Using data from the Congressional Research Service, we were able to pull congressional data from the 79th congress in 1945 all the way to the most diverse congress in history, the 117th. As you can see from the graphs below, though racial and gender diversity have improved over time, there are still striking racial and gender disparities in our country's leadership.
The members-elect of the 116th Congress pose on the East Front Plaza of the Capitol on Nov. 14, 2018. Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images
Diversity in the Senate
As you can see from the graph above, the U.S. senate has been primarily white, especially from 1945-1970's. There are 100 senators in the United States, and throughout history, the number of non-white senators have remained under 10. The senate has consistently remained 93-98% white, until 2019, when it was 89% white. In 2021, the senate is 88% White, 3% Black, 7% Latinx, 2% Asian, and 0% Native American. There has never been a Native American senator. Though racial diversity has improved, you can see the staggering racial disparities throughout the senate.
As you can see from the graph above, the senate has remained primarily male dominated, but begins to improve after 1990. Before then, the amount of female senators had only been around 1 or 2, but in the 107th Congress in 2001, the number increased to 13. This number has slowly climbed up to today's current number of 24 female senators. Though this diversity rate has slowly improved, there are still ways to go on electing more female senators.
Diversity in the House of Representatives
Similar to the Senate data, the House of Representatives have stayed majority white for quite awhile, though the has had a more positive trend in racial diversity through the years. Up until 2001, over 90% of the House was white, but in the 107th congress this number drops to 86.41% White. These rates have steadily improved with the 117th senate in 2021 being 71.21% White, 12.92% Black, 10.66% Latinx, 4.08% Asian, and 1.13% Native American. Though these rates are much better than the U.S. senate, there is still an obvious majority among Whites in the house.
Similarly, the amount of females in the House of Reps. jumps from around 2-6% throughout the 50's-90's to 13.59% in the 107th Congress in 2001. This number steadily increases throughout the 2000's, except for a drop from 14.98% to 11.49% in 2007. This number jumps back up to 17.28% and increases all the way up to the current amount in 2021, which is currently at 27.44% female. As we previously said, though these diversity statistics in the House of Reps. have improved, they still are not quite close to being 50/50 and representing our country as a whole.