Contact: Daniel De Simone; 760.703.0948
When the story of women in 2016 congressional elections was written, the overall number of women serving in Congress remained the same, but the number of women of color grew significantly. Of the 14 new women elected to Congress, nine were women of color. Three new women of color entered the U.S. Senate, expanding the total there from one to four and quadrupling all-time high to serve simultaneously. In the U.S. House of Representatives, six new women of color brought the House total to 34, also an all-time high.
Since state legislatures often serve as pipelines to higher office, the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) examined the number of women of color in each state legislature, both as a proportion of women and as a proportion of legislators overall. Nationally, women of color hold 5.9 percent of all state legislative seats; 23.7 percent of women lawmakers are women of color.
Debbie Walsh, director of CAWP, noted, “Research tells us that women of color bring their distinctive voices and experiences to elective office. Since communities of color have always been underrepresented in government, it’s important to strengthen their presence and impact at every level. We made progress in the recent elections, but we need many more women of color to run and win.”
The state with the largest proportion of women of color among its women legislators is Hawaii (76.2 percent), followed by Texas (62.2 percent), Alabama (60.0 percent), California (57.7 percent) and Mississippi (54.2 percent). Hawaii also has the largest proportion of women of color in its legislature overall (21.1 percent), followed by New Mexico (16.1 percent), New Jersey (15.0 percent), Nevada (14.3 percent) and Maryland (13.8 percent).
At the bottom of the list, three states have no women of color in their legislatures: North Dakota, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Maine has one woman of color (1.6 percent of all women, .5 percent of all legislators) in its legislature.
Full details about women in state legislatures and women of color in elective office are available on the CAWP website.
Proportion of Women in State Legislatures
*States with the exact same percentages within their category are given the same rank; states with no women of color share the rank of 48.
|
State |
Overall Proportion |
Rank |
|
Women of Color as a |
Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
AK |
1.7% |
42 |
|
5.6% |
43 |
|
AL |
8.6% |
14 |
|
60.0% |
3 |
|
AR |
3.0% |
33* |
|
16.0% |
28 |
|
AZ |
12.2% |
10 |
|
31.4% |
18 |
|
CA |
12.5% |
8 |
|
57.7% |
4 |
|
CO |
11.0% |
12 |
|
28.2% |
22 |
|
CT* |
3.2% |
31* |
|
11.5% |
37 |
|
DE |
3.2% |
31* |
|
15.4% |
29 |
|
FL |
9.4% |
13 |
|
36.6% |
12* |
|
GA |
13.6% |
6 |
|
52.5% |
7 |
|
HI |
21.1% |
1 |
|
76.2% |
1 |
|
IA |
2.0% |
41 |
|
8.8% |
42 |
|
ID |
3.8% |
28 |
|
12.5% |
36 |
|
IL |
12.4% |
9 |
|
34.4% |
16 |
|
IN |
3.3% |
30 |
|
17.2% |
26 |
|
KS |
3.0% |
33* |
|
10.6% |
38 |
|
KY |
0.7% |
46 |
|
4.3% |
44 |
|
LA |
5.6% |
22 |
|
36.4% |
13* |
|
MA |
2.5% |
39 |
|
9.6% |
40 |
|
MD |
13.8% |
5 |
|
43.3% |
9 |
|
ME |
0.5% |
47 |
|
1.6% |
47 |
|
MI |
6.1% |
19* |
|
25.7% |
23 |
|
MN |
4.5% |
24 |
|
13.8% |
31 |
|
MO |
3.0% |
33* |
|
13.6% |
32 |
|
MS |
7.5% |
17 |
|
54.2% |
5 |
|
MT |
2.7% |
37* |
|
9.3% |
41 |
|
NC |
8.2% |
15 |
|
33.3% |
17 |
|
ND |
0.0% |
48* |
|
0.0% |
48* |
|
NE |
0.0% |
48* |
|
0.0% |
48* |
|
NH |
0.9% |
45 |
|
3.3% |
45 |
|
NJ |
15.0% |
3 |
|
50.0% |
8 |
|
NM |
16.1% |
2 |
|
52.9% |
6 |
|
NV |
14.3% |
4 |
|
36.0% |
15 |
|
NY |
11.7% |
11 |
|
43.1% |
10 |
|
OH |
6.8% |
18 |
|
29.0% |
21 |
|
OK |
2.7% |
37* |
|
21.1% |
24 |
|
OR |
4.4% |
25* |
|
13.3% |
33 |
|
PA |
3.6% |
29 |
|
19.1% |
25 |
|
RI |
4.4% |
25* |
|
14.3% |
30 |
|
SC |
4.1% |
27 |
|
30.4% |
19 |
|
SD |
0.0% |
48* |
|
0.0% |
48* |
|
TN |
6.1% |
19* |
|
36.4% |
13* |
|
TX |
12.7% |
7 |
|
62.2% |
2 |
|
UT |
5.8% |
21 |
|
30.0% |
20 |
|
VA |
7.9% |
16 |
|
40.7% |
11 |
|
VT |
1.1% |
43* |
|
2.8% |
46 |
|
WA |
4.8% |
23 |
|
13.0% |
34 |
|
WI |
3.0% |
33* |
|
12.9% |
35 |
|
WV |
2.2% |
40 |
|
16.7% |
27 |
|
WY |
1.1% |
43* |
|
10.0% |
39 |
|
Total |
5.9% |
|
23.7% |
Contact: Daniel De Simone; 760.703.0948