Pushing for parity: Lawmakers from the House Democrats’ Women’s Caucus are pushing Republican committee chairs to add more women as panelists and witnesses, according to a new letter first reported by POLITICO.

“The current lack of gender parity is concerning, and we urge you to seek more women panelists for committee hearings and strive to achieve equal representation of women in the witnesses that come before members of Congress,” wrote Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) along with Women’s Caucus chair Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) and the group’s vice chairs Reps. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) and Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.).

The percentage of female witnesses had fallen from roughly 52 percent in the last Congress to 31 percent, the lawmakers wrote. And the disparity was even more pronounced on panels like the House Budget Committee, where only 8 percent of their witnesses were women, or the Armed Services Committee, where 12 percent were women.

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