According to the Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics, which tracks women’s representation in the US Congress, at least 141 women – 105 Democrats and 36 Republicans – will be attending the new 117th US Congress.
This is a record overall: in the previous, 116th Congress, there were 127 women legislators. For Republicans, the number 36 is a new all-time high, the previous one was set in 2006, when there were 30 female Republicans in the US Congress. It is also noteworthy that at least 51 women of color will sit in the Capitol in the country’s capital this year. Among them, 46 are Democrats, just one short of the record 47 who just served in the 116th Congress, and five Republicans, who had a previous high of three congressmen of color in 2014. However, women, more than half of the US population, make up only about 26 percent of Congress members, with white men still holding the majority of seats.
Newspaper headline:
New women’s record