Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

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Women in Congress:

Statistics and Brief Overview

Updated October 13, 2022

Congressional Research Service

https://crsreports.congress.gov

R43244

SUMMARY

Women in Congress:

Statistics and Brief Overview

As of October 12, 2022, 151 women are serving in the 117th Congress. There are 127 women

serving in the House (including 3 Delegates and the Resident Commissioner), 93 Democrats and

34 Republicans. There are 24 women in the Senate, 16 Democrats and 8 Republicans.

Initially, on the first day of the 117th Congress, there were 148 women. Since then, this number

has fluctuated as two House Members resigned; one House Member died; eight House Members

took their respective oaths of office, including one in each of February 2021, April 2021, June

2021, November 2021, and January 2022, two in June 2022, and one in September 2022; one

Senator resigned; and one Senator’s appointed term expired.

R43244

October 13, 2022

Jennifer E. Manning

Senior Research Librarian

Ida A. Brudnick

Specialist on the Congress

These 148 women initially sworn in at the beginning of the 117 th Congress surpassed the 130 women that were serving at the

close of the 116th Congress. The number of women serving during the 116 th Congress also fluctuated: a then-record 131

women were initially sworn in; one woman in the House subsequently resigned; and two women were appointed to the

Senate with one of these two Senate appointments expiring before the end of the Congress.

The very first woman elected to Congress was Representative Jeannette Rankin (R-MT, served 1917-1919 and 1941-1943).

The first woman to serve in the Senate was Rebecca Latimer Felton (D-GA, appointed and served for only one day in 1922).

The first woman elected to a six-year Senate term was Hattie Caraway (D-AR, served 1931-1945), and she was also the first

Senator to succeed her spouse.

In total, 400 women have been elected or appointed to Congress. Of these



260 women were Democrats and 140 Republicans;



16 Asian Pacific American women have served in Congress (13 in the House, 1 in the Senate, and 2 in both

the House and Senate), including 11 in the 117th Congress;



24 Hispanic women have served in Congress (1 in the Senate), including 17 in the 117 th Congress;

342 (224 Democrats, 118 Republicans) women have been elected only to the House;

41 (25 Democrats, 16 Republicans) women have been elected or appointed only to the Senate;

17 (11 Democrats, 6 Republicans) women have served in both chambers;

52 African American women have served in Congress (2 in the Senate, 50 in the House), including 28

serving in the 117th Congress;

4 American Indian or Alaska Native women have served in the House, 3 of whom are currently serving;

and



7 women have served in the House representing territories and properties possessed or administered by the

United States but not admitted to statehood. These include one delegate from Guam, Hawaii (prestatehood), the District of Columbia, and American Samoa; two delegates from the U.S. Virgin Islands; and

one Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.

In the 117th Congress, 12 women serve as committee chairs. This includes 8 women in the House (7 standing committees and

1 select committee) and 4 in the Senate (all standing committees). Two of these women, one in each chamber, also chair a

joint committee related to their service as chair of a House or Senate standing committee.

This report includes historical information, including the number of women in Congress over time; means of entry to

Congress; comparisons to international and state legislatures; records for tenure; firsts for women in Congress; women in

leadership; tallies of African American, Asian Pacific American, Hispanic, and American Indian or Alaska Native women in

Congress; and a brief overview of research questions related to the role and impact of women in Congress. The Appendix

provides details on the total number of women who have served in each Congress, including information on changes within a

Congress. Due to this turnover during a Congress, the text, tables, and notes throughout the report provide details on time

periods used for the tallies and the currency of the information.

Congressional Research Service

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

For additional biographical information—including the committee assignments, dates of service, listings by Congress and

state, and (for Representatives) congressional districts of the 400 women who have been elected or appointed to Congress—

see CRS Report RL30261, Women in Congress, 1917-2022: Service Dates and Committee Assignments by Member, and

Lists by State and Congress, by Jennifer E. Manning and Ida A. Brudnick.

Congressional Research Service

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1

How Women Enter Congress: Regular Elections, Special Elections, and Appointments ............... 5

Women in Congress as Compared with Women in Other Legislative Bodies................................. 7

International Perspective ........................................................................................................... 7

State-House Perspective ............................................................................................................ 7

Female Election Firsts in Congress ................................................................................................. 7

Records for Length of Service ......................................................................................................... 8

Women Who Have Served in Both Houses ..................................................................................... 8

African American Women in Congress ........................................................................................... 9

Asian Pacific American Women in Congress ................................................................................ 10

Hispanic Women in Congress........................................................................................................ 10

American Indian and Alaska Native (Native American) Women in Congress ............................... 11

Women Who Have Served in Party Leadership Positions .............................................................. 11

Women and Leadership of Congressional Committees ................................................................. 13

Women in Congress: Examinations of Their Role and Impact ..................................................... 14

Figures

Figure 1. Number of Women by Congress: 1917-2021 ................................................................... 3

Figure 2. Women as a Percentage of Total Members Since 1789 and in the 117th Congress .......... 4

Figure 3. Number of Women in the House and Senate by State, District, or Territory,

1917-Present ................................................................................................................................. 5

Figure 4. Women’s Initial Entrance to the Senate: Regular Elections, Special Elections,

and Appointments to Unexpired Terms ........................................................................................ 6

Tables

Table 1. Women Members of Congress: Summary Statistics, 1917-Present ................................... 1

Table 2. Number of Women Members of the 117th Congress .......................................................... 2

Table 3. African American Women in the 117th Congress ............................................................... 9

Table 4. Asian Pacific American Women in the 117th Congress .................................................... 10

Table 5. Hispanic Women in the 117th Congress ........................................................................... 10

Table 6. Selected Congressional Party Leadership Positions Held by Women .............................. 11

Table 7. Committees Chaired by Women, 117th Congress ............................................................ 14

Table A-1. Congressional Service by Women: By Type and Congress, 1917-2022 ...................... 17

Table A-2. Number of Women Sworn in on the First Day of Congress ........................................ 20

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Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Appendixes

Appendix. Total Number of Women Who Served in Each Congress ............................................ 17

Contacts

Author Information........................................................................................................................ 20

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Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Introduction

Since 1917, when Jeannette Rankin became the first woman sworn in as a Member of Congress, a

total of 400 women have been elected or appointed to serve in the U.S. Congress.

Table 1 details this service by women in the House, Senate, and both chambers.1

Table 1. Women Members of Congress: Summary Statistics, 1917-Present

(Inclusive through October 12, 2022)

House

Service

Only

(Delegates and

Resident

Commissioner)

House

Service

Only

(Subtotal)

Women

Who

Served in

Both

Chambers

Total

Women

Senate

Service

Only

House

Service

Only

(Representatives)

Total

400a

335

342a

Democrats

260

220

224

Republicans

140

115

118

Source: U.S. Congress, House, Office of the Historian and Office of Art and Archives, “Women in Congress,”

http://history.house.gov/Exhibition-and-Publications/WIC/Women-in-Congress/.

