View Comments Correction & clarification: A prior version of this article misstated the number of female municipal officeholders, details about verification of the data, some location information and a couple of quotes. Women are underrepresented in political office on the municipal level, according to a new report released Thursday by Rutgers University,findings that contradict previously held beliefs that women are more likely to hold office locally than on the state or federal levels. An analysis of census-level data by Rutgers' Center for American Women and Politics — the first university-based center to focus on women's participation in American politics on a national scale — found the percentage of women in municipal office virtually matches that of women serving in state government and in the House of Representatives.