There will be a record number of women in the next Congress.

This year, a record number of women will be elected to Congress, according to MINIECHAT, but just just.

Just two members above the record established by this Congress, there will be 149 women serving in the US House and Senate during the 118th Congress, increasing the ranks of female representation.

When Alaska decided on Wednesday night that Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, would represent the state’s at-large House seat for a full term after winning the special election earlier this year, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski will win reelection, the state brought women over that barrier.

With 124 women assuming office in the House in January, a record number of women will be broken.

And not only will the 118th Congress see record numbers of women of color, but there will also be a record number of Latinas and Black women in the House alone. The number of Black women in the House will increase from 26 to 27, and there will be one more Latina, for a total of 18 – the highest number ever.

With 22 freshmen women in the House, more than half of that group will be women of color, demonstrating the growing diversity of that body.

According to Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, “we’ve seen a pretty steady increase in the racial and ethnic diversity of women as candidates, nominees, and then officeholders at the congressional level, but more specifically, in the US House.”

“The US Senate still glaringly lacks diversity…. There is a general stagnation in the proportion of women of color. Particularly, the proportion of Asian and Latina women will remain unchanged, while Black female representation would remain at zero.

One of those fresh voices entering the House is California’s newly elected representative Sydney Kamlager. She was chosen to serve as a state senator in lieu of retiring Rep. Karen Bass, who will go on to lead Los Angeles as the city’s first female mayor. While Kamlager expressed excitement about the diversity of the freshmen class, she acknowledged that more work remains.

“I believe that people need to stop just talking about Black women and brown women and start acting on it. The reality is that there are more impediments for Black and brown women to enter this field of employment than for other women and men, the Democrat stated. “We make less contributions when running than guys do. She continued, pointing out that female candidates are still frequently questioned about why they are not “at home taking care of your husband or your children.”

People are willing to accept a mediocre male candidate, but they anticipate the female candidate to be exceptional, she claimed.

Yadira Caraveo, a Democrat, is the first Latina from Colorado to be elected to Congress. She will be just the second female doctor to serve as a voting member of Congress in addition to being a state lawmaker and the daughter of Mexican immigrants. (In Washington State, the first candidate, Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier, was re-elected.)

Thinking back on both occasions, Caraveo said, “Kind of sad that it took till 2022.”

She said that her background in both medicine and state politics had prepared her for the fact that she would have to put in more effort to be given “less credit” than her male peers.

Pediatrician Caraveo stated, “It is, regrettably, something that I have seen throughout my tenure, both in medicine and in politics, and, regrettably, a difficulty that one gets accustomed to, in some ways, but also, in other ways, continues to be unpleasant.”

Even my staff members, she said, “really saw the difference in the way I was regarded or seen as a woman of color compared to some of the other candidates who were able to more easily acquire meetings or support from other organizations.”

Marking the achievement

These ladies are conscious of the occasion, however.

“I didn’t grow up witnessing what I am seeing in Colorado,” stated Caraveo. “I believe that becoming the first Latina — and not just a woman of color, but a woman of color of color — to serve in Congress would make things a little bit easier for the young girls I’ve treated in clinic. So that their candidacy and ability to serve in government are taken for granted and they never again have to speak about being the first of anything.

And Caraveo, who will represent a new district that Colorado won via the reapportionment process, emphasized the importance of what having more women in the legislature may entail.

She remarked, “I believe my male colleagues typically approach things with a feeling of competition, while we approach things with a spirit of partnership.”

On the other hand, the number of women sitting in the House and Senate will increase under the Republican party. The nine Republican women in the Senate—the most ever—are aided by Murkowski and Republican Sen.-elect Katie Britt of Alabama. In addition, 33 Republican women will serve in the House in 2017—an increase from 32 this year and a new record.

Three Latinas are among the seven Republican newcomers to the House, increasing the total number of Republican Latinas in the body to five.

Erin Houchin, a representative-elect from Indiana, remarked that she is the first woman to represent her district. “Having the variety of ideas and experience is, you know, it’s vital to our representative democracy,” she said.

It seems like we’re making a difference for the younger generation, she remarked. Setting that example for my own daughters and other young ladies has special value for me.

Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio and the longest-serving woman in the House, has broken several records in the past. She won her first contested reelection in years, and when she takes the oath of office in January, she will surpass former Maryland senator Barbara Mikulski’s record for the longest tenure of any member of Congress.

Since she was first elected in 1982, Kaptur has raised concerns about her party’s dominance by politicians from the coasts and how the industrial heartland of America — and its struggling middle class — are often overlooked in Washington.

The tenure signifies a voice from the working class of people who also happens to be a woman, which is my most heartwarming accomplishment, she added.