Notes: The House and Senate totals each include one woman who was elected but never sworn in.

a. The total number of female Members of the House includes one Delegate to the House of Representatives

from Hawaii prior to statehood; one from the District of Columbia, Guam, and American Samoa; and two

from the U.S. Virgin Islands. The total number also includes one Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.

The 117th Congress began with 148 women.2 Table 2 shows that women currently account for3



27.5% of voting Members in the House and Senate (147 of 535);

27.9% of total Members in the House and Senate (151 of 541, including the

Delegates and Resident Commissioner);

28.3% of voting Representatives in the House (123 of 435);

1 Throughout this report, House and Senate totals each include one woman elected but not sworn in or seated due to the

House or Senate being out of session. Both women are included in various official congressional publications,

including, for example, the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (http://bioguide.congress.gov),

“Women in Congress” (http://history.house.gov/Exhibition-and-Publications/WIC/Women-in-Congress); and “Senators

of the United States 1789-present: a chronological list of senators since the First Congress in 1789,” maintained by the

Senate Historical Office (http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/chronlist.pdf).

2 One additional woman was sworn into the House in the months of February 2021 (after a delay in the certification of

her election), April 2021, June 2021, November 2021, January 2022, two in June 2022, and one in September 2022.

The term of one appointed female Senator expired in January 2021, and another female Senator resigned in January

2021 to become Vice President of the United States. Two female House Members resigned in March 2021 to become

Cabinet Secretaries. One female House Member died in August 2022.

3 As stated in CRS Report R40170, Parliamentary Rights of the Delegates and Resident Commissioner from Puerto

Rico, by Jane A. Hudiburg, the “delegates and the resident commissioner may not vote in, or preside over, the House.”

The report further explains rules in force during the 117th, 116th, 111th, 110th, and 103rd Congresses related to the

Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. For the purposes of this report, voting refers to voting in the

House.

Percentages in this report are calculated using total potential membership and do not reflect vacancies.

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Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview



28.8% of total Members in the House (127 of 441, including the Delegates and

Resident Commissioner); and

24.0% of the Senate.

Table 2. Number of Women Members of the 117th Congress

(As of October 12, 2022)

Total

Women

Senators

Representatives

Nonvoting

Members

(Delegates and

Resident

Commissioner)

Total

151

123

127

Democrats

109

Republicans

House Subtotal

(Representatives

and Nonvoting

Members)

Source: U.S. Congress, House, Office of the Historian and Office of Art and Archives, “Women in Congress,”

http://history.house.gov/Exhibition-and-Publications/WIC/Women-in-Congress/.

Notes: The 117th Congress began with 148 women in the House and Senate. One woman was sworn into the

House in February 2021, another in April 2021, another in June 2021, another in November 2021, another in

January 2022, two in June 2022, and another in September 2022. Two House Members resigned in March 2021

to become Cabinet Secretaries. One House Member died in August 2022.

The term of one appointed female Senator expired in January 2021, and another female Senator resigned in

January 2021 to become Vice President of the United States.

Three of the women who serve in the House are Delegates, representing the District of Columbia, the U.S.

Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. One woman serves as the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.

Information in this table is current as of the date of the report.

This report includes historical information, including the (1) number and percentage of women in

Congress over time; (2) means of entry to Congress; (3) comparisons to international and state

legislatures; (4) records for tenure; (5) firsts for women in Congress; (6) number of African

American, Asian Pacific, Hispanic American, and American Indian women in Congress; and (7)

women in leadership. It also provides a brief overview of research questions related to the role

and impact of women in Congress.

For additional biographical information—including the names, committee assignments, dates of

service, listings by Congress and state, and (for Representatives) congressional districts of the

women who have served in Congress—see CRS Report RL30261, Women in Congress, 19172022: Service Dates and Committee Assignments by Member, and Lists by State and Congress, by

Jennifer E. Manning and Ida A. Brudnick

Since the 65th Congress (1917-1918), the number of women serving in Congress generally

increased incrementally, and on a few occasions, decreased. In an exception to these incremental

changes, the elections in 1992, which came to be known popularly as the “Year of the Woman,”

represented a jump in the number of women in Congress.4 At the close of the 102nd Congress

(1991-1992), the number of women serving was 34, and, as a result of the 1992 election, on the

first day of the 103rd Congress (1993-1994) the number of women in Congress increased 58.8%

to 54 women.5 More recently, the 115th Congress concluded with 115 women, and on the first day

4 The Year of the Woman: Myths and Realities, ed. Elizabeth Adell Cook, Sue Thomas, and Clyde Wilcox (Boulder,

CO: Westview Press, 1994).

5 The 102nd Congress final-day total includes three women who were not present at the start of the Congress (one

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Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

of the 116th Congress, the number of women in Congress increased 13.9%, to 131 women. 6 Most

recently, the 116th Congress concluded with 130 women, and on the first day of the 117th

Congress the number of women in Congress increased 13.8% to 148 women.7

Figure 1 shows the changes in the number of women serving in each Congress. For a table listing

the total number of women who have served in each Congress, including information on turnover

within a Congress, please see Table A-2 in the Appendix.

Figure 1. Number of Women by Congress: 1917-2021

(Including turnover, except data for the 117th Congress are for the beginning of the Congress)

Source: Figure compiled by CRS, based on http://history.house.gov/Exhibition-and-Publications/WIC/Women-inCongress/.

Notes: Including any Representatives, Delegates, and Resident Commissioners who served only a portion of the

Congress. For details on turnover, see notes accompanying Table A-1.

Figure 2 shows division of men and women in Congress historically and in the 117th Congress.

House Member and one Senator elected to fill a vacancy and one Senator appointed to fill a vacancy). The 103 rd

Congress first-day total does not include one woman who was not present at the start of the Congress (a Senator who

was elected to fill a vacancy).

6 The 115th Congress final-day total includes seven women who were not present at the start of the Congress (five

House Members who were elected to fill a vacancy and two Senators who were appointed to fill a vacancy) and one

House Member who resigned on December 31, 2018. It excludes one House Member who died in office during the

Congress.

7 The 116th Congress final-day total includes one woman who was not present at the start of the Congress (a Senator

appointed to fill a vacancy). It excludes one House Member who resigned in November 2019, and one Senator whose

appointed term ended in December 2020.

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Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Figure 2. Women as a Percentage of Total Members Since 1789 and

in the 117th Congress

(As of the beginning of the 117th Congress)

Source: House of Representatives, Total Members of the House and State Representation, update as of January 21,

2021, http://history.house.gov/Institution/Total-Members/Total-Members/. This states, “Since the U.S. Congress

convened on March 4, 1789, 12,415 individuals have served as Representatives, Senators, or in both capacities.

