More progress needed in women’s representation in government

This article was published in the Journal Record and summarizes progress toward gender parity in Oklahoma, citing RepresentWomen's 2022 Gender Parity Index. Read an excerpt below:

In the same year the 19th Amendment was ratified, Oklahoma pioneer Alice Robertson was elected to Congress, making her only the second woman voted to the U.S. House of Representatives. (More than eight decades would pass before Oklahoma elected another female congresswoman – Mary Fallin in 2006.)

Even though women’s voting rights have been in effect for more than a century, women still are consistently underrepresented in our local, state, and federal government. While women make up more than half of our country’s population, the majority of elected and appointed government positions are held by men.

In Oklahoma, only about 1 in 5 state lawmakers are women, while a handful of women currently hold statewide office. The representation levels are also comparatively sparse at the county and municipal levels. The national group Represent Women ranked Oklahoma 23rd in its 2022 report on gender parity, earning the state a D-grade for the 10th consecutive year.

Read the full article here.

‍