The CAWP Women Elected Officials Database represents the most complete collection of information anywhere in the world about women elected officials in the United States. The database includes full historical listings for women who have held office at the congressional, statewide elected executive, and state legislative levels nationwide. For each woman officeholder, the database includes their geographic information, party identification, and race identification where available. This tool expands on the officeholder database that the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) has long kept and shared with researchers, and, crucially, transforms it into a searchable, online format for public access. It contains entries for more than eleven thousand women officeholders dating back to 1893 when a woman was first elected to a statewide executive position.
Please contact Chelsea Hill, Data Services Manager, for any corrections or questions regarding the database. Please contact Daniel De Simone for any press inquiries regarding the database.
Data were pulled from several sources, including CAWP’s own historical records, state officeholder records, local news articles, data provided by KnowWho Data Services, and Elizabeth M. Cox’s Women State and Territorial Legislators, 1895-1995.
Suggested Citation
Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). CAWP Women Elected Officials Database. New Brunswick, NJ: Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, accessed Month, Day, Year. https://cawpdata.rutgers.edu/
In-text citation: Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) Women Elected Officials Database
About CAWP
The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is nationally recognized as the leading source of scholarly research and current data about women’s political participation in the United States. Its mission is to promote greater knowledge and understanding about the role of women in American politics, enhance women's influence in public life, and expand the diversity of women in politics and government. CAWP’s education and outreach programs translate research findings into action, addressing women’s under-representation in political leadership with effective, intersectional, and imaginative programs serving a variety of audiences. As the world has watched Americans considering female candidates for the nation's highest offices, CAWP’s five decades of analyzing and interpreting women’s participation in American politics have provided a foundation and context for the discussion.
Acknowledgements
CAWP is grateful for the vision and support of our research from Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company founded by Melinda French Gates.
The bulk of historical data for the state legislative level before 1977 was made possible through the work of Elizabeth M. Cox and her book, Women State and Territorial Legislators, 1895-1995. This exhaustive and detailed historical record was instrumental in being able to provide the full account of women serving in state legislatures, and we are immensely grateful for her invaluable contribution.
The technical design and build of this database was made possible by the great work of Sean T. Walsh and Jessica Bladon at CrowdCG. CAWP is grateful for the time and expertise they committed to making this database a reality.