Women lost a little ground in the legislature.
After the November elections, the number of female state legislators will go down next year by one, from 45 to 44, according to the principal House and Senate clerks.
Six women will serve in the 50-member Senate; 38, in the 120-member House.
That leaves 25.9 percent of the legislature female, the same as in 2007.
The 2008 session will remain the high water mark, with 26.5 percent women, according to statistics compiled by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. The national average was 23.7 percent.
The center's rankings for 2009 are not yet available, but North Carolina was the 19th most gender-balanced state legislature in 2008. Vermont was first; South Carolina, last.
Since the group began tracking legislative women in 1975, the low for North Carolina was 11.8 percent in 1985 and 1986. The number has been steadily climbing since and has been above 20 percent — or one-fifth — since 2003.
There is a silver lining, however. Two of the women who left the legislature — Sens. Kay Hagan and Janet Cowell — went on to higher office, while Rep. Debbie Clary moved to the Senate.
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Legislative women go back one step NO NO NO
Your numbers are correct, but misleading. The number of women ELECTED to the NC House went UP from 34 in 2006 to 38 in 2008. The reason 38 served in the 2007 session was that four women (Bryant, Cotham, Hughes, Mobley) were appointed during the term to fill vacancies held by men, who vacated the seats due to death, appointment to the Senate, resignation, and expulsion. In the Senate, eight were elected in 2006, and six in 2008. One of the eight (Lucas) died in office, dropping the number to 7.
In fact the number of women elected in 2008 was 44, up from 42 in 2006.