Yesterday, a record 101 women were sworn in as members of the US House of Representatives and Senate, which means that now, a mere 80% of federal elected officials are male. Woo! Girl power! It's the end of men! But before we get ahead of ourselves celebrating women's total 20% domination of the legislative branch, let's take a minute to get to know a cocktail party fact about each of the 101 women who will be spending at least the next several weeks pretending to usher in a new era of bipartisanship in Washington.
Glowing, hopeful writeups of the 113th Congress describe the lawmakers sworn into office as the most diverse group in the history of the country. Still, 19 states — Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia — didn't send any women to the House of Representatives this time around and all of those states except Alaska, Louisiana, Nebraska, and North Dakota are without female Senate representation as well. Still, both of California's Senators are female and the entirety of New Hampshire's Washington legislative delegation are women. So, progress. Kind of.