There have been 10,421 Members who served only as Representatives, 1,314 Members who served only in the

Senate, and 680 Members with service in both chambers. The total number of Representatives (including

individuals serving in both bodies) is 11,101.” See also Senate Historical Office, Senators of the United States, 1789present, at http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/chronlist.pdf. This information is updated

once per Congress.

Notes: The House and Senate totals each include one woman who was elected but never sworn in. Delegates

and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico are not included in the data. As stated above, the data are as

of January 3, 2021.

As seen in Figure 3, 49 states (all except Vermont),8 4 territories (American Samoa, Guam,

Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and the District of Columbia have been represented by

a woman in Congress at some time since 1917.9

Three states (Mississippi, North Dakota, and Vermont) have never elected a woman to the House.

Seventeen states have never been represented by a female Senator. Fourteen states have been

represented by one female Senator, 13 have sent two, and 6 states have sent three.

8 Vermont, however, ranks among the top 10 states for percentage of women in state government. For additional

information, see this report’s “State-House Perspective” section and https://cawp.rutgers.edu/women-state-legislature2021.

9 Totals include one woman from South Carolina (House) and one woman from South Dakota (Senate) elected but

never sworn in due to the House or Senate being out of session.

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Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Figure 3. Number of Women in the House and Senate by State, District, or Territory,

1917-Present

(Inclusive through October 12, 2022; numbers include Delegates and the Resident Commissioner)

Source: CRS summary, based on House of Representatives, Women in Congress, available at

http://history.house.gov/Exhibition-and-Publications/WIC/Women-in-Congress/.

Notes: The 17 women who have served in both the House and Senate are counted in each tally. Also counted

are one woman from South Carolina (House) and one woman from South Dakota (Senate) who were elected

but never sworn in due to the House or Senate being out of session.

How Women Enter Congress: Regular Elections,

Special Elections, and Appointments

Pursuant to Article I, Section 2, clause 4 of the U.S. Constitution, all Representatives enter office

through election, even those who enter after a seat becomes open during a Congress.10 By

contrast, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified on April 8, 1913,

gives state legislatures the option to empower governors to fill Senate vacancies by temporary

appointment.11

10 “[W]hen vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of

Election to fill such Vacancies.” Article I, Section 2, clause 4 of the U.S. Constitution.

11 Prior to the ratification of this amendment, Senators were chosen pursuant to Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution.

For additional information, see Direct Election of Senators, at http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/

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Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

The 58 women who have served in the Senate entered initially through three different routes:



35 entered through regularly scheduled elections,

18 were appointed to unexpired terms, and

5 were elected by special election.12

As Figure 4 shows, approximately 70% (40) of all women who have served in the Senate initially

entered Senate service by winning an election (regular or special). Approximately 30% of women

Senators entered the Senate initially through an appointment. Of the 18 women who entered by

appointment, 10 served less than one year.

Since the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1913, nine years prior

to the first appointment of a woman to fill a Senate vacancy, 202 Senators have been appointed.13

Of these appointees, 91.1% (184) have been men, and 8.9% (18) were women.14

Figure 4. Women’s Initial Entrance to the Senate: Regular Elections, Special

Elections, and Appointments to Unexpired Terms

(Inclusive through January 6, 2021)

Source: Figure compiled by CRS based on descriptions in the Biographical Directory of the United States

Congress (http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp).

briefing/Direct_Election_Senators.htm.

12 This includes one woman who was elected but never sworn in.

13 “Appointed Senators” list available at http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/

senators_appointed.htm.

14 Total number of Senators since January 1, 1913, was derived from the Senate’s “Senators of the United States 1789present: A chronological list of senators since the First Congress in 1789,” available at http://www.senate.gov/

artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/chronlist.pdf. Senators are listed by date of initial service. Members who served

nonconsecutive terms are counted once.

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Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Women in Congress as Compared with Women in

Other Legislative Bodies

International Perspective

The current total percentage of voting female representation in Congress (26.9%) is slightly

higher than averages of female representation in other countries. According to the InterParliamentary Union (IPU), as of January 1, 2021, women represented 25.6% of national

legislative seats (both houses) across the entire world. In the IPU database of worldwide female

representation, the United States ties for 67th worldwide for women in the lower chamber. The

Nordic countries (Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, and Norway) lead the world regionally

with 44.5% female representation in national legislatures.15

State-House Perspective

The percentage of women in Congress is lower than the percentage of women holding seats in

state legislatures. According to the Center for American Women and Politics, in 2021, 2,299, or

31.1%, of the 7,383 state legislators in the United States are women. Women currently hold 561,

or 28.4%, of the 1,972 state senate seats and 1,738, or 32.1%, of the 5,411 state house or

assembly seats.16 Across the 50 states, the total seats held by women range from 13.4% in West

Virginia to 58.7% in Nevada.17

Since the beginning of the 92nd Congress (1971-1972), the first Congress for which comparative

state legislature data are available,18 the total percentage of women in state legislatures has

eclipsed the percentage of women in Congress. The greatest disparity between the percentages of

female voting representation in state legislatures as compared with Congress occurred in the early

1990s, when women comprised 6.0% of the total Congress in the 102nd Congress (1991-1992),

but 18.3% of state legislatures in 1991. The gap has since narrowed.

Female Election Firsts in Congress



First woman elected to Congress. Representative Jeannette Rankin (R-MT,

1917-1919, 1941-1943).

First woman to serve in the Senate. Rebecca Latimer Felton (D-GA) was

appointed in 1922 to fill the unexpired term of a Senator who had died in office.

15 Inter-Parliamentary Union, Global and Regional Averages of Women in National Parliaments, as of December 1,

2020, at https://data.ipu.org/women-averages. See also the archive of historical data at http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/

world-arc.htm. These data will be updated once per Congress. For statistics on women serving in the national

legislatures of 192 countries, see the IPU chart at https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking; see also, Frank C. Thames and

Margaret S. Williams, Contagious Representation: Women’s Political Representation in Democracies around the

World (New York University Press: New York, 2013).

16 Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), “Women in State Legislatures 2021,” 2021, Eagleton Institute of

Politics, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, https://cawp.rutgers.edu/facts/levels-office/state-legislature/women-statelegislatures-2021 (Accessed December 22, 2021).

17 Ibid.

18 The Center for American Women and Politics provides data for state legislatures for odd-numbered years.

Congressional data show the maximum number of women elected or appointed to serve in a Congress at one time

during that Congress.

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Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

In addition to being the first female Senator, Mrs. Felton holds two other Senate

records. Her tenure in the Senate remains the shortest ever (one day), and, at the

age of 87, she is the oldest person ever to begin Senate service.



First woman to succeed her spouse in the Senate and also the first female

initially elected to a full six-year term. Hattie Caraway (D-AR, 1931-1945) was

first appointed in 1931 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband,

Thaddeus H. Caraway (D-AR, House, 1913-1921; Senate, 1921-1931), and then

was subsequently elected to two six-year terms.



