Fast Facts about Women in Politics
Where We Are
Women are still under-represented at all levels of government.
- Women hold only 17% of the seats in Congress. (Source)
- State Legislatures only have 24% women. (Source)
- Only 6 out of 50 states have a female governor. (Source)
- The United States trails behind the rest of the world - ranking 84th in the number of women in our national legislature. (*Note: The U.S. is listed as 74th, but after accounting for tied rankings of other countries, the ranking for the U.S. is 84th. Source)
- On average, male cabinet appointees outnumber women cabinet appointees in our states by a ratio of 2 to 1. (Source)
- 50% less women than men consider of running for office. Of those, 30% less actually run, with only a fraction seeking higher office. (Lawless, Jennifer and Richard L Fox. It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office. New York: Cambridge UP, 2005.)
- Women constituted 54% of voters in the 2008 elections, but only 24% of state legislators. (Source)
- Women of color are only 5% of all state legislators and 20% of women state legislators. (Source)
- The numbers of Democratic women legislators have continued to increase while the numbers of Republican women legislators have declined (1981-2009). (Source)
Why We're Here
Parties can make or break a woman candidate
- About one-third of women say that someone tried to discourage them from running—most often an officeholder or political party official. (Source)
- Women are more likely than men to say that party support was very important to their decision to run. Women are also more likely to cite their party, rather than an organization, as the most influential source of encouragement for their candidacies. (Source)
Gender Stereotypes still play a role
- Both male and female voters are much more judgmental about the appearance and style of a female candidate than of a male candidate. Although all candidates are judged on these attributes to some degree, women have a more difficult challenge in convincing voters to judge them on their merits rather than on their appearance. (Source)
- If a woman candidate is unmarried, both male and female voters perceive her as less likely to share their own family values. (Source)
Money Counts
- The top three women who enjoyed incumbency advantage in 2008 raised approximately $33 million - $16 million less than the total for the top three male incumbents. (Source)
- In highly competitive races, the gap between the top-raising female and male U.S. Senate challengers in 2008 was almost $14 million (Senator Kay Hagan raised $8.5 million and Al Franken $22.5 million), which is $8 million more than the difference in 2006. (Source)
- Male U.S. House incumbents raised on average $196,281 more than women in 2008. Only five of the 1303 candidates relied on women for more than half their contributions. (Source)
- Most women believe that it is harder for female candidates to raise money than male candidates, while the overwhelming majority of men believe it is equally hard for both men and women. (Source)
Where We're Going
Fortunately, despite these hurdles we've made progress.
- Since 1997, women’s share of cabinet appointments has risen by 10% and of those states where women have made the greatest gains during the last 10 years, six are now in the top 10 for women’s representation. (Source)
- Voters rate women governors higher than male governors by more than 10 points on a number of key attributes, including; managing a crisis well, getting things done, and problem solving. Male governors are more likely to be seen as too partisan and as typical politicians. (Source)
- Independent voters are a promising target for women candidates. They favored female candidates, regardless of party identification, by double digits. Both Independent women and men are more supportive of the female candidates in gubernatorial races (+20 and +23 respectively). (Source)
- Women have significantly stepped up their giving to presidential campaigns, contributing $109 million to the 2008 presidential nominees through September, 2008. (source)