United States of America

House of RepresentativesSenate

House of Representatives

Political system Political systems: Presidential, Parliamentary, Presidential-Parliamentary, Monarchy, Communist, Transitional.
Presidential system
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Structure of parliament Structure of parliament: Unicameral, bicameral
Bicameral
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IPU membership Current membership status
No
See historical data for this field. Compare data of this field.

Data on women

empty

Basic information > About parliament

Speaker

Speaker
Kevin McCarthy (Male)
Year of birth
1965
Additional information
Elected on 7 Jan. 2023.
See historical data for this field.

Secretary general

Secretary General
Cheryl Johnson (Female)
Notes Additional information about the Secretary General, in particular regarding their term.
Sworn in on 25 Feb. 2019, re-elected on 7 Jan. 2023.

Members

Current number of members, by sex
Men The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
310
See historical data for this field.
Women The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
125
See historical data for this field.
Percentage of women Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
28.74% See historical data for this field.

Age

Average age of all members Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
57.97
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Youngest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
25
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Youngest member
Maxwell Alejandro Frost (Male)
Oldest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
86
Oldest member
Grace Napolitano (Female)
Members for whom no data is available IPU does not contain age and gender data for all chambers of parliament.
21
See historical data for this field.
Total number of MPs, 45 years of age or younger
87 See historical data for this field.
Total number of MPs, 46 years of age or older
345 See historical data for this field.
Total per sex
Total of male
309 See historical data for this field.
Total of female
123 See historical data for this field.
Total per age interval
18-20
0 See historical data for this field.
21-30
2 See historical data for this field.
31-40
43 See historical data for this field.
41-45
42 See historical data for this field.
46-50
55 See historical data for this field.
51-60
115 See historical data for this field.
61-70
107 See historical data for this field.
71-80
58 See historical data for this field.
81-90
10 See historical data for this field.
91 and over
0 See historical data for this field.
Number of members, by age
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Totals per age interval 0 2 43 42 55 115 107 58 10 0
Total <= 45: 87 Total >= 46: 345
Male 0 1 29 31 33 85 85 38 7 0 309
Female 0 1 14 11 22 30 22 20 3 0 123
Percentage of members, by age
Age as last election or renewalOverallMaleFemale
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger0.46%0.23%0.23%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger10.42%6.94%3.47%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger20.14%14.12%6.02%

Reserved seats and quotas

Electoral quota for women Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
No
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Elections > Election results

Results

Members elected, by sex
Number of men elected
311
Number of women elected
124
Percentage of women elected The percentage is calculated by dividing the number of women elected in the election and the number of seats at stake at the election.
28.51%
Number of women after election or renewal, by mode of designation
Women Directly Elected
124

New legislature

Total number of men after the election The total number of male parliamentarians in this parliament/chamber following the election or renewal, regardless of their modes of designation.
310
Total number of women after the election The total number of female parliamentarians in this parliament/chamber following the election or renewal, regardless of their modes of designation.
124
First Speaker of the new legislature
First Speaker of the new legislature First name of the Speaker of the new legislature following the election or renewal.
Kevin McCarthy (Male)
Political party
Democratic Party
Date of election
07.01.2023
Elections > Historical data on women

Women's suffrage

Women’s right to vote
Women’s right to vote Year in which women obtained the right to vote
1920
National or local Suffrage: National or Local
National
Restricted or unrestricted suffrage Suffrage: Restricted or Universal
Universal
Notes Suffrage: Additional Notes on right of suffrage
Even though African Americans were given the right to vote in 1870 with the 15th Amendment, the Supreme Court left to the state governments the responsibility for protecting most of the basic rights of their citizens, and some state governments passed laws that made it almost impossible for African Americans, to exercise their right.. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act confirmed that no person should be denied the right to vote on account of race or color. It must be noted that the State of Wyoming granted women the right to vote in 1869. Other States followed suite. The right to vote was granted at the federal level in 1920.
Women’s right to vote Year in which women obtained the right to vote
1965
National or local Suffrage: National or Local
National
Restricted or unrestricted suffrage Suffrage: Restricted or Universal
Universal
Notes Suffrage: Additional Notes on right of suffrage
Reconfirming the right to vote for men and women alike (from 1920 onwards women had the same voting rights as men)
Women’s right to stand for election
Women's right to stand for election Year in which women obtained the right to stand for election
1788
National or local Stand for Election: National or Local
National
Restricted or unrestricted suffrage Stand for Election : Restricted or Universal
Universal
Notes Stand for Election: Additional Notes on right to stand for election
The Constitution of 13 September 1788 does not mention sex with regard to the right to stand for election to either Houses of parliament.
First woman in parliament
First woman in parliament Year in which first woman entered parliament
1917
Notes
First woman speaker
Year of first woman speaker Date at which, for the first time in the country's parliamentary history, a woman became Presiding Officer of Parliament or of one of its Houses.
2007

Specialized body - Women's caucus

Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues
(January 1977)
Formal or informal
Informal
The caucus is open to male MPs
No
The caucus is cross-party
Yes
Notes
The Caucus is headed by Co-chairs that change every Congress, one Republican and one Democratic member.
There are rules governing the functioning of the caucus
Yes

Activities

Issues dealt with by the caucus
- Improving women's health (research and preventative priorities), addressing the needs of women in the military and women veterans, improving the status of women globally, with a recent focus on Afghan women.
- Examining the impact of the recession on women and families, reducing maternal deaths in the developing world, restoring civil rights.
The caucus has a strategic plan or plan of action
No
The caucus has a communication plan
No

Contact information for the Committee

Address
Washington D.C.,
United States of America
Phone
+1 (202) 225-2276
+1 (202) 225-9890
Web site
http://www.wcpinst.org/our-work/the-womens-caucus/