Women make up more than half the U.S. population, but 240 years after the nation’s founding they are still not equally represented in government.
No matter who is elected president when Americans head to the polls on Tuesday, the fact remains that in 2016, women held just 23% of government offices, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. There are four times as many male senators as female ones, and out of the 100 largest cities in the country, just 19 are led by female mayors.
In contrast, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last year that women would make up 50% of his cabinet. When other countries have made efforts to increase the number of women in government roles, research has shown they improved in areas such as education, labor-force participation and paid leave.
Check out the graphic below to see how many men there are for each woman at different levels of government in the United States.
- How an Alleged Spy Balloon Derailed an Important U.S.-China Meeting
- Effective Altruism Has a Toxic Culture of Sexual Harassment and Abuse, Women Say
- Inside Bolsonaro's Surreal New Life as a Florida Man—and MAGA Darling
- 'Return to Office' Plans Spell Trouble for Working Moms
- 8 Ways to Read More Books—and Why You Should
- Why Aren't Movies Sexy Anymore?
- Column: Elon Musk Should Not Be in Charge of the Night Sky
- How Logan Paul's Crypto Empire Fell Apart
- 80 for Brady May Not Be a Masterpiece. But the World Needs More Movies Like This
