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Postmaterialism and Post-industrialism: Cultural Influences on Female Representation in State Legislatures Female representation in the United States government has increased dramatically in the last 30 years. The percentage of women in the House of Representative has increased “from 2.3 in 1970 to 12.9 in 2000” (p.1). In the Senate, the percentage has risen from 1.0 to 9.0 during the same time period. As great as these increases may seem, state legislatures however are the most dramatic, rising from a 4.0 percent in 1917 to 22.5 percent in 2000, which is more than a five time increase. In the article “Postmaterialism and post-industrialism: Cultural influences on female representation in state legislatures”, Camobreco and Barnello set out to explain this remarkable increase of female state legislative representation in the United States and provide evidence from strenuous research. Camobreco and Barnello trie to explain the impact on female representation based on the following factors: electoral strucre, college education, postmaterialism, and post-industrialism. The electoral structure that is most influential on women representation is multimember legislative districts. Camobreco and Barnello reason that becau