First woman elected to the Senate without having first been appointed to

serve in that body and first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.

Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME) was elected to the Senate and served from

January 3, 1949, until January 3, 1973. She had previously served in the House

(June 3, 1940, to January 3, 1949).



First woman elected to the Senate without first having been elected to the

House or having been elected or appointed to fill an unexpired Senate term.

Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-KS, 1979-1997).

First woman elected Speaker of the House. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) served as

Speaker of the House in the 110th and 111th Congresses (2007-2010), and again in

the 116th and 117th Congresses.

First woman to serve as President of the Senate. As Vice President of the

United States (2021-present), Kamala Harris (D-CA) also serves as President of

the Senate.



Records for Length of Service



Longest total length of service by a woman in Congress. Senator Barbara

Mikulski (D-MD), who served from January 3, 1977, to January 3, 2017, holds

this record (40 years, 10 of which were spent in the House). On March 17, 2012,

Senator Mikulski surpassed the record previously held by Representative Edith

Nourse Rogers (R-MA).

Longest length of service by a woman in the House. On March 18, 2018,

currently serving Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) surpassed the record

previously held by Representative Edith Nourse Rogers (R-MA). Representative

Kaptur has been serving in the House since January 3, 1983 (approximately 39

years). Representative Rogers served in the House for 35 years, from June 25,

1925, until her death on September 10, 1960.

Longest length of service by a woman in the Senate. Senator Barbara Mikulski

also holds the record for length of Senate service by a woman (30 years). In

January 2011, she broke the service record previously held by Senator Margaret

Chase Smith (R-ME), who served 24 years in the Senate and 8.6 years in the

House.

Women Who Have Served in Both Houses

Seventeen women have served in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME) was the first such woman, as well as the first woman elected to

the Senate without first having been elected or appointed to fill a vacant Senate seat. She was first

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Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

elected to the House to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband (Clyde Smith, R-ME,

1937-1940), and she served from June 10, 1940, until January 3, 1949, when she began her

Senate service. She served in the Senate until January 3, 1973.

African American Women in Congress

Twenty-eight African American women serve in the 117thth Congress, including 2 Delegates, a

record number. The 117th Congress began with 28 African American women, but one Senator

resigned in January 2021 to become Vice President of the United States, one Representative

resigned to become a Cabinet Secretary, one Representative arrived in a November 2021 special

election, and another in a January 2022 special election.

A total of 52 African American women have served in Congress.19 The first was Representative

Shirley Chisholm (D-NY, 1969-1983). Senator Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL, 1993-1999) was the

first African American woman to have served in the Senate. The African American women

Members of the 117th Congress are listed in Table 3.

Table 3. African American Women in the 117th Congress

(All are House Members)

Alma Adams (D-NC)

Karen Bass (D-CA)

Joyce Beatty (D-OH)

Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE)

Shontel Brown (D-OH)

Cori Bush (D-MO)

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick

(D-FL)

Yvette Clarke (D-NY)

Val Demings (D-FL)

Jahana Hayes (D-CT)

Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)

Eddie Bernice Johnson

(D-TX)

Robin Kelly (D-IL)

Brenda Lawrence (D-MI)

Barbara Lee (D-CA)

Lucy McBath (D-GA)

Gwen Moore (D-WI)

Ilhan Omar (D-MN)

Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)

Terri Sewell (D-AL)

Marilyn Strickland (D-WA)

Lauren Underwood (D-IL)

Maxine Waters (D-CA)

Bonnie Watson Coleman

(D-NJ)

Nikema Williams (D-GA)

Frederica Wilson (D-FL)

Eleanor Holmes Norton

(D-DC) [Delegate]

Stacey Plaskett (D-VI)

[Delegate]

Source: U.S. Congress, House, Office of the Historian, https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/

WIC/Historical-Data/Historical-Data—Nav/.

Notes: Rep. Marilyn Strickland is also Asian Pacific American, and she is counted in both categories. The 117th

Congress began with one African American woman Senator, Kamala Harris; she resigned in January 2021 to

become Vice President of the United States. In March 2021, Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) resigned to become a

Cabinet Secretary, and was replaced by Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH) in November 2021. Rep. Sheila CherfilusMcCormick (D-FL) was sworn in in January 2022.

19 This number includes one former Senator, Kamala Harris, and one House Member, Marilyn Strickland, who are both

of African American and Asian ancestry. In this report, these two Members are counted as belonging to two ethnic

groups. For additional information, see U.S. Congress, House, Office of the Historian, Black Americans in Congress, at

http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Black-Americans-in-Congress/, and Asian and Pacific

Islander Americans in Congress, at http://history.house.gov/apa/.

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Asian Pacific American Women in Congress

Eleven Asian Pacific American women, a record number, serve in the 117th Congress.20 Patsy

Mink (D-HI), who served in the House from 1965 to 1977 and again from 1990 to 2002, was the

first of 16 Asian Pacific American women to serve in Congress. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) is the first

Asian Pacific American woman to serve in both the House and Senate.

Table 4. Asian Pacific American Women in the 117th Congress

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI)

Judy Chu (D-CA)

Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)

Young Kim (R-CA)

Doris O. Matsui (D-CA)

Grace Meng (D-NY)

Stephanie Murphy (D-FL)

Michelle Steel (R-CA)

Marilyn Strickland (D-WA)

Aumua Amata Coleman

Radewagen (R-AS) [Delegate]

Source: U.S. Congress, House, Office of the Historian, http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/

WIC/Historical-Data/Women-of-Color-in-Congress/ and http://history.house.gov/apa/.

Notes: Rep. Marilyn Strickland is also African American, and she is counted in both categories. The 117th

Congress began with one more Asian American woman Senator, Kamala Harris; she resigned in January 2021 to

become Vice President of the United States. AS = American Samoa.

Hispanic Women in Congress

Twenty-four Hispanic or Latino women have served in Congress, all but one in the House, and 17

of them, a record number, serve in the 117th Congress. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL,

1989-2018) was the first Hispanic woman to serve in Congress, and Catherine Cortez Masto (DNV, 2017-present) is the first Hispanic woman Senator.21

Table 5. Hispanic Women in the 117th Congress

(All are House Members except for Senator Cortez Masto)

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto

(D-NV)

Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA)

Veronica Escobar (D-TX)

Mayra Flores (R-TX)

Sylvia Garcia (D-TX)

Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA)

Grace Flores Napolitano (D-CA)

Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM)

Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)

Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)

Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL)

Linda Sánchez (D-CA)

Norma Torres (D-CA)

Lori Trahan (D-MA)

Nydia Velázquez (D-NY)

Jenniffer González-Colon (R-PR)

[Resident Commissioner]

Source: U.S. Congress, House, Office of the Historian, at http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/

WIC/Historical-Data/Women-of-Color-in-Congress/.

20 This number includes one former Senator, Kamala Harris, and one House Member, Marilyn Strickland, who are both

of African American and Asian ancestry. In this report, these two Members are counted as belonging to two ethnic

groups.

