CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Democrat Kayla Young and Republican Patricia Rucker frequently clash on abortion rights and various other topics in West Virginia’s Legislature, but they both agree that there are too few women among their colleagues, and it's negatively impacting the state.
“There are exceptions to every single rule, but I think in general, men do kind of see this as their field,” said Rucker, a part of the GOP’s Senate supermajority that passed one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans while Young — the lone Democratic woman elected to the House — opposed it.
Nearly 130 years after the first three women were elected to state legislative offices in the U.S., women still have very little representation in state legislatures.
In 10 states, women account for less than 25% of their state legislatures, according to Rutgers’ Center for American Women in Politics. West Virginia is at the very bottom of that list, with only 16 women in its 134-member Legislature, or just under 12%. In contrast, in Nevada, women hold just over 60% of state legislative seats. Similarly low figures can be found in the nearby southern states of Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana.
“It’s absolutely wild to know that more than 50 percent of the population of West Virginia are women, and sometimes I’m the only woman that’s on a committee, period,” said Young, currently the only woman on the House Artificial Intelligence Committee and was one of just two on the House Judiciary Committee when it approved the state’s near total abortion ban.
The numbers of women serving in legislative positions across the U.S. have remained low despite women registering and voting at higher rates than men in every presidential election since 1980 — and across virtually every demographic, including race, education level, and socioeconomic status.
For the last three decades, voters have shown a willingness to vote for women. However, they didn’t have the opportunity to do so because women weren’t running, said Jennifer Lawless, chair of the politics department at the University of Virginia.
“The gender gap in political ambition is just as large now as it was then,” said Lawless, adding that women are much less likely to get recruited to run for office or think they’re qualified to run in what they perceive as a hostile political environment.
And those running in southern, conservative states — still mostly Democratic women, data show — aren’t winning as those states continue to overwhelmingly elect Republicans.
In 2022, 39 women ran as their party’s nominee for state legislative seats in West Virginia, and 26 were Democrats. Only two of the Democratic candidates won, compared to 11 out of 13 of the Republicans.
Debbie Walsh, director of Rutgers’ Center for American Women in Politics, said there’s more money, infrastructure, and support for recruiting and running Democratic female candidates. The Republican Party often shies away from talking about what is labeled or dismissed as “identity politics,’” she said.
She said that there is a belief in a system where the best person will succeed, regardless of gender. They don't say they don't want women, but they also don't appreciate diversity on its own.
Larissa Martinez, the founder and president of Women's Public Leadership Network, a U.S. organization supporting female candidates, said that identity politics in the GOP is a major challenge for her work. Their slogan includes being supportive of women without being against men.
In 2020, Amy Grady, a small-town public school teacher, caused a big surprise in politics when she defeated Mitch Carmichael in West Virginia's Republican primary, after two years of strikes by school employees.
Carmichael got more than $127,000 in contributions while Grady funded her campaign with just over $2,000. Despite this, Grady won by fewer than 1,000 votes.
Grady said she's constantly told she can't do things and wonders why she should even try.
Tennessee state Sen. Charlane Oliver says she didn't have many resources when she first ran for political office. She had to rely on grassroots activism and organizing to win her 2022 election.
However, securing the seat was just one part of the challenge for Oliver, a 41-year-old Black Democratic woman frequently representing the only outside perspective inside the Republican supermajority Legislature.
She said they don't have any reason to listen to her, but she views her seat as a disruption and a way to provide a perspective they may not have heard before.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, male-dominated statehouses in GOP-controlled states have imposed strict abortion bans. This has led female lawmakers to share personal stories about abortion and childbirth.
In South Carolina, the abortion debate led to a surprising coalition of women filibustering a near-total abortion ban. The five female senators quickly became known as the "sister senators" as they discussed pregnancy complications, limited access to contraceptives, and the reproductive system.
Their actions received praise from national leaders, but at home, the consequences were immediate. The Republican women were censured and faced promises of primary challenges in this year's elections.
Women have also supported gun policy, education, health care, and housing proposals.
Some states have recently allowed candidates to use campaign funds for childcare expenses. Young sponsored her state's law—the first session in the Capitol in the minority party.
During Young's first term, she had a family member caring for her two young children while she was at the state Capitol. However, when that caregiver passed away unexpectedly, her husband, who works in television production, had to stay home and didn't work for two months, resulting in a loss of income for the family.
Rucker, the first Hispanic woman elected to the West Virginia Senate, supported Young’s bill. She had to manage the difficulties of being a working mom as well. She stopped teaching to educate her five children at home, and the family relied on her husband’s income as a pediatric nurse to make ends meet.
Rucker, a first-generation U.S. citizen, stated, "I entered politics because I believe that having that voice is really important – someone who lives from one paycheck to the next." She made the tough choice to withdraw her kids. "I'm not here because of a title, I'm not here because of a position, I'm here to do my job, and I want to do the best I can."
