INSTITUTE INDEX: Southern legislatures' woman problem
There's a dearth of women in state legislatures in the South. (Map from the Center for American Women and Politics.)
Percent of the U.S. electorate that are women: 53
Portion of state legislators nationwide who are women: less than 1/4
Decades for which that number has held steady: 2
Total number of women currently serving in state legislatures nationwide: 1,793
Total number of women currently serving in state legislatures in the South: 373
Of the 10 state legislatures with the smallest proportion of women, number in the South: 7
Rank of Louisiana's among all state legislatures for representation by women: 50
Rank of South Carolina, Alabama, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Mississippi, respectively: 47, 46, 45, 43, 42, 41
Total number of women in top legislative leadership positions nationwide: 61
Total number of women in top legislative leadership positions in the 13 Southern states*: 7
According to a recent study looking at women and political ambition, number of the disparities between men and women in politics that can be attributed to family roles: 0
Year in which there was the largest percentage decline of women in state legislatures since tracking began in the 1970s: 2010
Number of state legislative seats Republicans picked up in 2010, in advance of post-census redistricting that further solidified the GOP's historic gains: more than 660
Portion of Democratic state legislators who are women: 1/3
Portion of Republican state legislators who are women: 1/5
* Facing South counts among the Southern states Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
(Click on figure to go to source.)
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the former editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.