As Female Representation Hits New Highs Among States, Constitutions Still Assume Officials Are Male

South Dakota's constitution refers to the governor as a "he."

But for the past six years, the governor was a 'she" - Kristi Noem, the first female to hold the position there. The conservative Republican pushed a constitutional amendment to change the gendered language. But voters rejected the measure in the 2024 general election that also would have been inclusive of nonbinary people.

Across the nation, state constitutions presume officeholders are male, and they increasingly are outdated. This year, a record of 13 women were serving as governor before Noem stepped down to serve in President Donald Trump's Cabinet. In state legislatures, 2,469 women are serving, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

Most states haven't modernized their constitutions to reflect the rise of women in politics. Among those that have are New York's, which became gender-neutral in 2001, and Vermont's, where voters approved a change from "men" to "persons" in 1994.

An effort in Washington state to update the state's constitution died in a legislative committee in 2023. In Connecticut, state Sen. Mae Flexer says she'll make another run at revising the constitution in this year's legislative session. Some states, like Nevada and California, have made changes within their legislatures to refer to lawmakers as assemblymembers instead of assemblymen or assemblywomen.