A record number of women will serve in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives after sweeping victories in Tuesday's election.

Five new women elected from diverse backgrounds to the Senate will boost the total number of female lawmakers in the upper chamber to a historic level – twenty of 100.

Even with some outcomes still undecided, at least 81 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives will also be women.

Female representation in Congress has now been increased tenfold in the past two decades, according to Emily's List, a liberal political group.

(READ the Reuters story in the Chicago Tribune)