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Women Are Filling More Seats In US Congress Than Ever

But here's how the U.S. fared against the worldwide average of women in national legislatures.

By: Melissa Prax

Posted at 11:39 AM, Apr 27, 2018

and last updated 2018-04-27 11:39:32-04

The halls of the U.S. Congress are about to be filled with more female legislators. Arizona's recent election brings the amount of women in elected congressional offices to its highest number ever.

That number is 107 women: 78 Democrats and 29 Republicans.

Of course, 20 percent women isn't representative of the larger U.S., where women make up about 50 percent of the population.

And it also means the U.S. still lags behind the 2017 worldwide average of seats held by women in national legislatures. World Bank data shows the global average has continued to climb, and it hit nearly 24 percent last year.

So all the talk of more American women running for office is apparently reaping results.