■ The net gain for women in state legislatures turns out to be modest.

Progress at state level offset by leaders leaving

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Following a record-setting election for women, state legislatures across the country are convening this year with at least 17 new women in top leadership roles.

But those gains are offset by another reality: At least a dozen women who led their legislative chambers or caucuses last year will term out and others will seek higher office or retire.

The bottom line is that women made only modest gains in legislative leadership positions despite the wave of successful female candidates last November.

They will hold at least 34 of the 195 top spots in House and Senate chambers across the country this year, with two spots in the Alaska House still undecided, according to a review by The Associated Press. That’s up slightly from 30 top leadership positions last year.

“The first sort of instinct to hearing that number is, ‘Oh, how disappointing,’” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “But it just totally makes sense, given how people obtain those leadership positions. It’s a process, and it’s not going to turn around in one election cycle with a bunch of new folks at the table.”

Women won election in record numbers to Congress, governorships and state legislatures last November.

With most state legislative sessions starting this month, the AP tracked the lawmakers chosen by colleagues for the top Democratic and Republican positions in each chamber. In most states, that’s the speaker and minority leader in the House or Assembly, and the Senate president and minority leader in the upper chamber.

Women comprise a little over 50 percent of the U.S. population and hold a historical high of 28.6 percent of state legislative seats, up from 25.4 percent last year, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. Yet even with those gains, women hold less than 18 percent of the top legislative leadership spots.

Greater numbers have not necessarily translated to greater political power for women.

Democratic-led Nevada will become the first state with a female majority in the Legislature when the session begins in February. Yet the top leaders of each party in both chambers will be men.

Rich Pedroncelli The Associated Press file In this Dec. 3 photo, freshman Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks and her daughter, Josephine, 2, look at the Assembly Gallery during the Legislative session in Sacramento, Calif.