21 For additional information, see U.S. Congress, House, Office of the Historian, Hispanic Americans in Congress, at

http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/HAIC/Hispanic-Americans-in-Congress/.

Congressional Research Service

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

American Indian and Alaska Native (Native

American) Women in Congress

Representatives Sharice Davids (D-KS) and Deb Haaland (D-NM), both first elected to the 116th

Congress, were the first female enrolled members of federally recognized tribes to serve in

Congress.

They were reelected to the 117th Congress and were joined by Representative Yvette Herrell (RNM). In September 2022, Mary Peltola (D-AK), the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, was

sworn into the House. Representative Haaland resigned in March 2021 to become Secretary of

the Interior.

Women Who Have Served in Party Leadership

Positions22

A number of women in Congress, listed in Table 6, have held positions in their party’s

leadership.23 Current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is second in the line of

succession for the presidency. She also served as Speaker in the 110th, 111th, and 116th

Congresses. In the 108th, 109th, and 112th-115th Congresses, she was elected the House Democratic

leader. Previously, Representative Pelosi was elected House Democratic whip, in the 107th

Congress, on October 10, 2001, effective January 15, 2002. She was also the first woman

nominated to be Speaker of the House. Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME), chair of the

Senate Republican Conference from 1967 to 1972, holds the Senate record for the highest, as well

as first, leadership position held by a female Senator. The first woman Member to be elected to

any party leadership position was Chase Going Woodhouse (D-CT), who served as House

Democratic Caucus Secretary in the 81st Congress (1949-1950).

Table 6. Selected Congressional Party Leadership Positions Held by Women

Position

Member

Congresses

Speaker of the House

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

110th-111th, 116th-117th

(2007-2010, 2019-present)

Assistant Speaker

Katherine Clark (D-MA)

117th (2021-present)

House Democratic Leader

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

108th-109th, 112th-115th (20032006, 2011-2018)

House Democratic Whip

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

107th (2001-2002)

22 For additional information, refer to CRS Report RL30567, Party Leaders in the United States Congress, 1789-2019,

by Valerie Heitshusen. Limited information on the leadership positions held by women in Congress can also be found

inCRS Report RL30261, Women in Congress, 1917-2022: Service Dates and Committee Assignments by Member, and

Lists by State and Congress, by Jennifer E. Manning and Ida A. Brudnick

23 U.S. Congress, House, Office of the Historian, “Women Elected to Party Leadership Positions, 1949–Present,”

http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Data/Women-Elected-to-Party-Leadership/.

Congressional Research Service

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Position

Chief Deputy Democratic Whip

Member

Congresses

Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)

Stephanie Murphy (D-FL)

Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)

Terri Sewell (D-AL)

Diana DeGette (D-CO)

Janice Schakowsky (D-IL)

Debbie Wasserman Schultz (DFL)

Maxine Waters (D-CA)

117th (2021-present)

114th-115th (2015-2018)

113th-117th (2013-present)

112th-115th (2011-2018)

112th-117th (2011-present)

House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair

Katherine Clark (D-MA)

Linda Sánchez (D-CA)

Barbara Kennelly (D-CT)

Mary Rose Oakar (D-OH)

116th (2019-2020)

115th (2017-2018)

104th-105th (1995-1998)

100th (1987-1988)

House Democratic Caucus Secretarya

Mary Rose Oakar (D-OH)

Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY)

Shirley Chisholm (D-NY)

Patsy Mink (D-HI)

Leonor Kretzer Sullivan (D-MO)

Edna Flannery Kelly (D-NY)

Chase Going Woodhouse (DCT)

99th (1985-1986)

97th-98th (1981-1984)

95th-96th (1977-1980)

94th (1975-1976)

86th-87th (1959-1962), 88th, 2nd

session-93rd (1964-1974)

83rd-84th (1953-1956), 88th, 1st

session (1963)

81st (1949-1950)

House Republican Conference Chair

Elise Stefanik (R-NY)

Liz Cheney (R-WY)

Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA)

Deborah Pryce (R-OH)

117th (May 2021-present)

116th-117th (2019-May 2021)

113th-115th (2013-2018)

108th-109th (2003-2006)

House Republican Conference Vice

Chair

Lynn Jenkins (R-KS)

Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA)

Deborah Pryce (R-OH)

Kay Granger (R-TX)

Tillie Fowler (R-FL)

Jennifer Dunn (R-WA)

Susan Molinari (R-NY)

Lynn Martin (R-IL)

113th-114th (2013-2016)

111th-112th (2009-2012)

107th (2001-2002)

110th (2007-2008)

106th (1999-2000)

105th (1997-1998)

104th-105th (1995-Aug. 1997)

99th-100th (1985-1988)

House Republican Conference

Secretary

Virginia Foxx (R-NC)

Barbara Cubin (R-WY)

Deborah Pryce (R-OH)

Barbara Vucanovich (R-NV)

113th-114th (2013-2016)

107th (2001-2002)

106th (1999-2000)

104th (1995-1996)

Senate Republican Conference Chair

Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME)

90th-92nd (1967-1972)

Senate Republican Conference Vice

Chairb

Joni Ernst (R-IA)

Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)

116th-117th (2019-present)

111th (2009-2010)

107th-109th (2001-2006)

Assistant Democratic Leader

Patty Murray (D-WA)

116th -117th (2019-present)

Congressional Research Service

106th-110th (1999-2008)

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Position

Member

Congresses

Senate Democratic Conference Vice

Chair

Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)

115th-117th (2017-present)

Senate Democratic Conference

Secretary

Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)

Patty Murray (D-WA)

Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

115th-117th (2017-present)

110th-114th (2007-2016)

109th (2005-2006)

104th-108th (1995-2004)

Senate Chief Deputy Democratic Whip

Barbara Boxer (D-CA)

110th-114th (2007-2016)

Sources: U.S. Congress, House, Office of the Historian, “Women in Party Leadership Positions, 1949-Present,”

http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Data/Women-Elected-to-Party-Leadership/;

and CRS Report RL30567, Party Leaders in the United States Congress, 1789-2019, by Valerie Heitshusen.

a. The title of this position changed from “Secretary” to “Vice Chair” with the 100 th Congress.

b. This position was previously known as the Conference Secretary.

Women and Leadership of Congressional

Committees

As chair of the House Expenditures in the Post Office Department Committee (67th-68th

Congresses), Mae Ella Nolan was the first woman to chair any congressional committee. As chair

of the Senate Enrolled Bills Committee (73rd-78th Congresses), Hattie Caraway was the first

woman to chair a Senate committee. In total



27 women have chaired a House committee (including select committees);

15 women have chaired a Senate committee (including select and special

committees);

2 female Senators have chaired joint committees (one joint select committee, and

two joint committees related to service as chair of the Senate Rules and

Administration Committee);24 and

4 female Representatives have chaired a joint committee (including one joint

select committee, and two related to service as chair of the Committee on House

Administration).25

In the 117th Congress, women chair seven standing committees in the House, four standing

committees in the Senate, and one select committee in the House. In addition, two women chair

joint committees related to their service on standing committees.

