Women have led New York’s City Council — two of them in a row as speaker — for almost 12 years. Some people may be tempted to say it means that female lawmakers in America’s largest city finally have a solid grip on political power. It’s a temptation to be resisted.

The reality is that women in New York City government struggle to be heard in numbers anywhere near their share of the population. They fare badly enough now, filling but 13 of 51 seats — barely 25 percent. After Tuesday’s Democratic primary races, there are bound to be fewer of them in the Council that convenes in January.

Given that Democratic primaries in the city are usually the main event and the November general election is an afterthought, there will probably be, at most, 12 councilwomen. And since the current speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, must leave office under the city’s term-limits law, her leadership position may wind up in male hands.

Glass ceilings are hardly exclusive to New York. In the four next largest American cities, women’s hold on local councils comes, collectively, to just over that same 25 percent. In Los Angeles, they account for 2 of 15 councilors; in Chicago, 13 of 50; in Houston, 4 of 16; and in Philadelphia, 6 of 17. And they’re no better off in most American legislative bodies.