New IWPR analysis finds women will have to wait until the next century to hold as many Congressional seats as their male counterparts

Contact: Lea Woods | 202-785-5100 | woods@iwpr.org 

Washington, DC— The number of U.S. Congressional seats held by women will not reach parity with the number of seats held by men until 2108 according the Institute for Women’s Policy Research’s (IWPR) examination of data collected by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

“Women’s voices are integral to building strong communities and a vibrant democracy, making them essential in governing this country,” said C. Nicole Mason, Ph.D., President and CEO of IWPR. “A majority of voters are women. They should be represented by candidates who share their policy concerns and are invested in improving their wellbeing. Women know that their lives and those of their families would be improved if we were to end the gender wage gap, promote affordable childcare, and institute universal paid leave policies. The lack of gender representation means these issues get sidelined. We have a lot of ground to make up in this arena.”

As it stands, women are not expected to hold an equal number of Congressional seats as men for another 88 years.

Today, fewer than one in five voting members of Congress are women, and fewer than one in 11 are women of color.

When IWPR last published a Congressional parity projection for its Status of Women in the States report in 2015, parity was projected to be reached in 2117.