Women in Elective Office 2017
Women in Elective Office 2017
In 2017, women hold 105, or 19.6%, of the 535 seats in the 114th U.S. Congress - 21, or 21.0%, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 84, or 19.3%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who was the first woman Speaker of the House, is now minority leader.
plus 5 (3D, 2R) Delegates
In 2017, 74 women hold statewide elective executive offices across the country; women hold 23.7% of the 312 available positions. Among these women, 31 are Democrats, 42 are Republicans and 1 is non-partisan.
1 non-partisan
| AL | Kay Ivey (R) |
| IA | Kim Reynolds (R) |
| NM | Susana Martinez (R) |
| OK | Mary Fallin (R) |
| OR | Kate Brown (D) |
| RI | Gina Raimondo (D) |
| CO | Donna Lynne (D) | MA | Karyn Polito (R) | |
| CT | Nancy Wyman (D) | MN | Tina Smith (DFL) | |
| DE | Bethany Hall-Long (D) | NJ | Kim Guadagno (R) | |
| IL | Evelyn Sanguinetti (R) | NY | Kathy Hochul (D) | |
| IN | Suzanne Crouch (R) | OH | Mary Taylor (R) | |
| KY | Jenean Hampton (R) | WI | Rebecca Kleefisch (R) |
| Attorney General - 7 (4D, 3R) | Agriculture and Commerce Commisioner - 1R | |
| Secretary of State - 12 (6D, 6R) | Commisioner of Insurance - 1D | |
| State Treasurer/Chief Financial Officer - 8 (4D, 4R) | Commissioner of Labor - 1R | |
| State Comptroller - 2D | Corporation Commissioner - 1R | |
| State Auditor - 10 (6D, 4R) | Public Service Commissioner - 2R | |
| Chief State Educational Official - 8 (7R, 1 non-partisan) | Public Utilities Commissioner - 1R | |
| Railroad Commissioner - 1R | Commissioner of Lands - 1D | |
In 2017, 1,853 (1,122D, 705R, 14NP*, 6Ind, 5Prg., 1WFP*), or 25.1%, of the 7,383 state legislators in the United States are women. Women hold 448 (257D, 176R, 14NP, 1Ind.), or 22.7%, of the 1,972 state senate seats and 1,405 (865D, 529R, 5Ind., 5Prg., 1WFP), or 26.0%, of the 5,411 state house seats. Since 1971, the number of women serving in state legislatures has more than quintupled.
Includes 14 non-partisan, 6 Independent, 5 Progressive, 1 Working Families Party
Vermont (40.0%)
Nevada (39.7%)
Washington (37.4%)
Colorado (37.0%)
Illinois (35.0%)
Maine (33.9%)
Oregon (33.3%)
Minnesota (32.3%)
Maryland (31.9%)
Oklahoma (13.4%)
West Virginia (13.4%)
South Carolina (14.1%)
Mississippi (14.9%)
Alabama (15.0%)
Louisiana (15.3%)
Tennessee (15.9%)
Kentucky (16.7%)
North Dakota (18.4%)
As of December 2017, among the 100 largest cities in the U.S., 22 had women mayors. Four are Black (Muriel Bowser, Washington, DC; London Breed (acting), San Franciso, CA; Sharon Weston Broome, Baton Rouge, LA; Paula Hicks-Hudson, Toledo, OH; Vi Alexander Lyles, Charlotte, NC; Catherine Pugh, Baltimore, MD); one is Latina (Mary Casillas Salas, Chula Vista, CA); and two are Asian Pacific Islander (Karen K. Goh, Bakersfield, CA; Lily Mei, Fremont, CA).
As of September 2017, per the U.S. Conference of Mayors, of the 284 mayors of the U.S. cities with populations 100,000 and over, 58, or 20.4%, were women. Of the 1,362 mayors of U.S. cities with populations 30,000 and above, 286, or 21.0%, were women. Full list here.
| City | Mayor | Rank |
|---|---|---|
|
San Francisco, CA |
London Breed (acting) |
15 |
Percentages of Women in Elective Office
| Year |
U.S. Congress |
Statewide Elective |
State Legislatures |
Year |
U.S. Congress |
Statewide Elective |
State Legislatures |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 3% | 7% | N/A | 1997 | 11.0% | 25.4% | 21.6% | |
| 1973 | 3% | 8% | N/A | 1999 | 12.1% | 27.6% | 22.4% | |
| 1975 | 4% | 10% | 8% | 2001 | 13.6% | 27.6% | 22.4% | |
| 1977 | 4% | 10% | 9% | 2003 | 13.6% | 26.0% | 22.4% | |
| 1979 | 3% | 11% | 10% | 2005 | 15.0% | 25.7% | 22.4% | |
| 1981 | 4% | 11% | 12% | 2007 | 16.1% | 24.1% | 23.5% | |
| 1983 | 4% | 11% | 13% | 2009 | 16.8% | 22.6% | 24.3% | |
| 1985 | 5% | 14% | 15% | 2011 | 16.8% | 22.1% | 23.7% | |
| 1987 | 5% | 14% | 16% | 2012 | 16.8% | 23.4% | 23.7% | |
| 1989 | 5% | 14% | 16% | 2013 | 18.5% | 23.0% | 24.2% | |
| 1991 | 6% | 18% | 18% | 2014 | 18.7% | 22.6% | 24.3% | |
| 1993 | 10.1% | 22.2% | 20.5% | 2015 | 19.4% | 24.7% | 24.6% | |
| 1995 | 10.3% | 25.9% | 20.6% | 2016 | 19.6% | 24.0% | 24.5% | |
| 2017 | 19.6% | 23.7% | 25.1% |