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SALT LAKE CITY — A record number of women will serve in the Utah Legislature next year, according to a Rutgers University-New Brunswick study, after three women were elected to replace men in the state House of Representatives.
That will bring the total number of female lawmakers to 31 — or nearly 30% of the 104 total lawmakers — ahead of the Legislature's general session next year, according to the report university's Center for American Women and Politics. The report found the number of women who are state lawmakers has increased to a record high nationwide, as well.
Although women will still be underrepresented at the Capitol next year, one of the incoming freshman lawmakers said the growing number of women will help state policy more closely reflect the needs of voters.
"Women really do bring different perspectives and vantage points than men do, and our lived experiences as women in this society ... you can contrast it quite a bit with being in a predominantly patriarchal society here," said Rep.-elect Hoang Nguyen, a Democrat from Salt Lake City who will replace Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake City. "I saw a study that showed that when more women are elected, they tend to put forth policies that are more family oriented. That's a big difference, trying to influence those policies ... to be more equitable and making sure that women have that upward mobility as well."
Women serve across party lines in the Utah Legislature, with 15 Republicans and 13 Democrats currently serving across both chambers. In the incoming class of freshman lawmakers, Reps.-elect Nguyen, Verona Mauga, D-Taylorsville, and Nicholeen Peck, R-Tooele, will replace a member of their party, while Rep.-elect Jill Koford, R-Ogden, will replace Democratic Rep. Rosemary Lesser.
A spokeswoman for House Republicans did not respond to a request for an interview.
Utah will also have two female statewide elected leaders for the first time after Tina Cannon was elected to replace John Dougall as auditor. Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson is the second woman after former Lt. Gov. and Gov. Olene Walker. Henderson and Gov. Spencer Cox were reelected to another four-year term.
Mauga said her gender rarely came up while on the campaign trail, but recalled one constituent asking her: "Who is going to cook dinner if you're elected?"
"It's a question I love answering because my husband knows how to make dinner, too, and he knows how to do the laundry," she said. "We share so many of our responsibilities and our duties, and I think that even in the Legislature, our responsibility and our commitment to our communities and our state should be shared."
Although many constituents were excited to vote for her, Nguyen said she sometimes detected an undercurrent of hesitation about her gender, though it was never "overt."
"It was very subliminal," she said. "It was more people not realizing their own possible biases that they had and they weren't seeing that for what it was."
She is hopeful that her election and the election of women across the state will encourage others to run for office.
"It was definitely one of the most emotionally charged experiences I've had ... to run as a woman of color in a very predominantly white, male arena," she said. "The piece of advice I have to offer from my experience is: Make sure that you take the help wherever you can. The need is going to be kind of all hands on deck, because until we can get more used to seeing women in leadership, women in power, it's going to be an uphill battle for a woman sometimes when she's running."
"I don't think there's ever going to be a perfect time (to run)," Mauga added. "If the goal is to make sure that we're the best possible Utah we can be and you have that desire to serve, I think you should do it."
