Legislating in the First Female Majority State Legislature: Gendered Power,Leadership,and Patterns of Sponsorship and Cosponsorship

Abstract

In 2019, the Nevada Legislature became the first state legislature in the nation to have a majority of female members; that was followed in 2023 by women holding majorities in both houses. Nevada thus offers a first-ever opportunity to study how a legislature is affected by majority female control. In this paper, we examine the implications of Nevada’s female majority for the way the legislature functions, with an emphasis on bill sponsorship and co-sponsorship. Feminist institutional theories suggest that while changes in majority control can undermine traditionally gendered institutional practices, such changes often depend on the work of “critical actors,” particularly those in positions of formal leadership. Drawing on a database of legislator sponsorship and co-sponsorship behavior across six recent legislative sessions (2013–2023), we find evidence that the evolution of women’s legislative power is largely attributable to majorities, rather than to leadership effects.