Democrats haven't reached
gender equality in Congress—but they're doing a heckuva lot better than Republicans. Nearly 33 percent of Democrats in Congress are now women, while for Republicans, it's just 10 percent.
As one measure of the gap, 17 Republican women have served in the Senate in its history, and 14 Democratic women currently serve in the Senate.
The Republican lag is in part because, as the party has moved to the right, its slightly more moderate members, a group that included many of its prominent women, have been crowded out, and not as many far-right women have come up to take their place. But it's also because of the broader gender gap, with women more likely to vote for Democrats and men more likely to vote for Republicans in general—and no wonder, when you consider the policies the two parties back.