FARGO - The number of women serving in North Dakota's Legislature has leveled off after seeing a sharp increase during the 1970s and '80s, and one lawmaker says party leaders should start recruiting more college-age women to run for office.

While about half of North Dakota's population is female, women make up about 15 percent of all lawmakers. The National Conference of State Legislatures says that across the country, some 22 percent of state legislators are women.

Lawmakers and political party leaders say it can be difficult to recruit women to seek office.

"It is harder to find female candidates because you've got a number of females who are mothers, and they're working full time besides taking care of their families," said Vern Thompson, director of the state Democratic Party.

Rep. Pam Gulleson, D-Rutland, is a member of the National Foundation for Women Legislators. She agreed that child care is the biggest barrier keeping women from running for office.

"As a society, we have to change our attitudes about supporting women who make this choice and not having a different expectation for them than we do for the men," she said.

Rep. Mary Nester, R-Minot, was appointed to the House a year ago to succeed Rep. Janet Wentz, R-Minot, who died of colon cancer. Nester, 56, said she probably couldn't have taken the job 20 years ago, when she was raising three daughters and working.

"Even when session isn't on, it still takes a lot of your time for meetings and social events," said Nester, who has served on two interim committees since her appointment.

North Dakota broke new ground in 1933 when state Rep. Minnie Craig was elected House speaker. It was the first time in U.S. history a woman held that job.

The number of women in the North Dakota Legislature rose sharply between 1973 and 1989, from five in 1973 to 24 in 1989. Since then, however, the number of women has remained relatively flat, reaching a peak of 26 in 1999 before falling to 21 at the start of the 2003 session.

Democrats have 16 women running for the Legislature on Nov. 2; Republicans have 11. The 2003 Legislature started with nine women Democrats and 12 women Republicans.

Thompson and Jason Stverak, the state GOP director, both say getting more women into the Legislature is a priority. Gulleson said the parties should target politically inclined women in their 20s.

"We have always tried to make sure we have a special emphasis on recruiting women to run for office because we need their views and aspects in the Legislature," Stverak said.

The number of ethnic minorities also is smaller in the Legislature than in the state as a whole. Sen. Dennis Bercier, D-Belcourt, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is North Dakota's lone minority legislator.

The 2000 census shows that 92.4 percent of North Dakotans were white. The next largest category was American Indian or Alaska native, at 4.9 percent. In the current Legislature, 99.3 percent of the members are white.

Bercier, elected to the Senate in 1999, said Indians also have been difficult to recruit for the Legislature.

"For one reason or another, they don't feel like their vote counts. They feel like sometimes the decisions have already been made, so why get involved in the process?" he said.

At least one Indian is likely to join the House after the Nov. 2 election because two of three candidates for the two seats in District 4 are Indians. The district encompasses the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

When the state's legislative districts were last redrawn in 2001, the American Civil Liberties Union unsuccessfully lobbied the Republican-controlled Legislature to establish two or three special House districts for voters on reservations, where Democrats traditionally dominate.