24 For additional information, see CRS Report R46806, Rules Governing Senate Committee and Subcommittee

Assignment Procedures, by Michael Greene.

25 Totals include standing, special, and select committees. Some women have chaired multiple committees. Multiple

sources were consulted for this tally. The sources consulted include “Women Who Have Chaired Congressional

Committees in the U.S. House, 1923-present,” table of the Women in Congress website, at http://history.house.gov/

Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Data/Women-Chairs-of-Congressional-Committees/; “Women in

Congress: Leadership Roles and Committee Chairs,” at https://cawp.rutgers.edu/women-congress-leadershipcommittees; “Chairmen of Senate Standing Committees,” at https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/

pdf/CommitteeChairs.pdf; and the entries for all the women who have served in Congress in the Biographical

Directory of the United States Congress, at http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp.

Congressional Research Service

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Table 7. Committees Chaired by Women, 117th Congress

Committee

Chair

House Committee on Appropriations

House Committee on Ethics

Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)

Susan Wild (D-PA)

House Committee on Financial Services

Maxine Waters (D-FL)

House Committee on House Administration

Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)

House Committee on Oversight and Reform

Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)

House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)

House Committee on Small Business

Nydia Velázquez (D-NY)

House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis

Kathy Castor (D-FL)

Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry

Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and

Transportation

Maria Cantwell (D-WA)

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

Patty Murray (D-WA)

Senate Committee on Rules and Administration

Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Joint Committee on Printing

Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Joint Committee on the Library

Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)

Sources: “Women Who Have Chaired Congressional Committees in the U.S. House, 1923-Present” table of

the Women in Congress website at http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Data/

Women-Chairs-of-Congressional-Committees/; and the “Committee Assignments of the 117th Congress”

website at http://www.senate.gov/general/committee_assignments/assignments.htm.

a. Rep. Wild was appointed acting chair of the Committee on Ethics on September 30, 2022. See

https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/93022-0.

Pursuant to H.Res. 6 (116th Congress), as continued by H.Res. 8 (117th Congress), the Speaker of

the House appoints members to the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. See also

Charles W. Johnson, John V. Sullivan, and Thomas J. Wickham, Jr., House Practice: A Guide to

the Rules, Precedents, and Procedures of the House (Washington: GPO, 2017), p. 241, Chapter 1,

§1.

Women in Congress: Examinations of Their Role

and Impact

As the number of women in Congress has increased in recent decades, and following the large

increase in women following the 1992 elections in particular, numerous studies of Congress have

examined the role and impact of these women.

Central to these studies have been questions about the following:



The legislative behavior of women in Congress, including whether the legislative

behavior of female Members differs from their male counterparts. For example,

what has the increase in women in Congress meant for descriptive representation

(i.e., when representatives and those represented share demographic

characteristics, such as representation of women by women) and substantive

representation (i.e., representation of policy preferences and a linkage to policy

Congressional Research Service

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview



outcomes)?26 This also includes examinations of whether women Members

sponsor more “women’s issues bills,”27 or speak more frequently on the House

floor about women.28 These examinations also include questions regarding

whether there are any differences in roll call voting behavior between men and

women Members of Congress, with a comparison of successive Members in the

same district, Members in the same party, Members in similar districts, or in the

chamber overall, or a focus on certain policy areas (e.g., foreign or defense

policy).29

The “effectiveness” of female legislators, particularly in comparison to male

legislators. These studies have examined bill sponsorship and cosponsorship;

women’s success in shepherding sponsored bills or amendments into law;

committee work; success in securing federal funds; consensus building activities

and efforts to form coalitions; effectiveness while in the majority and minority;

and their impact on the institution overall.30

26 The idea of “representation,” including its forms and variations, has long been debated among political scientists and

political theorists. For a discussion, see Hanna F. Pitkin, The Concept of Representation (Berkeley, CA: University of

California Press, 1967).

27 Studies characterize “women’s issues” differently, and there is no universally accepted definition. See Beth

Reingold, “Women as Office Holders: Descriptive and Substantive Representation,” paper presented at the Political

Women and American Democracy Conference, University of Notre Dame, May 25-27, 2006, p. 6; and Victoria A.

Rickard, “The Effects of Gender on Winnowing in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Politics & Gender, vol. 12

(2016), pp. 814-816.

28 See, for example, Mary Hawkesworth, Kathleen Casey, Krista Jenkins, and Katherine Kleeman, Legislating By and

For Women: A Comparison of the 103rd and 104th Congresses, Center for American Women and Politics, 2001,

available at http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/research/topics/documents/CongReport103-104.pdf; Kathryn Pearson and

Logan Dancey, “Elevating Women’s Voices in Congress: Speech Participation in the House of Representatives,”

Political Research Quarterly, vol. 64 (December 2011), pp. 910-923; Kathryn Pearson and Logan Dancey, “Speaking

for the Underrepresented in the House of Representatives: Voicing Women’s Interests in a Partisan Era,” Politics &

Gender, vol. 7 (December 2011), pp. 493-519; Kelly Dittmar, Kira Sanbonmatsu, Susan J. Carroll, Debbie Walsh, and

Catherine Wineinger, “Representation Matters: Women in the U.S. Congress,” New Brunswick, NJ: Center for

American Women in Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (2017); Lisa

A. Bryant and Julia Marin Hellwege, “Working Mothers Represent: How Children Affect the Legislative Agenda of

Women in Congress,” American Politics Research, vol. 47, no. 3 (2019), pp. 447-470; and Kelly Dittmar, Kira

Sanbonmatsu, and Susan J. Carroll, A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Presence

Matters (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018).

29 See, for example, Michele L. Swers, The Difference Women Make: The Policy Impact of Women in Congress

(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002); Katherine Cramer Walsh, “Enlarging Representation: Women Bring

Marginalized Perspectives to Floor Debate in the House of Representatives,” in Women Transforming Congress, ed.

