Female state legislators in the United States

Women have served in state legislatures in the United States since 1895. Their ranks have increased with the advent of nationwide women's suffrage after 1920. Although the number of women serving in state legislatures has more than quintupled since 1971, they remain underrepresented. In 2023, women held less than half of the seats in state legislatures across the majority of states. Specifically, seven states —Oklahoma (19.2%), Louisiana (19.4%), Alabama (17.4%), South Carolina (14.8%), Mississippi (14.5%), Tennessee (14.4%), and West Virginia (11.9%)— had legislatures where women occupied less than 20% of the seats.

Table. US states and Washington, DC. 2023

 * Rank is by overall percent. D.C. is not ranked. Duplicate ranks if same overall percent.
 * D is Democrat. R is Republican. Ind is Independent. NP is non-partisan.
 * Location links are for "Politics of LOCATION" or "Government of LOCATION" links.

Table. US territories. 2023
Note: 24 female legislators overall in Puerto Rico. Affiliations: 8 PNP, 11 PPD, 5 Third Party.

History
The first women to serve in any state legislature were Clara Cressingham, Carrie C. Holly and Frances S. Klock, who were all elected in 1894 to the Colorado State House of Representatives. All three were elected the year after women in Colorado obtained the right to vote through popular election in 1893. As Secretary of the House Republican Caucus, Cressingham was the first woman to fill a leadership position in an American legislature. In 1896, Martha Hughes Cannon became the first woman elected to an upper body of a state legislature when she defeated her own husband, Angus M. Cannon, for a seat in the Utah State Senate.

The 50th state to see the debut of female state legislators in their lower house was Hawaii in 1959, who elected Dorothy Devereux and Eureka Forbes to their House of Representatives upon admittance to statehood. Alabama's Senate was the 50th upper house to welcome women when Ann Bedsole and Frances Strong joined the Senate in 1983.

In 2016, the highest shares of female members of a state legislature - at least 35% per state legislature - were in Colorado (30/65 in the House, 12/35 in the Senate), Vermont (65/150 in the House, 9/30 in the Senate), and Arizona (19/60 in the House, 13/30 in the Senate). The shares in Colorado and Vermont decreased to below 40% in 2017, while Arizona, Illinois, Nevada and Washington all saw their numbers increase up to between 35% and 39%. Altogether in 2017, women constitute 24.8% of all state legislators in the United States, a ratio that has increased by less than 4 percentage points since 1994.

Only four chambers have reached a near or absolute majority of women:


 * New Hampshire Senate (2009-2010, 13/24 women )
 * Nevada Assembly (2019, 23/42 women)
 * Colorado House of Representatives(2019, 32/65 women)
 * Oregon House of Representatives (2020, 30/60 women )

State Legislative Leadership
Leadership positions at the state legislatures include senate presidents, presidents pro tempore, house speakers, majority and minority leaders of the senate and house. In 2023, women held leadership positions in 35 state senates and in 32 state houses, which corresponds to 26% of 350 positions. 44 women (34D, 10R) serve in these leadership roles at State Senates and 47 (36D, 11R) serve at the State Houses. Nine states (AL, IN, KY, MS, NE, SC, SD, TX, WY) have no women in leadership positions.

Current Women Speakers of State Houses
There are 10 (9D, 1R) women currently serving as the speakers of State Houses.

Cathy Tilton (R-AK)

Julie McCluskie (D-CO)

Valerie Longhurst (D-DE)

Adrienne A. Jones (D-MD)

Rachel Talbot Ross (D-ME)

Melissa Hortman (D-MN)

Julie Fahey (D-OR)

Joanna McClinton (D-PA)

Jill Krowinski (D-VT)

Laurie Jinkins (D-WA)

Current Women Presidents or Presidents Pro Tem of Senates
There are 15 (11D, 4R) women currently serving as Presidents or Presidents Pro Tem of State Senates.

Kathleen Passidomo (R-FL)

Michelle Kidani (D-HI)

Amy Sinclair (R-IA)

Regina Ashford Barrow (D-LA)

Karen Spilka (D-MA)

Ann H. Rest (D-MN)

Shirley Turner (D-NJ)

Mimi Stewart (D-NM)

Pat Spearman (D-NV)

Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-NY)

Kim L. Ward (R-PA)

Hanna M. Gallo (D-RI)

Louise Lucas (D-VA)

Karen Keiser (D-WA)

Donna J. Boley (R-WV)

Female State Legislators by Race and Ethnicity
According to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), 99 representatives identify as Asian American/Pacific Islander, 383 identify as Black, 192 identify as Latina, 14 identify as Middle Eastern/North African, 36 identify as Native American/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian, 3 identify as Multiracial Alone, and 1735 identify as white.