This month we celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage. The legal right of women to vote was established nationally in the United States with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in August 1920. Prior to the passage of 19th Amendment, women had the right to vote in various elections in a number of states and localities. While...

Final votes were counted yesterday in Oregon’s congressional primary. Full context about women in the 2020 elections, including candidate lists, summaries, results from previous primaries, and historical comparisons, are available via the Center for American Women and Politics’ (CAWP) Election Watch . Among the most notable results for women: Both incumbent...

These days, hand-shaking, baby kissing, and door-knocking are scary and flout social distancing rules. The traditional ways candidates literally reach out and touch voters have been put on hold due to the coronavirus. No more direct contact means it’s necessary to master the art of being a virtual candidate. Making the shift to online campaigning isn’t as...

The gendered dimensions of today’s global pandemic are being revealed, felt, and analyzed in real time. From the gender differences in infection and death rates ( higher for men ) to the amplification of gender inequities in the economic and domestic spheres that heighten the vulnerability of women’s economic, physical, and mental health, the gendered impact...

The drop in Republican women’s representation in the U.S. House – down to 13 women who hold just 6.6% of all Republican House seats – garnered national attention amidst what was otherwise perceived as a “year of the woman” in American politics. But the problem of Republican women’s underrepresentation is not isolated to Congress. Not only are Republican...

Just under a month ago, Ohio State Representative Emilia Sykes filed a complaint with the Ohio Department of Public Safety for over two years of disparate treatment by security officials at the Statehouse. More specifically, Representative Sykes – one of ten Black women in the Ohio state legislature – cited heightened scrutiny at security checkpoints and...

The underrepresentation of women in American politics cuts across racial and ethnic groups. As the table here shows, a significant gap exists for each racial and ethnic group between women’s representation in the U.S. population and their representation across levels of office. However, the dearth of women of color has been historically stark and persistent...