Cindy Simon Rosenthal (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), pp. 370-396; Jessica C. Gerrity, Tracy

Osborn, and Jeannette Morehouse Mendez, “Women and Representation: A Different View of the District?” Politics &

Gender, vol. 3 (June 2007), pp. 179-200; Jennifer Sacco, 2012, “Descriptive Representation of Men and Women in the

110th and 111th Congresses,” paper presented at the Western Political Science Association Annual Meeting,

http://wpsa.research.pdx.edu/meet/2012/sacco.pdf; Jocelyn Jones Evans, Women, Partisanship and the Congress (New

York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005); Michele L. Swers, “Are Women More Likely to Vote For Women’s Issue Bills than

Their Male Colleagues?” Legislative Studies Quarterly, vol. 23 (1995), pp. 435-448; Brian Frederick, “Are Female

House Members Still More Liberal in a Polarized Era? The Conditional Nature of the Relationship Between

Descriptive and Substantive Representation,” Congress & the Presidency, vol. 36 (2009), pp. 181-202; Dennis Simon,

“The Roll Call Behavior of Men and Women in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1937-2008,” Politics & Gender,

vol. 6 (June 2010), pp. 225-246; Brian Frederick, “Gender and Roll Call Voting Behavior in Congress: A CrossChamber Analysis,” The American Review of Politics, vol. 34 (Spring 2013), pp. 1-20; William Bendix and Gyung-Ho

Jeong, “Gender and Foreign Policy: Are Female Members of Congress More Dovish than their Male Colleagues,”

Political Research Quarterly, vol. 73, no. 1 (2020), pp. 126-140; and Mary Layton Atkinson and Jason Harold Windett,

“Gender Stereotypes and the Policy Priorities of Women in Congress,” Political Behavior, vol. 41 (2019), pp. 769-789.

30 See, for example, Cindy Simon Rosenthal, “A View of Their Own: Women’s Committee Leadership Styles and State

Congressional Research Service

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview



The path that leads women to run for office, comparative success rates of female

compared with male candidates, and career trajectory once in Congress.31 This

includes professional backgrounds and experience, barriers to entry, and

fundraising;32 the so-called widow effect, in which many women first secured

entry to Congress following the death of a spouse;33 and reelection efforts and

influences on decisions regarding voluntary retirement or pursuing other office.34

Legislatures,” Policy Studies Journal, vol. 25 (1997), pp. 585-600; Noelle Norton, “Transforming Policy from the

Inside: Participation in Committee,” in Women Transforming Congress, ed. Cindy Simon Rosenthal (Norman, OK:

University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), pp. 316-340; Michele L. Swers, The Difference Women Make (Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 2002); Laura W. Arnold and Barbara M. King, “Women, Committees, and Institutional

Change in the Senate,” in Women Transforming Congress, ed. Cindy Simon Rosenthal (Norman, OK: University of

Oklahoma Press, 2002), pp. 284-315; Alana Jeydel and Andrew J. Taylor, “Are Women Legislators Less Effective?

Evidence from the U.S. House in the 103rd-105th Congress,” Political Research Quarterly, vol. 56 (March 2003), pp.

19-27; Debra Dodson, The Impact of Women in Congress (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006); Sarah Anzia

and Christopher Berry, “The Jackie (and Jill) Robinson Effect: Why Do Congresswomen Outperform Congressmen?”

American Journal of Political Science, vol. 55 (July 2011), pp. 478-493; Craig Volden, Alan Wiseman, and Dana

Wittmer, “When Are Women More Effective Lawmakers Than Men?” American Journal of Political Science, April

2013, pp. 326-341, available at http://batten.virginia.edu/research/when-are-women-more-effective-lawmakers-men;

Stella M. Rouse, Michele L. Swers, and Michael D. Parrott, “Gender, Race, and Coalition Building: Agenda Setting as

a Mechanism for Collaboration Among Minority Groups in Congress,” paper delivered for presentation at the

American Political Science Association Meeting, August 28-September 1, 2013; Tali Mendelberg, Christopher F.

Karpowitz and Nicholas Goedert, “Does Descriptive Representation Facilitate Women’s Distinctive Voice? How

Gender Composition and Decision Rules Affect Deliberation,” American Journal of Political Science, vol. 58, no. 2

(April 2014), pp. 291-306; and Victoria A. Rickard, “The Effects of Gender on Winnowing in the U.S. House of

Representatives,” Politics & Gender, vol. 12 (2016), pp. 807-834.

31 See, for example, Jennifer Lawless and Kathyrn Pearson, “The Primary Reason for Women’s Underrepresentation?

Reevaluating the Conventional Wisdom,” Journal of Politics, vol. 70 (2008), pp. 67-82; Richard L. Fox and Jennifer L.

Lawless, “Gendered Perceptions and Political Candidacies: A Central Barrier to Women’s Equality in Electoral

Politics,” American Journal of Political Science, vol. 55, no. 1 (January 2011), pp. 59-73; Kathryn Pearson and Eric

McGhee, “What It Takes to Win: Questioning ‘Gender Neutral’ Outcomes,” Politics & Gender, vol. 9 (2013), pp. 439462; Daniell M. Thomsen, “Why So Few (Republican) Women? Explaining the Partisan Imbalance of Women in the

U.S. Congress,” Legislative Studies Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 2 (May 2015), pp. 295-423; Kira Sanbonmatsu, “Women’s

Underrepresentation in the U.S. Congress,” Dædalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, vol.

149, no. 1 (2020), pp. 40-55; and Sarina Rhinehart and Michael H. Crespin, “Women in Congress,” in New Directions

in Congressional Politics, ed. Jamie L. Carson and Michael S. Lynch, 2 nd ed. (New York: Routledge, Taylor and

Francis Group, 2020).

32 See, for example, Ashley Baker, “Reexamining the gender implications of campaign finance reform: how higher

ceilings on individual donations disproportionately impact female candidates,” Modern American, vol. 2 (2006), pp.

18-23; Michael H. Crespin and Janna L. Deitz, “If You Can’t Join ‘Em, Beat ‘Em: The Gender Gap in Individual

Donations to Congressional Candidates,” Political Research Quarterly, vol. 63, no. 3 (September 2010), pp. 581-593;

Karin E. Kitchens and Michele L. Swers, “Why Aren’t There More Republican Women in Congress? Gender,

Partisanship, and Fundraising Support in the 2010 and 2012 Elections,” Politics & Gender, vol. 12 (2016), pp. 648-676.

33 See, for example, Diane D. Kincaid, “Over His Dead Body: A Positive Perspective on Widows in the U.S.

Congress,” The Western Political Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1 (Mar., 1978), pp. 96-104; Lisa Solowiej and Thomas L.

Brunell, “The Entrance of Women to the U.S. Congress: The Widow Effect,” Political Research Quarterly, vol. 56, no.

3 (September 2003), pp. 283-292; and Danielle Lupton, Sahar Parsa, and Steven Sprick Schuster, “Widows,

Congressional Representation, and the (Ms.)Appropriation of a Name,” unpublished manuscript, November 5, 2017.

34 See, for example, Jennifer L. Lawless and Sean M. Theriault, “Will She Stay or Will She Go? Career Ceilings and

Women’s Retirement from the U.S. Congress,” Legislative Studies Quarterly, vol. 30 (November 2005), pp. 581-596;

and Jeffrey Lazarus and Amy Steigerwalt, Gendered Vulnerability: How Women Work Harder to Stay in Office (Ann

Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2018).

