Tuesday’s election will put more than 100 women in Congress for the first time ever, and the count could climb even higher, depending on how the runoff goes for a US Senate seat from Louisiana, the Washington Post reports, citing data from the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University:
According to CAWP, the number of female US senators will be either 20 or 21, depending on the Louisiana runoff, which includes one female candidate and will take place in December. The US House now has 81 women, but several races that are still too close to call could make the number as high as 85.
Therefore, the number of women in the 114th Congress will range from 101 to 106, a little higher than the count in the 113th, which was 99.
The biggest gain for women in Congress resulted from President Bill Clinton’s first term election in 1992. The 103rd Congress began in January 1993, and the number of women jumped from 32 to 54, representing an increase of slightly less than 69 percent. Even if the number increases to 106 this year, it will represent only a gain of 7 percent from the 113th Congress.
Using data from the chart, describe the trend in the number of women serving in the US Congress and why this trend might have occurred. See Common Core English language arts literacy standard RH.9-10.7 for more information.