As the fractious U.S. House of Representatives' Republican caucus has squabbled for three weeks over who should lead it, the group's women members have stayed on the sidelines.

Some of the holdouts say that is a deliberate choice, to avoid what has been a brutal fight that has taken a political toll on many of the group’s top leaders.

“We’re wiser,” said Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a former chair of the Republican House Conference.

Since a small group of party hardliners engineered the Oct. 3 ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the caucus has been through round after round of votes in which 14 of its members have failed to garner the 217 votes needed to win the gavel and lead the group, which holds a narrow 221-212 majority.

Women make up 15% of the voting members of the House Republican party - compared to the 43% of House Democrats - and none have put themselves forward as speaker.