As the 2012 Presidential election cycle approaches, women are hitting a critical juncture in women’s involvement in the political arena.
 

  1. The United States currently ranks 90th in the world in women's elected representation with countries such as Rwanda (1), Cuba (6), Angola (12) and Spain (15) outranking the U.S.¹
  2. Even though women constituted 54% of voters, the 2008 election cycle was the first in U.S. history in which women lost seats in Congress.¹
  3. In 2011, Women hold only 17% of the seats in Congress.²
  4. The number of women serving in the House of Representatives dropped for the first time since 1979 to 16.8% of the seats.²
  5. Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives, bringing an end to Represenative Nancy Pelosi's historic leadership role as the first woman Speaker of the House.²
  6. Only 22% of all statewide elective executive office positions are currently held by women.²
  7. State Legislatures are only 24% women.²
  8. Only 6 out of 50 states have a female governor.²
  9. Of the 89 women serving in the 112th US Congress, 24 or 27% are women of color. From those, 13 are African American, 7 are Latina, 4 are Asian American and none in Native American.²
  10. Of the 68 women serving in statewide elective executive offices 10, or 14.7% are women of color; meanwhile, make up 4.7% of the 7,382 state legislators.²


Sources: 1. Women in National Parliaments, Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2. Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University