Women of Color in State Legislatures 2021

Newly Updated Data Shows Record Number of Asian or Pacific Islander, Black, Latina, and Native American Women Serving in State Legislatures A record number of Asian or Pacific Islander, Black, Latina, and Native American women currently serve in state legislatures nationwide, according to data compiled by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. CAWP relies on officeholders’ self-identification to determine race/ethnicity, contacting current officeholders directly to confirm their preferred racial/ethnic identification in addition to using public records where officeholders have self-identified. With this process complete, the data on current women state legislators’ racial/ethnic identification is now publicly available on CAWP’s website as well as in the CAWP Women Elected Officials Database.

As of June 28, 2021:

• 67 (61D, 5R, 1NP) Asian or Pacific Islander women, including 54 (51D, 3R) women who identify as Asian or Pacific Islander alone and 13 (10D, 2R, 1NP) women who identify as Asian or Pacific Islander in combination with other races/ethnicities, serve in state legislatures nationwide.
• 355 (352D, 3R) Black women, including 341 (338D, 3R) women who identify as Black alone and 14 (14D) women who identify as Black in combination with other races/ethnicities, serve in state legislatures nationwide.
• 154 (140D, 13R, 1I) Latinas, including 134 (123D, 11R) women who identify as Latina alone and 20 (17D, 2R, 1I) women who identify as Latina in combination with other races/ethnicities, serve in state legislatures nationwide.
• 32 (28D, 4R) Native American women, including 23 (20D, 3R) women who identify as Native American alone and 9 (8D, 1R) women who identify as Native American in combination with other races/ethnicities, serve in state legislatures nationwide.
• 10 (10D) Middle Eastern or North African women, including 6 (6D) women who identify as Middle Eastern or North African alone and 4 (4D) women who identify as Middle Eastern or North African in combination with other races/ethnicities, serve in state legislatures nationwide. CAWP began collecting and including the Middle Eastern or North African identification in 2019, making historical comparison difficult.
• 2 (2D) women who identify as multiracial alone serve in state legislatures nationwide.

In total, 606 (579D, 25R, 1I, INP) women of color – counting only once women who identify as more than one race/ethnicity – serve in state legislatures nationwide. This is also a record high. Racial/ethnic identification could not be confirmed for 10 of the 2,288 women state legislators serving nationwide.

For the most current data about women in state legislatures by race/ethnicity, see CAWP's Women of Color in Elective Office 2021 and the Women Elected Officials Database.