The power of women

A woman did not finally win the White House in November, but other women fill posts in which they are important influences in American politics.

Whether in their preferences at the ballot box or in running for elected office themselves, women exert blunt and heavy political force.

Yet that force tapped the brakes in the past election cycle. Not only did women fail to shatter the glass ceiling for the highest office in the land, but they also did not increase the number of congressional seats held by women, 104, which was reached in the 2014 midterm elections.

Twenty-one women joined the 115th Congress in January as senators and 83 as representatives. That is one fewer in the Senate and one more in the House than in the 114th Congress.

Most experts had predicted that Democratic female candidates would prevail over Republican rivals, such as Katie McGinty over Sen. Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, and bring their Senate number to 24. They fell short at 21, including a defeated McGinty.