Projo Politics Blog

The latest numbers on women in state legislatures are out, and Rhode Island doesn't stack up very well against its New England neighbors in female political success.

The rankings, compiled annually by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, show Rhode Island ranked 32nd of the 50 states in the percentage of women in state legislatures.

According to the report, 19.5 percent of Rhode Island General Assembly members are women -- the lowest rate, and ranking, in New England.

Vermont is tops in the United States, with 37.8 percent of its lawmakers women. New Hampshire ranks second nationwide, with 35.6 percent of its legislature made up of women.

Next in the region is Maine, which ranks 10th nationally and has a legislature that is 31.2 percent female. Connecticut has a legislature that is 28.3 percent female, which ranks 15th nationally. In Massachusetts, 24.5 percent of state lawmakers are women for a U.S. rank of 21st.

While low for New England, Rhode Island's rate of women legislators is not near the bottom nationally. That dubious distinction is reserved for such Old South bastions as South Carolina, which has just 8.8 percent female members in its legislature, Oklahoma, with 12.8 percent female participation, and Alabama, at 12.9 percent.

Rhode Island currently has no women representing the state in the U.S. Congress. The Ocean State has never had a female governor.

Mauren Moakley, political science professor at the University of Rhode Island, says the lack of women in the Assembly is due in some measure to the state's political culture, long dominated by male Democrats.

"It is the result of a really tight, old boy, one-party network,'' says Moakley, who studies state politics. Yet, she says that for advocates of more women in politics, there is hope.

Moakley points to Senate Majority Leader Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, the first female in a top leadership post in the state Assembly, and Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, a Cranston Democrat who served as a state senator and is currently the only female statewide elected official.

"The elevation of Paiva Weed and the election of Elizabeth Roberts suggests that things are getting better,'' said Moakley in an interview this morning.

Take a look at historical figures for Rhode Island women in office, also from the CAWP.

-- Journal staff writer Scott MacKay

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