Women in the 119th Congress: Breakdown of Female Representation in the Legislative Branch

How Many Women are in the 119th Congress?

With the 119th Congress, women now make up 29.3 percent of the House of Representatives and 25 percent of the Senate, FiscalNote's report revealed. The breakdown of women in Congress is: 

• 129 women in the House of Representatives 
• 25 women in the Senate

That is still short of true representation (women account for roughly 50 percent of U.S. adults) but it’s incremental progress. Download FiscalNote's full report to learn more about the demographics of the 119th Congress.

Women in the 119th Congress by Party

There are 96 Democratic and 33 Republican women in the House (up by two from the 118th Congress). The Senate number remains steady, with 16 Democratic and nine Republican women in the Senate.

Women from the Democratic party make up 21.8 percent of the House, and Republican women account for 7.5 percent. Democratic women are 16 percent of the Senate, and Republican women are 9 percent.

Female Leadership in the 119th Congress

There are a number of women to watch in the new Congress. 

North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, 81, will serve as chairwoman of the powerful House Rules Committee and will be the only woman to lead a House committee in the 119th.

Capitol Hill watchers also are keeping an eye on New Mexico’s Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, who will lead the Democratic Women’s Caucus.

Arizona’s Yassamin Ansari (D), Congress’ youngest new member at 32 years old, will be the House Democrats’ freshman class president. 

Delaware’s Sarah McBride (D) is already generating buzz as the first openly transgender member of Congress, at a time when transgender issues will likely take center stage. 

Julie Fedorchak (R ) of North Dakota has already secured a sought-after committee spot on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. She’s the first freshman picked for the committee since 2011.

In the Senate, eyes are on Angela Alsobrooks (D), the only freshman who’s entirely new to Congress, Lisa Blunt Rochester and Elissa Slotkin served previously in the House.

States With No Female Representation in Congress

Eight states and territories have no female representation: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Rhode Island, and South Dakota, as well as Guam and Puerto Rico.

States With the Most Female Representation in Congress

California has the most women in Congress, with 16. Florida and New York each have nine; Washington has eight; and Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Texas each have seven.

How to Connect with Members of the 119th Congress

All this matters to you as a government affairs professional. In order to do your job effectively, you need to understand your audience.

“Men and women think about things like child rearing and child safety differently, in some regards,” says Cristina Antelo, principal at Ferox Strategies. Depending on the issue, “I may think about how I message that to the women members differently than how I message that to the men.”

Female representation is becoming a bipartisan priority.

“Women have historically been elected to the Democratic party,” Antelo says. Lately, however, “Republicans have made a conscientious effort to make sure that they are recruiting women candidates. You’re seeing some of that recent growth with women representation very specifically and thoughtfully on the Republican side.”

Depending on your issue, that can be worth noting. And regardless of party affiliation, women members of Congress may bring a different sensibility to the table. “We know they disproportionately tend to have more responsibility as it relates to family,” says LaShonda Brenson, senior researcher at the non-profit Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

But what’s to be done with the knowledge? After all, it’s not especially helpful for government affairs professionals to paint with a broad brush. Some finesse is required to make effective use of demographic insights. 

Rather than make assumptions about a woman legislator’s interests, “you want to leave it up to the lawmakers themselves” to identify their priorities, Brenson says. “You don’t want to come into the conversation with certain stereotypes about women and automatically assume certain things. Women come from different racial, political, or religious backgrounds, and that can also influence what issues might be a priority to them.” 

With all that in mind, “it’s really important that we listen to these women: Listen to what is important to them,” Brenson adds. “That’s how you build relationships — not by coming in with preconceived notions, but rather by allowing them to speak for themselves.” 

On the flip side, there are times when it makes a certain amount of sense to fine-tune your communication based on gender.

“Generally speaking, women end up being the caregivers” both to their older parents and their younger children, Antelo says. If your organization’s issues touch on those areas, “I might present those kinds of messages differently to women lawmakers than I would to male lawmakers.”

Leverage Technology to Build & Manage Relationships with Congress 

FiscalNote can help you put these insights on the demographics of Congress to work with government relations software that allows you to stay on top of happenings in Congress and make effective connections with legislators as you seek to advance your organization’s issues.