Wisconsin Has Record Number of Female Legislators

Wisconsin Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, is photographed during a state Senate session on June 7, 2023, in the Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison, Wis. Drake White-Bergey/Wisconsin Watch

In January 1925, Wisconsin’s first female legislators – Mildred Barber, Helen M. Brooks and Helen F. Thompson – were sworn in as state Assembly members.

Exactly 100 years later, in January of this year, a record 44 women – 34 in the Assembly and 10 in the Senate – were either sworn in as Assembly members or were already serving in the Senate. It’s the first time women make up one-third of the Legislature.

There was a 30% gain in the number of women legislators in the decade between 2015 and 2025, and a gain of one from the previous session, according to a new report from the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Reference Bureau Analyst Laura Felone Day also tracked legislators’ professions: 16 of the 33 senators, and 43 of the 99 Assembly members, said they were full-time legislators, which pays a salary of about $55,000 and travel and lodging expenses.

The second most reported profession was small-business owner, which was listed by 31 Assembly members.

Serving in local governments, or working as a Congressional or legislative aide, is also common path to the Legislature. According to the report, 14 senators and 53 Assembly members had that experience..

Democratic women made the most gains in the Legislature over the last decade, although Republicans control both houses of the Legislature.

Of the 44 current women legislators, 34 are Democrats, including that party’s leaders in both Assembly and Senate. Of the 10 female Republicans, the most powerful is Senate President Mary Felzkowski.

For the first time, women make up a majority of both Assembly and Senate Democrats – 26 of the 45 Assembly Democrats and eight of the 15 Senate Democrats.

Organized in 2008, Emerge Wisconsin claims to have trained several Democratic women in running for the Legislature. Its website says it offers a “unique opportunity for Democratic women who want to run for public office.”

Emerge says it offers a “70-hour training program that provides prospective women candidates the best practices in fundraising, networking, outreach, field, core campaign communications, endorsements, dealing with the media and more.”

“We train one weekend a month, over six months, there is one weekday session and expect 100% attendance in our program. By participating fully, women graduate with a foundation from which to run a successful campaign.

The Reference Bureau report included these other summaries:

• Senators have an average age of 53; the age range is 31 to 81. Two are attorneys, one is a farmer, and other professions include nurse practitioner, social worker and mental health counselor. Four served in the military. The longest-serving senator is Democrat Bob Wirch, of Kenosha, elected in 1996.
• Assembly members have an average age of 51; the age range is 25 to 71. Six are attorneys, six are farmers and other professions include “chef, gig worker, nutritionist, police officer, professor, realtor, tavern owner, and teacher.” Eleven served in the military and 28 are first-time Assembly members. Milwaukee Democrat Christine Sinicki is the longest continually-serving member, having taken office in 1999.

Who were Wisconsin’s first women legislators?

Mildred Barber was a 23-year-old Republican when she joined the Assembly in 1925. She defeated a Prohibitionist who wanted to ban alcohol – an unpopular position in the Marathon County-area that elected her.

Barber was also famous because she was part of the first father and daughter tandem to serve in any state Legislature. Her father, Joseph, was a doctor elected to the Wisconsin Senate as a Progressive.

Records say Helen Brooks was an “educator” when she was elected in 1924 to represent a Waushara County-based district.

Helen Thompson was a teacher and owner of a Park Falls hotel elected from a Price County-based district in 1924,

In 2023, a Wisconsin Public Radio reporter found this quote from candidate Thompson:

They talk about a woman’s sphere as though it had a limit. There’s not a place in earth or heaven, there’s not a task to mankind given, there’s not a blessing or a woe, there’s not a whispered yes or no, there’s not a life, or death or birth, that has a feather’s weight of worth without a woman in it.

Although the first women legislators joined the Assembly in 1925, it took another 50 years – until 1975 – for the first woman to join the Senate. Democrat Kathryn Morrison, a University of Wisconsin-Platteville economics professor, served one term and helped reform sexual assault laws.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com