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.

  • Women in State Government: Historical Patterns, Recent Trends, Future Prospects

    by Susan J. Carroll 
    Chapter in The Book of the States, edited by The Council of State Governments, 2013

    The movement of women into state-level offices has slowed in recent years after several decades of gains, and following the 2012 elections, the numbers of women in both state legislative and executive branch offices increased only slightly. Efforts to actively recruit women for elected and appointed positions will be critical in determining what the future holds for women in state government.

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  • Preparedness Meets Opportunity: Women's Increased Representation in the New Jersey Legislature

    by Susan Carroll and Kelly Dittmar
    Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 
    July 2012, 40 pages

    This paper examines the factors that account for the rapid rise in the number of women legislators in New Jersey, focusing primarily on the time period from 2004 through 2011. Central to the analysis is the question of what it would take to bring about enduring change in a political system characterized by a strong, male-dominated party system like that found in New Jersey.

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  • Women’s Pathways to America’s State Legislatures

    by Kira Sanbonmatsu
    Scholars Strategy Network Key Findings

    Analysis of results from an unprecedented nationwide survey of state legislators conducted in 2008 by the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

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