Moms with young kids make up less than 4% of state lawmakers in Arkansas
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Arkansas has a mom in the governor's mansion, but over in the legislature, mothers are vastly underrepresented.
Inside the capitol: Only 3.7% of the state's lawmakers — or 5 — are mothers with kids under 18, according to a new report from the Vote Mama Foundation. That ranks 44th out of 50 states.
Why it matters: State legislatures shape policies that directly impact families.
- If parents of young children aren't helping set the legislative agenda, "their lived experiences are not being brought to bear on decisions that are being made," Jean Sinzdak, associate director of the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), told Axios.
Zoom in: Arkansas was one of just five states to see a drop in mom representation at the state capitol between 2022 and 2024, falling from 6.4% to 3.7%. California, by comparison, jumped from 11% to 17.5%.
- Of course, 2022 was also the year Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who has three children under 18, was elected.
- Sanders has made moms a focus in some of her policymaking: In January, she announced that the state would extend the child care assistance program to include adoptive parents and people who work in early child care, for instance. This past April, she created a committee to study the maternal health crisis.
The big picture: An estimated 85% of women become mothers by the time they hit 45. But as of 2024, just 25% of legislators nationwide were female parents or nonbinary parents, the Vote Mama analysis found.
- Just 8% are mothers with children under the age of 18.
- The South is weighing down the national average. Alabama, with zero moms of under-18 kids in the legislature, ranks 50th out of 50. The next six lowest are Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana and Arkansas.
Between the lines: Serving in a state legislature can be especially difficult for parents of young children, given the need to travel to a state capital, long nights of lawmaking, and low pay in states where the job is considered part-time, Sinzdak told Axios.
- "It's been a trend for a long, long time that women tend to wait until they're older to run, partially because of the caregiving responsibilities and the challenges of having young kids," she said.
The bottom line: Arkansas would need to add 20 moms to the legislature to achieve representation proportional with the population of the U.S., the report said.