By Kaylee Chan | Junior Editor
The 2020 election was monumental in more ways than one, with the ups and downs of the presidential race creating tension against the backdrop of a raging pandemic. Amid the chaos, however, emerged a landslide of unlikely victors— including a record-breaking number of women elected to office.
From the 18th Amendment exactly a century ago to Hillary Clinton’s historic presidential nomination in 2016, women have been fighting to be allowed to engage with politics since this nation was founded. This uphill battle recently reached a milestone with Kamala Harris becoming the first female vice president, in what has been described by National Geographic as “the most historically significant vice-presidential pick in U.S. history.”
However, the 2020 elections weren’t only significant for women in politics due to the vice presidency, but also because of the unprecedented number of women elected to Congress in down-ballot races. According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, 141 women will be serving in the upcoming Congress, largely surpassing the record of 127 women set in 2019.
Most of this increase has come from the Republican wing of the government, where the number of women serving in the House of Representatives has doubled. In a party where an overwhelming majority of congress members have been white men, this goes a long way in solving underrepresentation issues. It also shows that both parties are willing to elect more female candidates.
As the number of elected Republican women has grown in number, the overall makeup of the women in Congress has diversified. Of the women that will be in the upcoming Congress, nearly a third will be women of color, according to CNN, the highest it has ever been. Many of these women are historic firsts, including Democrat Cori Bush, who will become the first black congressperson serving in Missouri.
Also adding to the diversity is the large number of LGBTQ+ women elected to positions, such as the Delaware senator-elect Sarah McBride, who will become the first openly transgender senator in U.S. history, according to AP News.
These milestones are representative of a larger change in how the public is viewing women in politics. It follows a clear upward trend of women getting elected that will likely continue, and it is hard to understate the profound effect that can have on our government to come.
This does not mean there is not work to do. Women still make up barely a quarter of Congress, and having more women in government does not directly equal more reproductive rights or concrete societal change.
Nonetheless, these victories do represent the breaking down of barriers in politics that have plagued marginalized groups since this country’s inception, and that is worth celebrating. It is important to treat this not as a destination, but rather a continuation of a movement that has been going on for generations and remains essential as the nation heads into a new chapter of history.
