Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers found out what generations of Republican women before her have discovered: The glass ceiling on Capitol Hill is real.

The Washington Republican’s bid for House majority leader was over before it even started. After just a few days of phone calls, McMorris Rodgers, 46, formally decided against running for the No. 2 leadership slot, virtually ensuring the top three posts will be held by white men.


McMorris Rodgers will remain as House Republican Conference chair, but that looks like as high as she’ll go in the GOP pecking order. It’s also as high as any woman has ever reached.

While there are more women serving in Congress than ever before, for female Senate and House Republicans, there is no sign that any of them will be party leader anytime soon.

The frustration among some female Republican lawmakers that they haven’t broken through to the most senior ranks of GOP leadership was palpable after McMorris Rodgers decided not to challenge House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and House Budget Chairman Tom Price of Georgia for the position.

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a fellow Washington state Republican, said the House GOP “missed a golden opportunity, and I think we will pay for that.”

“As the first Hispanic from Washington state, as a young female who is a Republican — so I fit all the minority boxes — absolutely,” said Beutler, when asked whether she was hopeful that women could eventually break into the top three leadership slots.

“My message to her was to continue to do an awesome job at the conference and — you know what? — 18 months from now we are going to revisit this question,” Herrera Beutler said she told McMorris Rodgers. “It’s not like she is a handicap. We’re not talking about affirmative action here. We are talking about someone who would benefit us.”

McMorris Rodgers declined to comment for this article. “The best way right now for me to empower my colleagues through positive change is to remain conference chair,” she said in a statement explaining her decision not to run for majority leader.

McMorris Rodgers has struggled to gain widespread support in the conference. She doesn't have a large delegation behind her and Republican women lawmakers haven't been eager to make gender an issue.

Still, female Republicans on Capitol Hill face major hurdles — now and in the future — when it comes to rising up the leadership ranks.

Out of 21 full committees in the House, Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) is the only woman wielding a gavel. But Miller, who was appointed to that position by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), will retire at the end of this Congress. She was defeated by Texas Rep. Mike McCaul in a 2012 race to become head the Homeland Security Committee.

Other women in GOP leadership include Reps. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Lynn Jenkins of Kansas, who serve as secretary and vice chair of the conference, respectively.

In the Senate, Sens. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) serve in the appointed poisition of counsel to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Senate Energy Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is the sole woman atop a full committee. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) serves as chairwoman of the Special Committee on Aging.

House Democrats have been led for the past dozen years by Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Reps. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Donna Edwards of Maryland are co-chairs of the Steering and Policy Committee, appointed by Pelosi. Additionally, eight female Democratic lawmakers hold the ranking member position on full committees.

In the Senate, Patty Murray (D-Wash.) is conference secretary and also ranking member on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Female Democratic senators serve as ranking member on nine full committees.

Overall, there are 65 Democratic women in the House, including three delegates, vs. 23 female Republicans, including one delegate. The Senate has 14 Democratic women and six female Republicans.

Still, Democratic senators like Kirsten Gillibrand of New York say they've experienced sexist behavior. In a book she wrote that was published last year, Gillibrand said that male colleagues made comments about her weight.

“It is an old boys’ club without a doubt. We only have 20 women,” Gillibrand said at the time. “But it is what it is. I wouldn’t say it’s sexist, I would say it is reality. It is a very male-dominated industry.”

Some Republicans argue that the dearth of female lawmakers in the highest echelon of leadership ranks is rooted in a broader problem within the GOP, including its difficulty attracting female candidates. They also say female Republican lawmakers have been elected more recently, and therefore haven’t yet risen in the seniority system to chair committees.

Moore Capito, a first-term Republican from West Virginia and a former House member, said McMorris Rodgers’ decision not to run isn’t evidence of limitations for Republican women on Capitol Hill.

“No. It has nothing to do with her being a woman,” Moore Capito said. “It has to do with her evaluation of where she fits best and what’s achievable for her. … From everything I’ve heard, it was very positive. … [Her decision] doesn’t have anything to do with her gender.”

Foxx agreed, saying that Republicans don’t have a “quota” for women in leadership.

“We have to be judged on our talents, not just whether we’re males or females,” the North Carolina lawmaker said in an interview. “I don’t feel any sexism in our conference at all. I think the fact that Cathy will continue as conference chair is great. She provides important leadership in that position.”

Added Miller, “Look, when you have Cathy McMorris Rodgers as conference chair, and you have two other women in leadership with Virginia Foxx and Lynn Jenkins, you have our voices heard.”

Miller conceded, however, that “we don’t have as many elected Republican women as on the Democratic side. I think we have to do a better job of candidate recruitment, I really do. That’s something for all of us to do.”

While current Republican lawmakers are quick to say there isn’t sexism on Capitol Hill, former Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), the only other woman to serve as House Republican Conference chair, said she did encounter gender-related concerns among some of her conservative colleagues about whether she would be able to handle the job while raising a family.

“I had a small child when I ran for conference chairman. It did come up. Not the fact that I was a woman, but that I had children at home,” Pryce said. “I don’t think Cathy would ever do anything that would hurt her children. She would be fine and she could handle all of this. She has even better home support than I did at the time.” McMorris Rodgers has had three children while serving in public office.

Pryce, who said she hadn’t spoken with McMorris Rodgers, added that there are many reasons for deciding not to run for higher elected leadership. In Pryce’s case, voting with leadership hurt her when she represented a swing district.

“There’s all kinds of glass ceilings if you want to call it that — there’s the practical considerations on the home front, there’s the ones in your own district, the good-judgment ones — is this my time or not? And I really do honestly think women consider that more than men do for whatever reasons,” Pryce said.

Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated that Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) is in Republican leadership.