Percentages in this region range
from a high of 34.8 percent in Minnesota,
fifth highest in the nation, to a low of 17.0 percent in North
Dakota, 41st in the nation (see table below).
In 1971, there were 344 women serving in state
legislatures, 4.5 percent of total legislators. That percentage rose
steadily through the late 1990s, when it reached, and then leveled
off at, between 22 and 23 percent. In 2007 and 2008, the rate has
risen slightly.
A
ccording to the Rutgers University Center
for American Women and Politics, 1,749, or 23.7 percent, of the
7,382 current U.S. state legislators are women. Susan J. Carroll, a
senior scholar at the center, wrote in an article for The Council of
State Governments’ 2007 "The Book of the States" that "no simple
patterns" emerge when trying to explain variations in the percentage
of women serving in different states’ legislatures. Traditionally,
though, rates have been highest in the Northeast and West.
Carroll also notes that the recent stagnation of
national rates has been "puzzling."
One reason given for this recent trend, as noted in
an April 2008 article of CSG’s State News, is term
limits. For example, Michigan lost half of its
female officeholders with the onset of term limits.
Compounding its effects is a recent finding of
political science research: potential women candidates are less
likely than their male counterparts to run for office without being
asked, and they’re less likely to be asked. According to one study,
only 11 percent of women candidates, compared to 37 percent of male
candidates, said it "was entirely their own idea to run."
Research shows that female candidates are just as
likely as male candidates to win, so those interested in increasing
the number of women in state legislatures are turning more and more
to the recruitment stage of elections.
In New Jersey, for example, the Rutgers center has established a
bipartisan Ready to Run recruitment program. Since 2005, New
Jersey’s U.S. ranking for percentage of women serving in the state
legislature has jumped from 43rd to 15th. That success has prompted
other states, including Iowa in the Midwest, to begin looking
into similar programs.
