Do Term Limits Help Women Get Elected?

Objective. We examine the proposition put forward by term limit advocates and some scholars that the implementation of term limits will lead to increases in the numbers of women serving in state legislatures. Methods. Data are examined for all state house races in the six states that implemented term limits in 1998. Results. Although there was some variation across the states, the overall number of women serving in state house seats that were term-limited actually decreased following the election. Conclusions. More research is needed as more states implement term limits in future elections. However, our analysis suggests that term limits, unaccompanied by efforts to recruit women to run for term-limited seats, may be insufficient to increase the number of women state legislators.