Ohio
Where does Ohio rank is the percentage of women lawmakers in the legislature? Lower than you may think.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio ranked in the bottom half of U.S. states last year based on the share of women who are state lawmakers, according to a new study from Rutgers University.
Ohio was tied with Indiana in the percentage of women in the state legislature last year – 27.3% – with the states ranking 38th nationally, according to a new study from Rutgers University.
In the 33-member Ohio Senate, three were eight women – three Democrats and five Republicans.
Of the 99 members of the Ohio House, 28 were women. That included 11 Democrats and 17 Republicans.
The list was compiled and analyzed by Rutgers’ Center for American Women in Politics.
Last year, Nevada was first in the number of women state legislators – at 60.3% – followed by Arizona at 48% percent and Colorado at 48%.
West Virginia came dead last among U.S. states at 11.9% of its legislature being women. However, when considering territories, American Samoa in the Pacific ranked even lower at 5.1%.
Laura Hancock covers state government and politics for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com.