Who run the world?

On the bottom floor of the state Capitol in Santa Fe — beneath the public galleries and art displays — the walls are lined with portraits of former legislators.

Overwhelmingly, those lawmakers were men. The first woman to join their ranks was Bertha Paxton, a Doña Ana County Democrat elected in 1923.

"I just cannot imagine what she went through as the only woman in the House in 1923," said House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe.

Things have changed in the century since Paxton's election. Women now occupy 55% of the seats in the Legislature. New Mexico is second only to Nevada in its percentage of lawmakers who are women.

Current legislators cite another change that coincided with the female majority: The Roundhouse began shifting away from its reputatio

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