The Status of Women in Utah Politics: A 2021 Update

The Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP) began reporting on the status of women in Utah politics in 2014, with
updates in 2017 and now 2021. The first series of reports in 2014 were initially prompted by the Center for American
Progress report titled “The State of Women in America: A 50-State Analysis of How Women Are Faring Across the
Nation” that ranked Utah last in terms of women being in positions of decision making and leadership. Soon after, a
series of other national reports also ranked Utah poorly, and most used the following four criteria: 1) gender wage gap, 2) educational attainment, 3) women in management roles, and 4) women serving in state legislatures. UWLP research released through the years also confirmed that Utah is below the national average in all these areas. Although Utah women have continually gained elected seats since 2014, Utah still ranks last in Wallethub’s Best & Worst States for Women’s Equality (the four aforementioned indicators plus 13 more indicators) and Represent Women’s Gender Parity Index, which measures women’s political representation in all 50 states.

This report updates the 2017 brief titled “The Status of Women in Utah Politics” and provides both Utah and national data for the following seven areas: Congress, statewide executive offices, state legislatures, counties, mayors, city councils, and boards of education. The brief concludes with a discussion of why more women do not run for public office and offers suggestions on how Utah can “move the needle.”

Summary

Overall, these results show at least slight progress toward having more women serving in public office. Yet, there is
still work to be done. Here is a summary of these findings:

• US Congress: 0% of the Utah delegation to Congress is female, compared to 26.5% nationally.
• SEO: 20% of the Utah SEO seats are held by women, compared to 30.3% nationally, which is progress.
• State Legislature: 24.0% of Utah State Legislators are women, compared to 30.8% nationally.
• Counties: 15% of Utah county commission and council seats are held by women, compared to 53.3% of the predominately full-time elected positions of clerk/auditor, treasurer, recorder, and assessor.
• Mayors: 17% of Utah mayors are women, which is an 8% increase from 2017. More of Utah’s larger cities are being led by women (up to nine from three in 2017).
• City Councils: 29.3% of council members in Utah municipalities are female, which puts Utah below the national average of 32%.
• Boards of Education: Utah is at least average, if not slightly above, among women holding district board seats.

Conclusion

Like 2018, 2020 was a record-setting year for women running for office across the country. For example, in Utah nine
women ran for US House seats in 2020, compared to five in 2018. No women ran for US Senate in 2020, while two ran
for Senate in 2018. However, 2020 saw a woman candidate for governor and three for lieutenant governor, one of whom was successful in her bid. In fact, recent research suggests the election of Donald Trump, along with the #MeToo
movement, inspired more women to get politically involved, regardless of party. Still, national statistics show that women win elections at the same rate as men, but fewer women run. This is one of many challenges related to why Utah does not have more women serving in elected public office.

In the 2017 research and policy brief, we explored several explanations for why women do not run for office, including
societal attitudes, worse treatment of female candidates who do run, and biases in party politics toward traditional practices that keep women from running and networking (see “The Status of Utah Women in Politics: a 2017 Update”). For recommendations on how to move the needle in Utah so that more women will run and serve in these roles, see this recent brief, “Perceptions of Women Elected Officials in Utah: Challenges, Benefits, and Lessons Learned,” as well as other UWLP research and policy briefs, snapshots, and resources.

To learn more about the status of women in Utah politics in 2021, read the full brief.