Smart Politics did a nice run-down of the presence of women in legislatures throughout the country, noting that my home state of Minnesota finished fourth on the list, with women making up 34.8 percent of the legislature.
That is, of course, reason to be proud. While we’re still a good ways from the 45 to 55 percent it would be in a truly egalitarian society, it’s a full ten percent above the national mean, and we’ll get there by and by.
But what really struck me about the numbers crunched by Smart Politics was this table:
|
Rank
|
State
|
Percent
|
2008 Pres. vote
|
|
1
|
Colorado
|
40.0
|
Obama
|
|
2
|
New Hampshire
|
37.3
|
Obama
|
|
3
|
Vermont
|
37.2
|
Obama
|
|
4
|
Minnesota
|
34.8
|
Obama
|
|
5
|
Hawaii
|
32.9
|
Obama
|
|
6
|
Washington
|
32.0
|
Obama
|
|
7
|
Nevada
|
31.7
|
Obama
|
|
8
|
Connecticut
|
31.6
|
Obama
|
|
9
|
Maryland
|
31.4
|
Obama
|
|
10
|
New Mexico
|
30.4
|
Obama
|
|
11
|
Arizona
|
30.0
|
McCain
|
|
12
|
New Jersey
|
29.2
|
Obama
|
|
13
|
Kansas
|
29.1
|
McCain
|
|
14
|
Maine
|
29.0
|
Obama
|
|
15
|
Oregon
|
28.9
|
Obama
|
|
16
|
California
|
27.5
|
Obama
|
|
17
|
Illinois
|
27.1
|
Obama
|
|
18
|
Massachusetts
|
26.0
|
Obama
|
|
18
|
Montana
|
26.0
|
McCain
|
|
20
|
North Carolina
|
25.9
|
Obama
|
|
21
|
Michigan
|
25.0
|
Obama
|
|
22
|
New York
|
24.5
|
Obama
|
|
23
|
Delaware
|
24.2
|
Obama
|
|
24
|
Florida
|
23.8
|
Obama
|
|
24
|
Idaho
|
23.8
|
McCain
|
|
24
|
Texas
|
23.8
|
McCain
|
|
27
|
Arkansas
|
23.7
|
McCain
|
|
28
|
Iowa
|
22.7
|
Obama
|
|
29
|
Rhode Island
|
22.1
|
Obama
|
|
29
|
Utah
|
22.1
|
McCain
|
|
31
|
Indiana
|
22.0
|
Obama
|
|
31
|
Wisconsin
|
22.0
|
Obama
|
|
33
|
Missouri
|
20.8
|
McCain
|
|
34
|
Ohio
|
20.5
|
Obama
|
|
35
|
Nebraska
|
20.4
|
McCain
|
|
36
|
Alaska
|
20.0
|
McCain
|
|
37
|
Georgia
|
19.1
|
McCain
|
|
38
|
South Dakota
|
19.0
|
McCain
|
|
39
|
Tennessee
|
18.2
|
McCain
|
|
40
|
Wyoming
|
17.8
|
McCain
|
|
41
|
West Virginia
|
16.4
|
McCain
|
|
42
|
Virginia
|
15.7
|
Obama
|
|
43
|
North Dakota
|
15.6
|
McCain
|
|
44
|
Louisiana
|
15.3
|
McCain
|
|
45
|
Kentucky
|
15.2
|
McCain
|
|
46
|
Pennsylvania
|
14.6
|
Obama
|
|
47
|
Mississippi
|
14.4
|
McCain
|
|
48
|
Alabama
|
12.9
|
McCain
|
|
49
|
Oklahoma
|
11.4
|
McCain
|
|
50
|
South Carolina
|
10.0
|
McCain
|
|
Total
|
|
24.2
|
|
Kinda sticks out like a sore thumb, doesn’t it? Yes, states with more women in the legislature tended to be Obama states, while states with fewer women in the legislature tend to be McCain states.
Even the outliers tell an interesting story. The eleventh-highest level of women in the legislature is in Arizona, which ended up a McCain state because, well, it’s McCain’s state. Number 18, Montana, didn’t go to Obama, but it’s a definite swing state that Democrats are still working on. Of the 23 most female legislatures, only Kansas, at 13, is a solid red state.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania, the fifth-most-male state legislature, speaks volumes about that state’s odd politics. While the state is Democratic, it’s got a conservative streak, one that’s led to a number of pro-life Democrats gaining state office. Pennsylvania is liberal, but it isn’t necessarily friendly to women.
Ultimately, the breakdown of women in legislatures looks much as you’d expect it to:
As to the questions this raises — mainly, whether women in the legislature leads to more liberalism or vice versa — I think it’s probably a bit of both. Certainly, it’s a sign that states that are more liberal are more friendly to female candidates. But of course, states that are more liberal are more friendly to women, full stop.
Who predicted Utah in the Top 30? Not I, that’s for dang sure.
I’m probably missing something because I’m pretty tired, but what is the significance of the states you’ve bolded in the table?
I would caution you about describing Kansas as deep red.
After all – Kathleen Sebelius is (was) governor.
Kansas is red on average, yes. But the Republicanness of Kansas is rather like the Platte river – a mile wide and an inch deep.
