Number of Women in State Legislatures Climbs Nationally and in Connecticut

At the start of state legislative sessions in 2021, approximately 2,259 women were serving in the 50 state legislatures across the country, making up 30.6% of all state legislators nationwide - an all-time high.

After the 2020 elections, the number of women legislators as 2021 sessions convened was a historic record, according to the National Council of State Legislators. This represents a steady increase over the past three years nationally, with a significant increase since 2018 when women represented 25 percent of legislative bodies.

In Connecticut, after the 2020 elections, 55 of the 151 members of the House of Representatives were women, as were 9 of the 36 State Senators as the 2021 session got underway in January.  The 64 women were 34.2 percent of the Connecticut General Assembly’s 187 members, slightly above the national average and ranking 14th highest among the states.

The 34.2 percent in 2021 is a new high water mark for Connecticut as well, climbing slightly from 33.2 percent in 2019.  In 2006, 31.6 percent of Connecticut’s elected legislators were women.  In 2009, Connecticut’s legislature continued to be 31.6 percent women, which at that time was the seventh highest in the nation.  The percentage dropped to 29.9 percent by 2011, and to 27.8 percent by 2016 and 2017, before rebounding more recently. 

Even as Connecticut’s percentage of female lawmakers has climbed, the state’s relative standing has dropped, from 7th highest in the nation a decade ago to 14th highest percentage of women currently.

The states with the highest percentage of women elected to office in the most recent legislative elections are Nevada (61%), Colorado (46%), Rhode Island (45.1%), New Mexico (43.8%), Arizona (43.3%), Maine (43.5%), Vermont (42.8) and Oregon (42.2%).

Connecticut’s numbers have changed slightly during 2021, due to resignations and special elections.  Last month, State Senator Alexandra Kasser resigned; a Special Election to fill that seat will take place on August 17 in the 36th District, in Fairfield County.  In March, State Rep. Patricia Billie Miller of Stamford was elected to the State Senate, filling a vacancy left by a male legislator; her seat was subsequently filled by a man in a Special Election. 

Connecticut’s Office of Secretary of the State pointed out last year that “When women run for office, women win at the same rate as men, and as the number of women candidates has increased, the success of women candidates has increased.”  That statement was included in a published tribute to “50 Years of Women Candidates in Connecticut.”  The first woman elected to the Connecticut Senate was elected in 1924 and the first four women elected to the Connecticut House were elected a century ago, in 1920, according to the Secretary of the State’s Office.

In 2021, the House and Senate highest ranking leaders – the Senate President, House Speaker, and Majority Leader and Minority Leader for the Democratic and Republican parties – are all men. During the past three decades, one House Speaker and one Senate President, the highest ranking position in each legislative Chamber, has been a woman.