While the ERA is hung up in court over an expired time period for ratification, Filler-Corn’s rise and Spearman’s clout epitomize the power now wielded by the record number of women serving in state legislatures this year: They make up about 30% of the lawmakers, up from 25% in 2018. But even more important than the raw numbers is the fact that women have gained real leadership power — the right to set agendas, mold legislation to their liking and use their leverage to get bills passed.
At present, 87 women serve in leadership roles nationwide — speaker of the House, president of the Senate, speaker pro tempore, Senate president pro tempore or majority or minority leader, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“It’s important to get more women in legislatures overall, but also into positions of power where they also get to set the agenda,” said Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. “We spend a lot of time talking about what they add to the conversation; these women in leadership get to determine what conversations are had.”
Besides Filler-Corn, five other women serve as speakers, in Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. All are Democrats. In 10 states there are no women in leadership.
Approximately 2,259 women serve in the 50 state legislatures. Of those, 1,509 are Democrats, 729 are Republicans, seven belong to a third party and 14 are nominally nonpartisan because they serve in the Nebraska unicameral legislature where the seats are not assigned by party.
Nevada tops the list, with more than half of its lawmakers — 60.3% — being women. West Virginia is last, at 12% female. Most of the Southern states have few women lawmakers, while states in New England and the West generally have the highest percentages of women in the legislature.
Nevada is the first state where women have ever held the majority in any U.S. state legislature, reaching 51% of the seats in December 2018.
"We spend a lot of time talking about what they add to the conversation; these women in leadership get to determine what conversations are had."
Kelly Dittmar, director of research THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN WOMEN AND POLITICS AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
Sondra Cosgrove, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada, a community college with campuses in Las Vegas and other parts of the state, said the percentages are fine, but “you have to make sure they are just not being tokenized. Are they able to help set agendas? Thankfully, we’re seeing those milestones being met as well. Women are at the table when decisions are being made.”
And it’s not just that female leaders are affecting “women’s issues,” such as child care or birth control, she added. “What we are seeing is women applying a gendered lens to all bills.” That includes things such as addressing people dropping out of the workforce during the pandemic, most of whom are female.
Representing constituents involves knowing which issues they are worried about. Filler-Corn, for example, who represents Northern Virginia, where traffic was a prevailing issue prior to the pandemic, made transportation one of her priorities and succeeded in getting a transportation bill passed in 2020.
Pages: 1 · 2
More Articles
- Jo Freeman Reviews: The Women of NOW: How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America
- Selective Exposure and Partisan Echo Chambers in Television News Consumption: Innovative Use of Data Yields Unprecedented Insights
- Jo Freeman Reviews Thank You For Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission
- Jo Freeman Reviews: Gendered Citizenship: The Original Conflict Over the Equal Rights Amendment, 1920 – 1963
- Journalist's Resource: Religious Exemptions and Required Vaccines; Examining the Research
- Jo Freeman Reviews: Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight
- Government of Canada Renews Investment in Largest Canadian Study on Aging
- Jo Freeman Writes: Sex and the Democratic Party – In Brooklyn
- Jo Freeman Reviews MADAM SPEAKER, Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons Of Power: “An iron fist in a Gucci glove”
- Julia Sneden Wrote: A Look Back at Boomers and Welcome To the Other Side Of the Hill