Women make up around 51% of the US population. Yet this is not\nreflected in the composition of Congress, where just 28.4% of members\nare women.<\/p>\n
There are currently 152 women serving in the US House of\nRepresentatives and Senate, the highest number ever recorded. A similar\nrecord can be seen at state level, where 14 of the 50 governors, or\naround 28%, are women.<\/p>\n
There are several reasons why women remain relatively\nunder-represented in Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the reasons are structural: there are rules and processes in\nour political system that make it harder for newcomers to get in,\u201d said\nKelly Dittmar, research director at Rutgers University\u2019s Center for\nAmerican Women and Politics. \u201cHistorically, women have been\nnewcomers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senate seats are contested only once every six years. Members of the\nHouse of Representatives serve two-year terms, but there is no limit on\nhow many times they can stand for re-election. In theory, they can\nremain in office for decades.<\/p>\n
In addition, Dittmar said, election campaigns in the US are very\nexpensive. Historically, women have had more limited access to wealthy\ndonor networks, which are still largely dominated by men, as are many\npolitical party leaderships. Established male politicians also tend to\nrecruit other men as new candidates. Finally, cultural bias plays a\npart, including \u201cstereotypes and expectations about what women can and\nshould do\u201d.<\/p>\n
The elections on 3 November will determine whether the number of\nwomen in Congress rises or falls over the next two years. All 435 seats\nin the House of Representatives and 35 of the Senate\u2019s 100 seats will be\ncontested in the midterm elections. Voters in 36 states will also choose\ntheir governors.<\/p>\n
Democratic women dominate the US House<\/strong><\/p>\n Women hold 125 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. As\nin the Senate and among governors, they are not evenly distributed\nbetween the two major parties. There are more women in the Democratic\nParty than in the Republican Party: 95 Democratic women and 30\nRepublican women currently serve in the House.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a much weaker support infrastructure for women within the\nRepublican Party,\u201d Dittmar said. Organisations specifically set up to\nrecruit, train and fund women candidates are almost all aligned with the\nDemocrats or are non-partisan, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cMany Republican leaders do not see an electoral incentive or\npressure\u201d to recruit more women, she added. Diversity matters more to\nDemocratic voters, who place greater value on having women among the\nrepresentatives they elect.<\/p>\n Republicans currently hold a majority in the House of\nRepresentatives, giving them the right to choose the Speaker or majority\nleader. The position is currently held by Mike Johnson.<\/p>\n Only one woman has held the influential position: Democrat Nancy\nPelosi, who was Speaker from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to\n2023.<\/p>\n US Senate poses a greater challenge for women<\/strong><\/p>\n Women currently make up 27% of the US Senate, with 16 Democrats and\n11 Republicans. Each of the 50 states is represented by two senators.\nTerms in the chamber are longer, and most senators represent far more\nvoters than members of the House.<\/p>\n Dittmar said women find it even harder to win Senate seats. \u201cFor the\nSenate, the issue is opportunity and timing,\u201d she said. Seats come up\nfor election only once every six years. Of the 100 seats, only a third\nare contested every two years. This means women who have never served as\nsenators have limited opportunities to enter the chamber.<\/p>\n Senate campaigns, which cover an entire state, are also much more\nexpensive than campaigns for House seats. Studies show that women\ncandidates generally have less personal wealth than male candidates.<\/p>\n For one Senate candidate, the November midterms could be historic. If\nDemocrat Peggy Flanagan wins in Minnesota, she will become the first\nNative American woman to serve in the US Senate. Flanagan is a member of\nthe Ojibwe, also known as the Chippewa, an Indigenous people from the\nGreat Lakes region spanning the US and Canada.<\/p>\n Flanagan is currently Minnesota\u2019s lieutenant governor. Polls suggest\nshe is well placed, with a narrow lead over Republican rival Michele\nTafoya, a former sports journalist and adviser to conservative\npoliticians.<\/p>\n First Black woman governor?<\/strong><\/p>\n Of the 14 women currently serving as governors, 10 are Democrats and\nfour are Republicans. Six are seeking re-election, including Arkansas\nGovernor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as a spokesperson for\nPresident Donald Trump during his first term.<\/p>\n For the first time in US history, a Black woman could be elected\ngovernor of a state.<\/p>\n In Minnesota, Democrat Tim Walz, Kamala Harris\u2019s running mate in the\n2024 election, is not seeking re-election. The two leading candidates to\nsucceed him are Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Republican Lisa DeMuth, who\nis also a Black woman. In Georgia, meanwhile, Black Democratic\npolitician Keisha Lance Bottoms is running for governor.<\/p>\n Dittmar does not expect DeMuth to win in Minnesota, which is\nconsidered a Democratic stronghold. Klobuchar is also well known to\nMinnesotans, having represented the state in the US Senate since\n2007.<\/p>\n The situation is different in Georgia, Dittmar said. \u201cThe race there\nis considered very close, with the odds at 50-50.\u201d She believes Bottoms\n\u201chas a strong chance of becoming the first Black woman governor\u201d.<\/p>\n Former President Barack Obama is Bottoms\u2019s most prominent supporter,\nwhile President Trump has endorsed Republican candidate Rick\nJackson.<\/p>",
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