The research presented here is long overdue, but it is just the beginning of our collective understanding of the experience of being both a legislator and a caretaker. While Vote Mama Foundation’s analysis focuses on the intersection of motherhood and political participation, it is our intention for this data to benefit all those working toward an equitable and accountable political system.
We evaluate representativeness in terms of the population. We consider equitable representation to be achieved when the share of a demographic in a legislature is similar to that of the adult population in the United States. Unless specifically noted otherwise, all population-level statistics are derived from 2020 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year Estimate Public Use Microdata.
It is important to note that this definition is not intended to be a measure of ideal representation—it may not be enough to adequately center the needs of vulnerable populations or even provide protection from outright harms. Proportional representation should be our baseline, but it does not have to be our end goal.
Politics of Parenthood is a dataset of robust demographics for state and federal legislators. Variables include but are not limited to date elected to current office, education, previous occupation, age, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, marital status, ability status, parental status, age of youngest child, and caregiving status.
Data are collected through extensive monitoring of news and social media and build on the work of other organizations. Because the data relies on publicly available information, it is not infallible or exhaustive. However, to the knowledge of Vote Mama Foundation, it is the largest and most complete demographic dataset of legislators in the U.S.
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All state legislators who use she/her or they/them pronouns in office as of August 2022
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All members of the 118th Congress as of April 2023.
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Mamas are cis and trans women with biological children, foster children, step-children, and formally or informally adopted children under the age of 18. We also refer to mamas interchangeably as moms of minor kids or mothers of minor children. Though our research focus is on the political participation of mamas, the dataset includes parental status for all included legislators, regardless of their gender or the age of their youngest child.
75% of women and nonbinary state legislators are mothers, but only 7.9% of women state legislators have minor children. In the United States as a whole, 85% of women have children by age 45, and 34.8% of all adult women have minor children. Consequently, moms with young children are represented in state legislatures at less than half the rate they appear in the population, despite the fact that mothers in general are relatively close to full representation.
This data suggests that the lack of representation of moms with minor children is the result of structural marginalization rather than individual circumstances or preferences. Further, it suggests that moms of young children face barriers that are unique, or intensified, compared to women and mothers of adult children.
Key Findings:
There is a distinct pattern of decreasing representation as child age decreases. Less than half of all state legislators who are moms of minors have kids estimated to be younger than middle to high school age.
In 2021-2022, the birth rate among women state legislators was just 0.5%, a rate ten times lower than the estimated rate of 5% among the total population of U.S. women.
Key Findings:
Our data shows that the age range of legislators’ youngest child is negatively correlated with representation; in other words, the representation of moms of minor children starts to increase as their children get older. While moms of minors are underrepresented as a whole, moms of children under the age of six are even less represented in our state legislatures; of the 582 moms of minors in our dataset, only 124 are moms of children under the age of six. Moms of children under the age of six comprise only 1.7% of all state legislators in the U.S.
Figure : Moms of minors by race, as % of all 7386 legislators
Key Findings:
2.3% of all state legislators are women of color with children under the age of 18
<1% of all state legislators in each racial category are moms of minors, except for white women
Key Findings:
There is a distinct Democratic majority among moms of minor children, with 69.5% moms of minors identifying as Democrats and 29% identifying as Republicans.
The majority of moms of minors across state legislatures are serving in state houses, with 74.9% in state houses and 25.1% in state senates.
The research presented here is long overdue, but it is just the beginning of our collective understanding of the experience of being both a legislator and a caretaker. While Vote Mama Foundation’s analysis focuses on the intersection of motherhood and political participation, it is our intention for this data to benefit all those working toward an equitable and accountable political system.
Politics of Parenthood is a dataset of robust demographics for state and federal legislators.
Our aim is to provide nuanced and accessible data suited for both research and public communication. Data are collected through extensive monitoring of news and social media and build on the work of other organizations. Because the data relies on publicly available information, it is not infallible or exhaustive. However, to the knowledge of Vote Mama Foundation, it is the largest and most complete demographic dataset of legislators in the U.S.
Our most recent 2024 Politics of Parenthood data includes all state legislators who use she/her or they/them pronouns sworn into office as of January 2024
Previous years' data includes:
Mamas are cis and trans women with biological children, foster children, step-children, and formally or informally adopted children under the age of 18. We also refer to mamas interchangeably as moms of minor kids or mothers of minor children. Though our research focus is on the political participation of mamas, the dataset includes parental status for all included legislators, regardless of their gender or the age of their youngest child.
We evaluate representativeness in terms of the population. We consider equitable representation to be achieved when the share of a demographic in a legislature is similar to that of the adult population in the United States. Unless specifically noted otherwise, all population-level statistics are derived from 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year Estimate Public Use Microdata.
It is important to note that this definition is not intended to be a measure of ideal representation—it may not be enough to adequately center the needs of vulnerable populations or even provide protection from outright harms. Proportional representation should be our baseline, but it does not have to be our end goal.
Politics of Parenthood
REACHING FULL REPRESENTATION: STATE RANKINGS
Oregon is the only state legislature in the United States with proportional representation of mothers with minor children. Alabama is the only state with no moms of minors serving in its state legislature. Only 8 states have even half the number of mamas that are needed for full representation, and 23 states have less than a quarter.
REACHING FULL REPRESENTATION:
STATE RANKINGS
Oregon is the only state legislature in the United States with proportional representation of mothers with minor children. Alabama is the only state with no moms of minors serving in its state legislature. Only 8 states have even half the number of mamas that are needed for full representation, and 23 states have less than a quarter.
Politics of Parenthood
Among the 7,386 state legislators in the United States, 582 are moms with children under 18; 196 additional moms of minors have been elected since our 2022 report.
According to the 2022 American Community Survey 5-year estimates, adult women who live with related kids under 18 comprise 18.2% of the adult population.
As of February 2024, we found that only 7.9% of all state legislators are women with minor children. In order to achieve proportional representation, Americans need to elect 763 more moms with young children to state legislatures.
Demographics
“Being a legislator and a new mother is challenging, but rewarding work,” said Rep. Jeanné Kapela. “As a working parent, I understand the difficulties moms face in making their voices heard in public affairs. I am personally invested in uplifting their concerns and ensuring that our democracy delivers a swift response to the unmet needs of working families.”
Jeanné Kapela, State Representative (HI - District 5)
