Number of Female Lawmakers in US Grows, But Still Low

Beginning in January 2017, about 1,824 women will serve in the legislatures of the 50 states -- the highest number in American history. That is 24.7 percent of the more than 7,380 state house and senate seats.
从2017年1月开始将会有1824名女性在美国50个州的议会担任议员,这是美国历史上的最高值,占到了7380个州参众两院席位的24.7%。

In 1992, 20 percent of state legislators were women. By 2015, 24.4 percent of them were.
1992年有20%的州议员是女性,到了2015年变成了24.4%。

A record number of women were candidates this year for state legislative seats.
今年创纪录人数的女性成为了州议会席位的候选人。

The legislatures of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Vermont have the highest percentage of women. Mississippi, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming have the lowest percentage.
亚利桑那州、科罗拉多州、内华达州和佛蒙特州议会的女性比例最高。密西西比州、俄克拉荷马州、西弗吉尼亚州和怀俄明州议会的女性比例最低。

About 20 percent of the members of the U.S. Congress are women. Women make up a little more than half of the U.S. population.
大约有20%的美国国会议员是女性。女性占到了美国人口的一半多一点。

However, the 2016 election did not bring the big change in the number of women in politics that some people expected, says Debbie Walsh. She is the director of the nonpartisan Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University. She recently spoke with the Washington Post newspaper.
黛比·沃尔什(Debbie Walsh)表示,然而2016年的选举并未能如某些人所愿的那样,给女性从政人数带来巨大变化。她是罗特格斯大学美国跨党派女政客中心的负责人。她最近接受了华盛顿邮报的采访。

"For all of the talk of this being a change election, it was not a change election for women in politics. We just aren't seeing enough of them," she said.
她说,“很多言论称这次选举是一次变革,对女政客来说这不是一次变革的选举。我们并未看到足够多的变革。”

The elections did bring some "firsts" for female lawmakers.
这次选举确实为女议员带来了一些“第一”。

Starting in January 2017, 38 non-white women will serve in Congress. That is a record number. Thirty-five of them are Democrats and three are Republicans.
从2017年1月开始将会有38名非白人女性到国会任职,该数字是一项记录。其中35位是民主党人,还有3位是共和党人。

Democrat Catherine Cortez Mastro of Nevada will be the first Latina to serve in the U.S. Senate. And Stephanie Murphy, a Democrat from Florida, will be the first Vietnamese-American woman in Congress.
内华达州民主党人凯瑟琳·科尔特斯·马斯特罗(Catherine Cortez Mastro)将成为首位担任美国参议员的拉脱维亚人。而佛罗里达州民主党人斯蒂芬妮·墨菲(Stephanie Murphy)将成为国会首位越南裔女性。

All of the members of the U.S. House and Senate from the state of New Hampshire will be women.
新罕布什尔州所有美国参众两院议员都将是女性。

Voters in Minnesota elected the first Somali-American state lawmaker. Voters in Kentucky elected its first black female legislator in 20 years. Forty Native American Democratic state legislators were also elected in states throughout the country.
明尼苏达州选民选出了首位索马里裔的州议员。肯塔基州选民选出来20年来首位黑人女议员。美国各州还选举产生了四十名来自美国原住民的民主党州议员。

Only two of the 50 American states have never elected a woman to serve in the U.S. House or Senate: Mississippi and Vermont.
美国50个州中只有2个州从未有女性当选美国参众两院议员,这两个州就是密西西比州和佛蒙特州。

The new Congress will be the most diverse group of American lawmakers ever. However, about 80 percent of its members will be white males. White men are about 31 percent of the U.S. population.
新一届国会将是美国议员有史以来最多样化的一次。然而,大约80%的国会议员将会是白人男性。白人男性大约占到美国人口的31%。