A compilation by Rutgers University finds Connecticut ranked in the top 10 in the percentage of women winning state legislative seats in 2012: With women winning 53 of 187 seats, the new General Assembly will be 28.3 percent female.
Colorado topped the list at 40 percent. South Carolina was at the bottom with 10 percent.
Women won 8 of 36 state Senate seats (22 percent) and 45 of 151 House seats (30 percent) in Connecticut. The new two-year terms begin Jan. 9, the opening day of the 2013 session.
The legislature actually will see the number of women decrease by two in January. In the current term, women hold 47 House seats.
The percentage of women in the General Assembly will be the lowest since 1996, when they held 26.7 percent of the seats. The percentage has hovered around 29 percent for much of the past 15 years, with a high of 32.1 percent in 2010.
In the annual Rutgers survey, Connecticut has ranked as high as second in 1977 and as low as 16th in 2008. When the state ranked second, women held only 20 percent of the seats in the legislature.
Half of the six statewide constitutional offices are held by women, and two of the five U.S. House seats were won by women.