Elections

Female candidates for Congress made history on Tuesday night, with more than 100 women sweeping into office on the strength of a Democratic House takeover powered in large part by college-educated female voters.

There are 46 women in the 52nd Parliament of New Zealand, the highest level of representation for women in its history.

Women make up 38.4 percent of the total 120 MPs in the new Parliament, a boost of 7 percent on the previous Parliament which was 31.4 percent women.

Progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her race for a U.S. House seat in New York’s 14th District on Tuesday, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

The 29-year-old political newcomer made headlines nationwide in June when she unexpectedly defeated 10-term Rep. Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary.

With women making up only 20 percent of Congress, there are many types of women — especially women of color — who have never been represented on Capitol Hill. The record-breaking wave of female candidates in 2018 comes with a list of firsts among those women. Here's a list of some of those firsts, which we will keep updating as results come in.

Even before the votes are in, the numbers prove it: 2018 is the Year of the Woman.

If Democrats retake the House, the Senate, or both, it’ll be because women launched the most effective, sustained resistance in generations, thousands more women looked into running for office than ever before — and then many of them did it and did it so well, they outperformed their male peers nationwide.

Female politicians made history this week in Israel with a record of at least 11 women chosen to head cities and local councils across the country, five more than in the previous municipal elections. Six additional female candidates will contest run-off votes in other councils and towns, where no candidate managed to reach the 40 percent threshold.

By Susan Chira

Conventional wisdom on women and politics goes like this: