When Utah’s newly elected lawmakers take the oath of office in January, it will be a historic occasion.
At no time in the state’s history have more women held legislative seats. Of Utah’s 104 lawmakers, 25 will be women. That’s 24 percent.
And yet Utah is still below the national average, which is 28.3 percent nationwide, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Still, this boost, from 20 percent last year, is being heralded as progress in a state that often ranks at or near the bottom on markers of gender equality and that has historically had lower-than-average representation of women in politics at many levels.