Objective. The purpose of the study is to determine whether elected wo
men are denied access to the power and authority provided by chairing
stars legislative committees by the more numerous males seeking to mai
ntain their hegemony. Methods. The probability that a member will be s
elected to chair a committee in the 99 state legislative chambers is d
ependent on the state, the chamber, the member's party, whether or rio
t the member is in a first term, and the member's sea. State legislati
ve committee chairs are selected from 394 distinct pools, The empirica
l probability of a woman being selected as a committee chair was summe
d across all pools for thc chamber and across all chambers. Results. W
omen were found to be chairing their lair share of committees. This wa
s not affected by the method of chair selection. Women continue to cha
ir a disproportionate number of education, health, and social and huma
n services committees but also chaired their fair share of the importa
nt fiscal committees and were not generally underrepresented among bus
iness committee chairs, Conclusions. So the extent thar committee chai
rs represent successful access to power and authority within the legis
lature, and most observers think they do, then women have gained their
fair share.