In the last 30 years, the number of women in Congress has more than tripled; as the 113th Congress convened on January 3, a record number of women joined the ranks of our nation’s legislative body – 101 (including 3 non-voting members) women across both the House and the Senate.
Twenty female senators and 81 female representatives will now call Capitol Hill home; many of them, no doubt, view the increased presence of women in Congress as an indicator of not only a changing nation, but also a fresh approach to governing. The Capitol Building could alternately serve as homage to the men that have historically walked its halls; on every wall and around every corner are portraits and statues of the men that have long comprised the governing body of the United States.
The number of women in Congress is, of course, still far from proportional to the population – the same can be said for the number of minority members on Capitol Hill. However, the new faces in Congress are welcome additions to an increasingly diverse set of lawmakers. Congress is no longer just a gentlemen’s club.
Of the 20 female senators, four among them are brand new; there are 15 new women in the House. Senator Mazie Hirono (D – Hawaii) became the first Asian-American woman to serve in the Senate. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D – Wisconsin) is the first openly gay senator to have been elected, and is the first woman who will serve from her home state. Senator Elizabeth Warren, previously a professor of law at Harvard, is the first female senator from Massachusetts, and following John Kerry’s appointment to Secretary of State, she has become the youngest senior senator in the Senate.
These are some amazing women, and they have quite a journey ahead of them. For now, however, they can celebrate, as they’ve made history – more women than ever before are heading to Washington, and their record presence will surely leave its mark on the nation’s capital.