Thread by @BBCWorld

The battle for the presidency has been between two white men - Donald Trump and Joe Biden

But we've also seen women elected in unprecedented numbers, from Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to a record number voted into Congress 👇

[Thread]

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A record 135 women will sit in Congress (where US laws are made) in 2021

Women will occupy over a quarter of 535 seats. That's 25.2% (103 Democrats, 32 Republicans) and it could rise higher

ℹ️ Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics

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What’s caused this increase in women?

Partly, there are more candidates running. A record 318 women ran as Democratic or Republican candidates

That’s up from the previous record of 257 set in 2018

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The number of women elected to both chambers of Congress - the House of Representatives and the Senate - has been rising since the 1980s

Republicans have gained the most women in 2021, even if they do heavily trail Democrat women overall

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In the House of Representatives, the Republicans have almost doubled the number of women - from 13 to 24 - including 13 new candidates

However, the party still trails the Democrats, who are set to have 87 women or more serving from January bbc.in/36oQsXp

In the Senate, there's been less progress, with two fewer women elected this time around, falling from 26 to 24 women in January

17 to 16 Democrats
Nine to eight Republicans

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Of the 318 candidates, a record 117 were women of colour

All except one ran for the Democrats

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But this increase in racial diversity among candidates hasn’t yet translated into seats

47 lawmakers next year will be non-white women (from black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Island and Native American backgrounds) - down one from 48 across Congress

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One woman, Stacey Abrams, has been making waves behind the scenes

The Democratic organiser is being credited with helping to deliver Biden his victory in Georgia

She is also being praised for helping the party in the state’s closely-watched senate race

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Georgia’s two Republican senators will have to defend their seats in a runoff in January, because neither got 50% of the vote

Which could mean that Republican Kelly Loeffler wins, increasing the total number of women in the Senate

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But there’s still a lot more work to do

Men still take up almost three quarters of the seats in the House and the Senate

While there will be 135 women in the two houses next year, there will be 400 men

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