

Representativeness of Women State Legislators by Race/Ethnicity and State

State-by-state data on women’s state legislative representation by race/ethnicity compared to women’s representation in the population by race/ethnicity.  

Fact Sheet Archive on Women in State Legislatures (1977-present)

Women in State Legislative Elections: Historical State-by-State Summary

Historical information on women in State Legislative elections by state.

  • The Status of Black Women in American Politics 2014

    By the Center for American Women and Politics for Higher Heights Leadership Fund, 2014
    Authored by Kelly Dittmar, Ph.D, Assistant Research Professor, Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University

    This comprehensive report provides a historical outline of black women’s struggle for political representation and discusses the current landscape of political leadership for black women across the country as well as their growing political influence. It demonstrates the need for greater engagement, recruitment, and inclusion of black women in politics and government.

    Report
    Research
    Gender and Race/Ethnicity
    State Legislature
    Local
    Statewide Executive
    Congress
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  • Women’s Election to Office in the Fifty States: Opportunities and Challenges

    by Kira Sanbonmatsu
    Book chapter in Gender and Elections: Shaping the Future of American Politics,
    Eds. Susan J. Carroll, CAWP, Rutgers University and Richard L. Fox, Union College, New York
    Cambridge University Press, 2013 Third Edition, pp. 265-287.

    Discussion of the barriers and opportunities women face in seeking state legislative and statewide executive office and the differences across states in women's officeholding. Party is a key factor in understanding women's candidacies and women's representation. 

    Book Chapter
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Political Parties
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment
    State Legislature
    Statewide Executive
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  • More Women Can Run: Gender and Pathways to the State Legislatures

    by Susan Carroll and Kira Sanbonmatsu
    Oxford University Press, September 2013, 176 pages

    Analyzing nationwide surveys of state legislators conducted by CAWP, More Women Can Run challenges assumptions of a single model of candidate emergence with a relationally embedded model of candidacy. It reorients research on women's election to office and offers strategies for political practitioners concerned about women's political equality. Video of a book talk given by Carroll and Sanbonmatsu available here. 

    Book
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment
    State Legislature
    Order the book