Women's Representation in Elected Office in Wisconsin: Twenty Years of Limited Progress (2005–2025)
Over the past two decades, women in Wisconsin have made measurable but modest progress toward equality in elected office. While some branches of government—most notably the judiciary—show substantial gains, women remain underrepresented across most elected positions, particularly in executive and local offices. Taken as a whole, the data from 2005 to 2025 illustrate incremental improvement rather than transformative change, underscoring the persistence of structural and cultural barriers to women's political power.
State and Tribal Legislatures
Women's representation in the Wisconsin State Legislature increased from 26% in 2005 to 37% in 2025—a gain of 11 percentage points over twenty years. This progress, however, was uneven, including a decline between 2005 and 2010 and long periods of stagnation before more recent gains. Even at its 2025 peak, women remain well short of parity.
In contrast, Tribal Legislatures began the period closer to gender balance and showed relatively stable representation, fluctuating between 36% and 44%. While these bodies consistently outperform the state legislature, progress has largely plateaued rather than accelerated.
The Judiciary: A Notable Exception
The most significant advances occurred in Wisconsin's courts, where women's representation rose sharply. On the Wisconsin Supreme Court, women increased from 43% in 2005 to 86% by 2021, a level sustained through 2025. Similar trends appear in the Court of Appeals, where women rose from just 19% in 2005 to 63% in 2025.
Lower courts also improved, though more modestly. Circuit Court representation more than doubled from 14% to 35%, while Municipal Courts increased from 18% to 25%. These gains suggest that appointment pathways, professional pipelines, and judicial elections may offer fewer barriers than legislative or executive offices—though parity is still not universal.
Local Legislative Bodies: Slow and Uneven Gains
At the local level, progress has been incremental. City Councils increased from 20% to 29%, Village Boards from 19% to 31%, and Town Boards from just 7% to 13%. County Boards rose slightly, from 19% to 25%. These changes, while positive, reveal how slowly representation shifts in offices that often rely on part-time service, limited compensation, and informal recruitment networks—conditions that disproportionately disadvantage women.
Executive and Law Enforcement Offices: Persistent Gaps
Women remain most underrepresented in executive and enforcement roles. The share of women mayors rose only six points over twenty years, from 10% to 16%. County Executives show no sustained progress: representation declined to zero by 2021 and recovered only partially to 17% by 2025.
Similarly, women made limited gains as County Sheriffs, increasing from 3% to just 8%, and as District Attorneys, rising from 18% to 34%. These offices continue to reflect deeply gendered pathways shaped by incumbency, political networks, and occupational segregation.
Local Government
Women’s representation in local government shows gradual but uneven improvement, with notable differences between legislative and executive roles. Between 2005 and 2025, women made the strongest gains in multi-member governing bodies, particularly City Councils and Village Boards, where representation approached, but did not reach, one-third of seats. Progress was significantly slower in single-seat executive offices. Women held only about 15% of mayoral positions by 2025, and just 13% of Town Board chairs and supervisors, making town government the most male-dominated level of local office. These patterns reflect long-standing structural barriers in local governance, including part-time service, limited compensation, and reliance on informal recruitment networks, which continue to constrain women’s access to leadership at the community level.
Conclusion
Between 2005 and 2025, Wisconsin experienced gradual, uneven, and incomplete progress toward gender equality in elected office. While women have achieved notable success in the judiciary and modest gains in legislative bodies, they remain far from equal representation—especially in executive, mayoral, and law-enforcement roles. The data make clear that progress is neither automatic nor uniform. Achieving gender parity will require intentional strategies, including recruitment, mentorship, structural reforms, and sustained public commitment to women's political leadership at every level of government.