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JUDY WOODRUFF: With most
of the nation's primary
elections behind us now,

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we're starting to get a
clearer look at the shape
of November's races. And now

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the only state that has never
sent a woman to Congress is
poised to elect its first.

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But as congressional
correspondent Lisa Desjardins
explains, that expected

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milestone comes as women
still struggle to be elected
in equal numbers as men.

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LISA DESJARDINS: To date,
399 women have walked the
halls of power in Congress

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as representatives and
senators, and they have
come from 49 states.

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ELIZABETH WOHL, Wife of
Becca Balint: And now
please join me in welcoming
my wife, Becca Balint!

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(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

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LISA DESJARDINS: Becca
Balint is poised to make
Vermont the 50th state,

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the last to send its
first woman to Congress,

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after she won the Democratic
primary in the deep blue green
Mountain State this month.

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BECCA BALINT (D), Vermont
Congressional Candidate:
Hello, Brattleboro.

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It sinking in little by
little. It's very exciting. And
it's also a little daunting,

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as you can imagine.
Being the first of
anything is a challenge,

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because you want to do right by
everybody. You want to make sure
you represent the state well.

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LISA DESJARDINS: Women wield
substantial power in Vermont,
one of the first states

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to elect a female governor.
Three of the last four
speakers of the House have been

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women. And Balint is president
of the state Senate. But
even among supporters,

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questions sometimes went
past her qualifications
and to fear of prejudice.

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BECCA BALINT: There
was the sense of, maybe
Vermont first isn't

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ready for a woman in this
role and, second, isn't
ready for a gay woman

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Tonight, together, we all
made history, all of us.

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LISA DESJARDINS: So what's
taken Vermont so long to
elect a congresswoman?

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Michele Swers teaches about
women in politics at Georgetown,
writing two books and a textbook

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on the subject. She says, in
Vermont and elsewhere, it's
a question of opportunity.

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MICHELE SWERS, Georgetown
University: Some of what you
see going on is that it's just

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harder for women, as
nonincumbents running as
challengers in open seat
races to get elected.

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LISA DESJARDINS: Vermont is
a small state with a small
delegation in Congress. Seats

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rarely open. And incumbents
have won every time they
have run since 1998.

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SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT):
I'm proud to be Vermont's
longest-serving senator.

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LISA DESJARDINS: The
state's loan House seat
indirectly opened up

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after Senator Patrick Leahy
announced his retirement
after nearly 50 years.

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MICHELE SWERS: When you're
waiting for somebody to
retire for that long,

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it's a pretty long wait
to get into Congress.

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LISA DESJARDINS: Women account
for slightly more than 50
percent of the U.S. population,

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but are not even 30 percent
of the U.S. House and even
less, about a quarter,
of the U.S. Senate.

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Why? Swers says there
are several factors.

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MICHELE SWERS: Well, there is a
lot of research that shows that
women need to be asked more,

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that they're more reluctant to
throw their hat in the ring.

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LISA DESJARDINS: There
are fewer of them in
state and local offices,

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which feed congressional
primaries. And big
donors are less likely
to write them big checks.

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CHARLES ROBBINS, Stony
Brook University: For
many people, if they see a
woman's name on the ballot,

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that that person would
have to clear a much higher
bar than someone with a
traditionally male name.

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LISA DESJARDINS: Charles
Robbins runs Stony Brook
University's Center for
Changing Systems of Power.

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He says gender bias can be
subconscious and reach down
from one generation to the next,

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making it difficult for
many men and women to
picture a woman in charge.

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CHARLES ROBBINS: The patriarchy

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and the male-dominated
system has influenced
every part of our culture,

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every part of our society. And
no place is that truer than
in government and in politics.

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LISA DESJARDINS: There's
an additional gender

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divide between the country's two
biggest parties. In the House,

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just 16 percent of Republicans
are women. But the figure is
41 percent for House Democrats.

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Jennifer Carroll, a Republican
and former lieutenant
governor of Florida,

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wants to see
conservatives catch up.

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FMR. LT. GOV. JENNIFER
CARROLL (R-FL): The party
itself has not put a
concerted effort in to say,

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we are going to go out
and recruit viable females
to run for office. But
the Democrats have.

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LISA DESJARDINS: Carroll
is a national spokesperson
for Maggie's List,

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a political action committee
that works to recruit and
elect conservative women.

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REP. ELISE STEFANIK
(R-NY): And, Mr. Chairman,
I have a point of order.

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LISA DESJARDINS: She says a
lack of vocabulary within the
GOP doesn't help her cause.

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FMR. LT. GOV. JENNIFER
CARROLL: Female candidates
have a challenge,

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in that you cannot come
out and say, well, elect
me because I'm a female.
The guy is going to say,

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elect me because I'm a
strong guy and I'm going
to go fight for you.

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LISA DESJARDINS: In 2020,
Republican women had
their best showing ever in

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the House and now have more
than doubled their previous
number from 15 to 35.

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FMR. LT. GOV. JENNIFER
CARROLL: We saw that we
needed to get our conservative

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female candidates over
the finish line in the
primaries to compete in
a general election. If

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you don't win the primary,
you're not even going to make
it to the general election.

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LISA DESJARDINS: This
100 years after Montana
elected the country's
first woman to Congress,

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Jeannette Rankin. The
state has yet to send its
second woman to Washington,

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as Vermont is poised
for its first.

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BECCA BALINT: I hope I'm making
it easier for the next person
to come up. That's what I hope.

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LISA DESJARDINS: Meanwhile,
women's gains in Congress

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and state legislatures aren't
matched at the highest rungs.

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MICHELE SWERS: When it comes
to governors, people seem to
trust women more as legislators.

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Legislature is a more of
a consensus-building type
of position. And executive
leadership is harder.

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LISA DESJARDINS: Nineteen
states still haven't
elected a woman as governor.

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Nancy Pelosi remains the
only woman elected to
lead either chamber of
Congress. And, while Kamala

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Harris is second in command, the
country is still waiting on its
first female commander in chief.

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For the "PBS NewsHour,"
I'm Lisa Desjardins.