Posted by Nicholas Beaudrot of Electoral Math
Pepper's plea for more Betty Friedan coverage reminds me of an intersting factoid. There is a strong argument that women are the most underrepresented group in Washington. The Mountain West and Prairie states make up fifteen states that combine for exactly zero female Senators. The South has a whopping three female Senators from its thirteen states. The Industrial Midwest has only Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). Only the Northeast Corridor and Pacific Coast (including Alaska and Hawaii). have something close to equitable gender representation.
At present, women compromise over 50% of the population but only hold 14% of the Senate and 15% of the House, And the bench doesn't look much better; women have 22% of all state House and Senate seats. That's a drastic improvement over 1970, when fewer than 6% of all state Reps were female, but there is still plenty of work to be done on this front
So, ladies, if you want to run for office, there's no better time than now.
