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
      • The full PUMP Act is now in effect. Here’s what it does for lactating parents.

        Chabeli Carrazana · April 28
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
    • 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
      • 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
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • 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: How to ease the ‘loneliness epidemic’ and social isolation among older adults

        Sara Luterman · April 24
      • The 19th Explains: Who will be most impacted by Medicaid changes — and when

        Rebekah Barber · March 28
      • 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
    • 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.
      • Ranked-choice voting is gaining momentum. So are efforts to stop it.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 24
      • Connecticut voters approved early voting. Here’s how their new secretary of state wants to make it happen.

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 13
      • Women lawmakers in Minnesota are in the vanguard of the democracy movement

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 3

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Election 2024
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Military
    • 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 that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

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

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Grace Meng holds a sign that says thank you while surrounded by smiling people
Rep. Grace Meng of New York receives a card from constituents on October 22, 2021, in Forest Hills, New York. (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Green New Deal Network)

Politics

Just 37 members of Congress are mothers with minor children

‘Politics doesn’t make it easy to be a parent’: Mothers in office hope a new report about representation draws attention to the challenges they face. 

Barbara Rodriguez

State Politics and Voting Reporter

Barbara Rodriguez portrait

Published

2023-05-08 05:00
5:00
May 8, 2023
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Your trusted source for contextualizing politics news. Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Moms with minor children are grossly underrepresented in Congress, according to a new report that highlights the barriers to their involvement in federal office — and are far outnumbered by the number of fathers with minor children.

Vote Mama Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for policies that help mothers run for office, estimates in a report released Monday that less than 7 percent of members of Congress are mothers with minor children. That’s just 37 out of 541 members in Congress, including non-voting members, and means Americans would need to elect 59 more mothers of minor children to achieve proportional representation with the general population, where nearly 18 percent of adults are moms of minor children, and 15 percent are fathers of minors.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

“Congress was designed for wealthy, old White men to run for office,” said Liuba Grechen Shirley, the founder and CEO of Vote Mama Foundation, Vote Mama Lobby and Vote Mama PAC, which helps mothers run for office. “It wasn’t designed for working parents to step up and run, and yet, that’s the voice that we need. Those are the voices we need at the table.”

While only 11 mothers have ever given birth while serving in office, 11 fathers have welcomed children into their families in the past year, according to the report. In total, 24.2 percent of all Congress members are dads of minor children.

And for children under the age of 6, fathers outnumber mothers nearly 9 to 1. 

Vote Mama defines mothers of minor children as cisgender or transgender women with biological children, foster children, stepchildren, and formally or informally adopted children who are under the age of 18. The new dataset is part of the group’s research series Politics of Parenthood, which determined last year that just 5.3 percent of state legislators are mothers of minor children.

The reports are considered the first comprehensive look at parenthood as an identity in public office on the state and federal level.

  • More like this
    An illustration of recently laid off women lined up alongside one another carrying their personal items home.
  • The ‘open secret’ in most workplaces: Discrimination against moms is still rampant
  • The full PUMP Act is now in effect. Here’s what it does for lactating parents.
  • IVF would be covered for federal employees under proposed bipartisan bill

“It’s a starting point,” said Grechen Shirley. “We can now understand where we are, who our legislators are and what we need to change.”

The report found a number of barriers that stagnate mothers’ representation in office: unpredictable work hours, including votes during late nights and weekends; expectations for near constant fundraising, especially for first-time candidates; and cultural and political expectations that members’ children remain residents of their respective districts instead of moving to Washington, D.C., creating long commutes for members to see their children.

It’s all a recipe for time away from families, said Grechen Shirley.

“Because of our caregiving responsibilities, we see fewer women even running, even if they might have the ambition, even if they want to run,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, a Democrat from California who is now running for a Senate seat, was believed to be the first single mother of young children elected to serve in Congress when she first won in 2018.

Porter said when she got to Congress, she immediately found it difficult to find people who shared her realities as a parent of three children.

“If we want people in government who understand what real Americans’ lives are like . . .  there are a lot of people out there raising young children,” she said. “And having that representative government does change how we think about policies, everything from the extended child tax credit to what it means when schools had to close during the pandemic.”

The drawn-out election of the speaker of the House in January put a spotlight on the effect of unpredictable hours. While some fathers posted on social media about the realities of bringing their small children to the Capitol for the day, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng was working behind the scenes to make sure family and neighbors could step in to watch her two children back home in New York.

“I have to plan out the meals of the week even though I’m not physically in town. And that just really disrupted the schedule,” the Democrat said. “I just had to call people last minute and cross my fingers and pray that someone would be able to pick up the gaps in the schedule.”

Meng hopes the report is eye-opening for the public.

“Politics doesn’t make it easy to be a parent,” she said. “We need to do more to elect not just parents of young children, but moms of young children.”

A newsletter for the new electorate

Analysis and interviews from Errin Haines, delivered to your inbox every other week.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

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

Vote Mama Foundation has advocated for the use of campaign funds to help candidates with caregiving needs. Grechen Shirley also recently testified in support of new regulations around when and how candidates can use campaign funds for a salary. The ramifications could mean consistent pay for candidates, who sometimes leave full-time salaried jobs for at least a year to run for office. Additional proposed rule changes would allow candidates to use their campaign funds for dependent care and health insurance premiums.

“There’s a reason we don’t have more moms giving birth while serving in Congress and more moms running for Congress when their children are so small,” she said. “There are so many structural barriers that you don’t even realize in terms of running but then also in serving.”

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado has a 3-year-old son whom she cares for as she commutes back and forth to her district. She said the support of her partner is paramount, as are day care and hired help.

“We’re lucky that we have great people that we are able to reach out to for additional help when I’m gone,” the Democrat said. “But it’s challenging. You’re constantly trying to make up for being gone.”

Pettersen noted that the House had become more welcoming to parents of minors during the pandemic when it allowed for proxy voting, which was recently revoked by House Republicans now in control of the chamber.

“If you have a family emergency or if something falls through with child care, if something happens while you’re away, you no longer have the ability to make that decision for your family,” she said. “You have to either miss a vote and not represent your constituents, or be home taking care of your needs as a family.”

Grechen Shirley called the contrasts between moms and dads “stark” but also not surprising. Still, she applauded men in Congress who have organized a caucus and are speaking more openly about parenting small children.

“The more men who talk about it, and the more women who talk about it, and the more we normalize what it looks like to be a mom running for office and serving in office, the better,” she said. “Because that’s how we’re going to start to change the policies that are failing families in this country.”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

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

Become a member

Up Next

A person in a crowd holds a sign in support of abortion access.

Abortion

Florida advocates set to launch campaign to get abortion rights on the ballot in 2024

Supporters will be racing against the clock to get enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot. Then, the campaign will need to mobilize Democrats and rope in independents and moderate Republicans.

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