Only about 30% of North Carolina legislators next year will be women. Data in a new book on state politics shows women are underrepresented at all levels of elected offices here.
Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper includes statistics on the issue in his new book, "." He spoke about his research on the .
Men will make up about 70% of state lawmakers next year, and that number hasn't changed much in recent years, according to Cooper.
"I like to think about it this way: Right now, men, if they were a single voting block, would have supermajority control in the North Carolina General Assembly," he said.
Cooper said the numbers are similar at other level of government, from statewide offices to Congress to county commissions. After this year's election, only two of the 10 Council of State positions will be held by women.
And most of the top leadership positions in the legislature will be held by men. The only women elected to Republican caucus leadership posts were Sen. Amy Galey as majority whip and Rep. Heather Rhyne as House freshman leader.
On the Democratic side, the highest-ranking woman in a leadership post will be Sen. Sydney Batch, who has been elected Senate Democratic leader for 2025. On the House side, the deputy House Democratic Leader Cynthia Ball in 2024. Neither party has ever elevated a woman to House speaker or Senate leader.
Compared to other states, North Carolina falls below the national average. New Mexico and Nevada have both elected majority female state legislatures. In states like that, Cooper said, "you see different kinds of policies. You see the institutions function slightly differently. We know that women tend to, on average, spend more time on constituency service than men do, so you actually sometimes see more satisfied constituents as well."
At age 36, Rep. Lindsey Prather is the youngest woman serving in North Carolina's legislature. Prather says better candidate recruitment is needed to get closer to a 50-50 gender split.
"I think if we do a better job in casting a wider net and really being intentional about helping people build skills and making space for people, if we do that in general, and for young people in general, we're going to see more women be involved," she said.
Prather said she's been treated differently than her male colleagues in the Legislative Building.
"Often I've been mistaken for staff, as opposed to the legislator that I am," she said. "I have been spoken down to by colleagues, whether intentionally or unintentionally. I think it's just a lot of the same things that, as a woman in the South, you're sort of used to ... but they're certainly amplified when you're in the legislature."