Scratch the surface of Red Kansas and you’ll see something very different.
I’m not sure women would make 45-55% in a truly egalitarian society, the same way I’m not sure men would make 45-55% of nurses in a truly egalitarian society. But around 40% sounds pretty reasonable. 10% sounds really low.
Unlike higher education, which should see rates of men/women around the 45-55% bend, because people tend to marry and have children after studies are completed (so childbirth affects studying a lot less than it used to), I think politics is a matter of “wanting to go in politics”.
I would like going in higher education if I could afford it – this doesn’t specify which branch I might be interested in. Politics certainly isn’t one. For one, I can’t convincingly lie to one person, let alone a whole electorate :P
I avoid managerial positions because of the high stress (and high hours) involved, even if I potentially have the skills to do them. To me, politics is the height of managerial positions, so it’s easy to see why I would want it even less.
I know I don’t represent all women, or any besides me, really. But I can see that choices people make could be different, because of different priorities.*
*Well, unless that truly egalitarian society also removed all incentive for anyone to perform a certain role. Like, having men and women just as likely to do childcare, just as likely to be plumbers, just as likely to be mechanics. I doubt this can be done though.
Basically, you’d have to achieve sexless society, since as long as you (or anyone in that ideal society) define male and female as different, it will demographically be different as well. People will perceive a need to identify “more strongly” as male or female, or distance themselves from the other. Children and teenagers do this not only under coercion that if they don’t, they’ll be pariahs, most choose to be more definitely masculine, or more definitely feminine, and see it as a defining feature of their sense of self.
My own mother who’s pretty open-minded (accepts me unquestionably) still shies away from anything she perceives as typically masculine.
The best that could be done though, is to achieve the elimination of barriers and discrimination to doing anything for anything other than plain merit or ability.
That is, we could maybe achieve 30/70 or 40/60 ratios even in heavily gendered areas, which, while not 50%, is still a lot better than the 90/10 we often see,
While it’s awesome that my state, Colorado, has the highest percentage of female legislators, Colorado is hardly a bastion of liberalism. Obama had a hard-won victory here, as the state went Bush in previous elections. Denver and and of course Boulder tend to be very liberal, but the rest of the state leans very conservative.
Schala, I think one of the hallmarks of a truly egalitarian society would be the lack of “incentives” (or, if you prefer, pressures) for people to perform certain roles.
As for Colorado and Utah ranking high in spite of neither state being bastions of liberalism, I think that the mountain states are overall friendlier to women in traditionally male roles than other states of equivalent conservatism. In my experience, people from those states often take great pride in the image of the “strong pioneer woman who can do whatever a man can do,” and consider that an important aspect of their regional culture. So while those states may not be very woman-friendly in some ways, I’m not surprised to see them ranking relatively well in terms of women holding high political office.
To be honest, I was more surprised at Wyoming’s poor showing than I was at Colorado and Utah’s places in the list.
My recollection — and this is probably 15+ years out of date by now — is that the percentage of women in state legislatures tends to track (inversely) the salary of legislators. These data suggest that that may no longer be the case — I wonder if anyone has looked at that recently.
I’m confused as to how far down New Hampshire is. What about this story:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/11/05/women-become-majority-in-new-hampshire-state-senate/
I wonder what a similar chart/map would look like if we examined percentages of POC in state legislatures?
This chart sure does tell a compelling story.
I’m not sure that Schala convinced me that if we removed all sexism women would still simply “choose” not to pursue politics at the same rate as men. What leads you to believe this? Because I see this same argument all the time, that women simply don’t want to be engineers/programmers/scientists/CEOs and that’s why there are so few women in those professions. Yeah right, how convenient for men.
To the extent that women who don’t face obvious barriers to their working outside the home, nonetheless express a preference to stay home while their children are young at an absurdly higher rate than men express that preference, I think there’s some hamstringing of getting women into top positions in numbers proportional to their percentage of the total population. If even 10% of women “drop out” of working life for about a decade (the time it takes between the birth of the eldest and the going-to-first-grade of the youngest of three spaced children), that’s going to create a gap in their equal representation in the upper echelons of business, academia, etc.
Indeed, I’d consider politics to be the one exception to this, because it’s quasi-respectable for women to enter politics via the PTA-school board route, and you can’t take that path without having children. (E.g. the much-missed Emily Couric.) Judging by Palin, politics probably is the only arena where you can put the ability to manage a family on your resume and not get laughed off the stage (imagine trying to get a job in any other area with that as a credential). Maybe this is a sign that politics is saner than other areas of public life and we ought to give more credit for work done in the home as building leadership, organizational and other skills.
My mother is seeking work, after 26 years of being stay-at-home (since I was a bit short of 1 year old). She wants to clean rooms and such. Not her first choice, but she wants to work now and financially needs it. She does mention having raise four children and being a housewife for the better part of those 26 years. It does count for something. I doubt it counts in many jobs, but I think raising children successfully requires a lot of micro-management skills as well.
Schala,
I should have specified “imagine trying to get a job in any other traditionally male area with that as a credential,” with reference to idyllicmollusk’s talking about engineers/programmers/scientists/CEOs.