Congressional Research Service

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Appendix. Total Number of Women Who Served in

Each Congress

Table A-1. Congressional Service by Women: By Type and Congress, 1917-2022

(Including any Representatives [Reps.], Delegates [Del.], and Resident Commissioners [RC]

who served only a portion of the Congress)

House

Subtotal

(Reps. and

Nonvoting

Members)

Congress

Reps.

Nonvoting

Members

(Del. and

RC)

65th (1917-1918)

66th (1919-1920)

67th (1921-1922)a

68th (1923-1924)

69th (1925-1926)b

70th (1927-1928)c

71st (1929-1930)

72nd (1931-1932)d

73rd (1933-1934)

74th (1935-1936)

75th (1937-1938)e

76th (1939-1940)f

77th (1941-1942)b

78th (1943-1944)c

79th (1945-1946)b

80th (1947-1948)g

81st (1949-1950)c

82nd (1951-1952)b

83rd (1953-1954)h

84th (1955-1956)c

85th (1957-1958)

86th (1959-1960)i

87th (1961-1962)j

88th (1963-1964)c

89th (1965-1966)

90th (1967-1968)

91st (1969-1970)

92nd (1971-1972)k

Congressional Research Service

Sens.

Total

without

Nonvoting

Members

Total

with

Nonvoting

Members

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

House

Subtotal

(Reps. and

Nonvoting

Members)

Congress

Reps.

Nonvoting

Members

(Del. and

RC)

Sens.

Total

without

Nonvoting

Members

Total

with

Nonvoting

Members

93rd (1973-1974)b

94th (1975-1976)

95th (1977-1978)l

96th (1979-1980)m

97th (1981-1982)n

98th (1983-1984)c

99th (1985-1986)c

100th (1987-1988)o

101st (1989-1990)p

102nd (1991-1992)q

103rd (1993-1994)r

104th (1995-1996)k

105th (1997-1998)s

106th (1999-2000)

107th (2001-2002)t

108th (2003-2004)c

109th (2005-2006)u

110th (2007-2008)v

111th (2009-2010)w

112th (2011-2012)x

113th (2013-2014)y

101

104

114th (2015-2016)z

105

109

115th (2017-2018)aa

111

116

116th (2019-2020)bb

102

106

127

131

117th (2021-2022)cc

126

130

152

156

Source: CRS summary, based on http://history.house.gov/Exhibition-and-Publications/WIC/Women-inCongress/.

Notes: The column headings include the following abbreviations: Representatives (Reps.), Delegates (Del.),

Resident Commissioners (RC), and Senators (Sens.).

Three columns include numbers for the House: (1) the number of women Representatives, (2) the number of

women nonvoting Members (including Delegates and Resident Commissioners), and (3) the total number of

women in the House.

Totals are also provided for (1) the number of women in the House and Senate not including nonvoting

Members and (2) the number of women in the House and Senate including nonvoting Members.

For simplification, Congresses are listed in two-year increments. Pursuant to the 20th Amendment to the

Constitution, which was ratified January 23, 1933, “the terms of Senators and Representatives [shall end] at noon

on the 3rd day of Jan.” For specific dates, see “Dates of Sessions of the Congress, present-1789,” at

http://www.senate.gov/reference/Sessions/sessionDates.htm.

Congressional Research Service

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Includes two House Members who were elected to fill a vacancy and one Senator who was appointed to fill

a vacancy.

b. Includes two House Members who were elected to fill a vacancy.

c. Includes one House Member who was elected to fill a vacancy.

d. Includes one House Member who was elected to fill a vacancy and one Senator who was appointed to fill a

vacancy.

e. Includes one House Member who was elected to fill a vacancy but not sworn in, one Senator who was

elected to fill a vacancy but not sworn in, and one Senator who was appointed to fill a vacancy.

Includes four House Members who were elected to fill a vacancy.

g. Includes one Senator who was appointed to fill a vacancy.

h. Includes one House Member who was elected to fill a vacancy, one Senator who was appointed to fill a

vacancy, and one Senator who was elected to fill that vacancy.

Includes one House Member who died and one House Member elected to fill a vacancy.

Includes three House Members who were elected to fill a vacancy.

k. Includes one House Member who was elected to fill a vacancy and one Senator appointed to fill a vacancy.

Includes two Senators who were appointed to fill a vacancy.

m. Includes one House Member-elect whose seat was declared vacant due to an incapacitating illness, and one

House member who was elected to fill a vacancy.

n. Includes three House Members who were elected to a vacancy.

o. Includes one House Member who died.

p. Includes four House Members who were elected to fill a vacancy.

q. Includes one House Member and one Senator elected to fill a vacancy and one Senator who was appointed

to fill a vacancy.

r. Includes one Senator who was elected to fill a vacancy.

s. Includes one House Member who resigned and four House Members who were elected to fill a vacancy.

t. Includes one House Member who died and one House Member who was elected to fill a vacancy and two

appointed Senators.

u. Includes three House Members who were elected to fill a vacancy.

v. Includes four House Members who died and five House Members who were elected to fill a vacancy.

w. Includes two House Members who resigned, one House Member who was elected to fill a vacancy, one

Senator who resigned, and one Senator initially elected to the House and then appointed to the Senate.

x. Includes two House Members who resigned and four House Members who were elected to fill a vacancy.

y. Includes one House Member who resigned and three House Members who were elected to fill a vacancy.

z. Includes two House Members who resigned and one House Member who was elected to fill a vacancy.

aa. Includes five House Members elected to fill a vacancy, one House Member who died, one House Member

who resigned, and two Senators appointed to fill a vacancy.

bb. Includes one House Member who resigned and one Senator appointed to fill a vacancy.

cc. Includes two House Members who resigned, one House Member who died, seven House Members elected

to fill a vacancy, one Senator who resigned, and one Senator whose appointed term expired. In addition,

one House Member was sworn in after a delay in the certification of her election.

Congressional Research Service

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Table A-2. Number of Women Sworn in on the First Day of Congress

Congress

House

Senate

Total Congress

102nd

103rd

104th

105th

106th

107th

108th

109th

110th

111th

112th

113th

101

114th

108

115th

109

116th

106

131

117th

122

148

Source: CRS calculations based on descriptions in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

(http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp).

Note: Includes Senators, Representatives, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner. The 117 th Congress

number excludes one House Member who was reelected to office, but not sworn in until February 2021.

Author Information

Jennifer E. Manning

Senior Research Librarian

Ida A. Brudnick

Specialist on the Congress

Acknowledgments

Linda Carter, Elli Ludwigson, and Cara Warner provided assistance. Colleen J. Shogan, formerly Deputy

Director and Senior Specialist, and Susan Navarro Smelcer, formerly an Analyst on the Federal Judiciary,

were former coauthors of this report.

Congressional Research Service

Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview

Disclaimer

This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan

shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and

under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other

than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in

connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not

subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in

its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or

material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish to

copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.

Congressional Research Service

R43244 · VERSION 38 · UPDATED

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.