Cynthia Richie Terrell presents a 50-state review of women's representation at all levels of U.S. government

In 2013, FairVote unveiled its first 50-state review of women’s representation at every level of U.S. government, the report that became the Gender Parity Index. At the time, the United States ranked 92nd in the world for the share of women in Congress.

In this clip from the NYU panel, moderated by RepresentWomen founder Cynthia Richie Terrell, panelists dig into the barriers keeping women out of office: too few women recruited to run, the high cost of campaigns, and electoral districts that favor incumbents and the status quo.

More than a decade later, those same barriers still shape who runs and who wins. The Gender Parity Index continues to track that structural ceiling, and the solutions that can help women break through it.