For the first time in history, the number of women in Congress has hit triple digits.
Although the historic milestone was reached after Tuesday’s election, political scientists say the number of women in Congress has been increasing – steadily, but slowly – over the past few decades.
“It’s gone up about 1 or 2 percentage points every congressional election so it’s been a very slow increase over time,” said Associate Professor of Politics at Brandeis University and author of The Political Consequences of Motherhood, Jill S. Greenlee.
But when it comes to the state Legislature, Greenlee says Massachusetts is not a leader in granting seats to women.
“The state Legislature has been 25 percent women… in the last several election years, so that is fairly good compared to other states. It is not the best. Vermont and Colorado have been as high as 40 and 41 percent in the state legislature, so we do fairly well but we’re not leading the pack,” she said during an interview with WGBH.
Still, female politicians have been making tremendous advances in the state. On Tuesday, voters elected a female lieutenant governor, treasurer, attorney general, and auditor. As a result, women now hold half of statewide office positions.
And while the state may have made yet-another pass at electing its first female governor, Greenlee says Democrat Martha Coakley’s loss to Republican Charlie Baker, as well as her subsequent concession speech, offer valuable lessons about women in politics.
“I don’t think her loss represents a setback for women. I think the message she was delivering is actually a really powerful one and one that really resonates with the research on why we have so few women in elected office,” said Greenlee, referencing Coakley’s concession speech. “Women… have less political ambition than do men. And so getting women to run is actually what’s going to decrease the gender gap in elected office. So her encouragement - of young women in particular - to think about public service and to run for public office is… what will bring about gender parity in the long-run.”
From a political scientist’s perspective, there are a variety of reasons the rise of women holding office is worth the fuss; among them: electing women is essential within a democratic society, because a democracy reaches its full potential when the make-up of the polity is reflected in the make-up of the leadership.
“When we have enough women in any kind of decision-making context we are more likely to see a change in overall dynamic of that group,” said Greenlee.
You can listen to the full interview between WGBH's Morning Edition host Bob Seay and Jill Greenlee above.
