RICHMOND, Va. -- More women represented Virginians in the General Assembly during the most recent session than at any other point in its 400-year history.
A data point tracked by Professor Kelly Dittmar, at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, showed Virginia women made up 49 out of 140 delegates and senators. That comes out to more than 35 percent of the legislative body, up from 20 percent in 2017.
"That is up significantly. So you see, again, a pretty big jump, relatively speaking for a relatively short period of time," Dittmar said. "Virginia has been a place to watch in terms of the growth and diversification of women's political leadership."
This year marked the 100th anniversary of the first women to serve in the Virginia General Assembly - Delegates Helen Henderson and Sarah Fain.
Capitol historian Mark Greenough said Henderson, from Russell and Buchanan counties, advocated for a new circuit court in her district.
He added she also became the first woman to preside over the House of Delegates when the Speaker stepped down for a few minutes and
Henderson passed away before she could run for reelection, but her daughter, also named Helen Henderson, won the same House seat a few years later.
The other 1924 lawmaker was Sarah Fain from Norfolk.
Fain served three terms.
"She ended up chairing a committee about schools and education during her time here, so that was a noteworthy achievement," Greenough said.
The elections of Henderson and Fain sparked a small wave of female delegates, Greenough said, but that ended in 1933.
In 1954, Delegate Kathryn Stone started a new trend.
"And from that point on, for the last 70 years, there has been at least one or more than one lady serving in the House chamber," Greenough said.
One hundred years later, Virginia trends above the national average for women in the state legislature (35% vs. 32.8%). Dittmar said more than half of the female delegates and senators are women of color.
"You're seeing women in these highest levels of legislative leadership, which matters for things like agenda setting and influencing the debates and conversations to be had in this body," she said. "Having women and a diversity of women at these tables does yield different outcomes and, ultimately, better outcomes. To the degree that again, they better represent the fullness of the constituencies that are meant to be served by these bodies."
Mary Sue Terry was the first woman elected to a statewide office when Virginia voters elected her Attorney General in 1985.
She remains the only woman elected to that office.
Current Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears is the first and only woman elected to that statewide office.
Voters have never elected a woman to serve as Governor of Virginia.
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