Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • The 19th Explains: Why the nursing shortage isn’t going away anytime soon

        Mariel Padilla · September 23
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8
      • Voter ID laws stand between transgender people, women and the ballot box

        Barbara Rodriguez · October 14
      • Emily’s List expands focus on diverse candidates and voting rights ahead of midterm elections

        Errin Haines · August 30

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News from reporters who represent you and your communities.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Lashrecse Aird
Virginia state Del. Lashrecse Aird speaks about redistricting on March 5, 2020, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Politics

Black women are still underrepresented in America’s statehouses, new report shows

Georgia has the most Black women in its legislature, at 39, but in many states representation still lags.

Barbara Rodriguez

State Politics and Voting Reporter

Barbara Rodriguez portrait

Published

2021-03-15 16:05
4:05
March 15, 2021
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

A new report on Black women lawmakers shows their continued underrepresentation in state legislatures, including in states where a substantial number of Black women reside.

The report shows that of the 7,383 people who serve as lawmakers in statehouses, just 356 — or 4.8 percent — are Black women. The report uses data as of March 2021 and was released Monday by the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women (NOBEL Women) and the State Innovation Exchange.

It’s the most Black women to ever serve in America’s statehouses, which are still primarily made up of White men. But even the recent gains are woefully inadequate, said Krystal Leaphart, operations and policy associate for NOBEL Women. She said the underrepresentation affects what policy proposals actually advance in areas including health care, the economy and issues that intersect with social justice.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

“We expect legislators to help those at the margins,” Leaphart said. “If the legislators who are there don’t have the experience to understand how these issues show up for us, there’s no way they can adequately legislate to fix them. The voices of the Black women who are there in legislatures are essential to help fix the problem.”

Del. Lashrecse Aird is one of them. First elected to the Virginia statehouse in 2015, the Democratic lawmaker has advanced a resolution to declare racism a public health crisis and a bill to ban public universities from using criminal history questions on admissions applications. Aird has also advocated for infant mortality and pregnancy-related death prevention efforts.

Aird said she has seen White male lawmakers express surprise that racial inequality exists in areas like traffic stops.

Stories by experienced reporters you can trust and relate to.

Delivered directly to your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

“If you don’t have the lived experience, it doesn’t matter how aware you are. It doesn’t matter how much education you have, it is not a part of your being and thereby you really don’t understand,” she said. “And oftentimes you’re not representing a community where this is part of their day-to-day life.”

Eight states, all with small Black populations, have no Black women lawmakers: Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont. In 2018, Vermont’s sole Black woman lawmaker at the time resigned after she faced repeated racial harassment.

But Black women are also underrepresented in states where they make up a larger proportion of the population:

  • In Mississippi, Black women make up just over 19.3 percent of the population but about 7.4 percent of the state legislature.
  • In Louisiana, Black women make up just over 16.8 percent of the population but about 5.5 percent of the state legislature.
  • In South Carolina, Black women make up just over 13.3 percent of the population but about 7.6 percent of the state legislature.
  • In Tennessee, Black women make up just over 8.6 percent of the population but about 4.5 percent of the state legislature.

Georgia has the most Black women, at 39, or 16.2 percent of the legislature, reflective of the state’s population.

Emilia Sykes, a Democrat and Ohio House minority leader, described microaggressions during her time in office. After she was elected in 2014, she said, she was repeatedly stopped by Capitol security, even while wearing a lapel pin marking her as a lawmaker. Sykes said she and the few other Black women lawmakers were sometimes called the “diva caucus” as they worked together on policy. She never saw it as a compliment, and instead as a way to make it seem like they were difficult to work with. The women decided to get matching T-shirts in an effort to reclaim the description.

Sykes said she has also faced threats of violence, including against her and her father, who is also a state lawmaker.

“There’s still some apprehension about having women and Black women in particular in these bastions of power because state legislators for sure have way more power than people really give us credit for,” she said. “They know when we come in there we’re talking about paid family leave and an increase in the minimum wage … we’re talking about all things that make everybody’s lives better, but for people who’ve been operating under a system that works when you oppress others, it is a threat. And so they challenge us. And they make the job so much more difficult.”

Statehouses serve as a pipeline for Black women to run for higher office. Nikema Williams, now a congresswoman from Georgia, started in the statehouse. Before Karen Bass became a congresswoman for the state of California, she was a state lawmaker who also became the first Black woman to serve as speaker of any statehouse. 

Of the 142 women serving in the current Congress, 23 are Black, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Overall, 50, or 35.2 percent, are women of color. There are currently no Black women in the U.S. Senate.

Lauren Bealore, democracy director for State Innovation Exchange, emphasized the importance of elevating Black women in statehouses.

“The more Black women that you have across state legislatures and leading in state legislatures, the more representation that their communities and districts are seeing as well, which in turn creates a pipeline for more Black women to see themselves as legislators,” she said.

There has been a rise in Black women state lawmakers in recent years, according to a report released in 2019 by Higher Heights and CAWP. A February 2021 report from the Reflective Democracy Campaign shows from 2016 to 2020, Black women’s representation in state legislatures increased at a rate of 28 percent, from 3.3 percent to 4.3 percent.

Bealore said there are solutions to address the inequities reflected in the latest report. Organizations that fund legislative races, as well as small-dollar donors, must support Black women candidates. And state lawmakers themselves have to support current Black women who seek leadership positions within statehouses.

Bealore said the report is a call to action.

“It’s really a call to all who believe that we need a functioning representative democracy in this country,” she said. “Without proper awareness of Black women seeking leadership, investments in Black women in office, and then the commitment to support those Black women, we’ll just continue to be underrepresented in government.”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Help sustain what we started

Your monthly investment is critical to our sustainability as a nonprofit newsroom.

Donate Today

Become a member

Up Next

Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Price William, cheers on Equal Rights Amendment demonstrators outside the Capitol in Richmond, VA.

Politics

How a new generation of lawmakers led by Black women revived the Equal Rights Amendment

The U.S. House is taking up the issue this week after decades of organizing in statehouses. 

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram