Women not well represented in the South

Number of women legislators low in Alabama, Southeast:

...Alabama's percentage of women in the legislature -- 11.4 percent, just above South Carolina's lowest-in-the-nation 8.8 percent -- is still far below first-place Maryland's 34.6 percent and less than half the national average of 22.6 percent.

...The numbers generally are lower in the Southeast, where women make up only 16.5 percent of legislatures in nine states, according to figures from the Women's Legislative Network of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

...Tennessee's state legislature mirrors many other southern states, with just 17.4 percent of females serving.

The national average of 22.6% isn't much better. Which is a shame. Women should have equal representation in government. Besides, as female legislators note in the article, women are seen as better negotiators, tend to be more health-conscious, and have a better perspective on education because they are usually more involved in their children's schools. Those all sound like good progressive values to me.