Download or read book More Women Can Run written by Susan J. Carroll and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-02 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women remain dramatically underrepresented in elective office, including in entry-level political offices. While they enjoy the freedom to stand for office and therefore have an equal legal footing with men, this persistent gender imbalance raises pressing questions about democratic legitimacy, the inclusivity of American politics, and the quality of political representation. The reasons for women's underrepresentation remain the subject of much debate. One explanation--that the United States lacks sufficient openings for political newcomers--has become less compelling in recent years, as states that have adopted term limits have not seen the expected gains in women's office holding. Other accounts about candidate scarcity, gender inequalities in society, and the lingering effects of gendered socialization have some merit; however, these accounts still fail to explain the relatively low numbers. Drawing upon original surveys conducted in 1981 and 2008 by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) of women state legislators across all fifty states, and follow-up interviews after the 2008 survey, the authors find that gender differences in pathways to the legislatures, first evident in 1981, have been surprisingly persistent over time. They find that, while the ambition framework better explains men's decisions to run for office, a relationally embedded model of candidate emergence better captures women's decision-making, with women's decisions more often influenced by the encouragement and support of parties, organizations, and family members. By rethinking the nature of women's representation, this study calls for a reorientation of academic research on women's election to office and provides insight into new strategies for political practitioners concerned about women's political equality.
Download or read book The Difference Women Make written by Michele L. Swers and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2002-09-15 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if there were more women in Congress? Providing the first comprehensive study of the policy activity of male and female legislators at the federal level, Michele L. Swers persuasively demonstrates that, even though representatives often vote a party line, their gender is politically significant and does indeed influence policy making. Swers combines quantitative analyses of bills with interviews with legislators and their staff to compare legislative activity on women's issues by male and female members of the House of Representatives during the 103rd (1993-94) and 104th (1995-96) Congresses. Tracking representatives' commitment to women's issues throughout the legislative process, from the introduction of bills through committee consideration to final floor votes, Swers examines how the prevailing political context and members' positions within Congress affect whether and how aggressively they pursue women's issues. Anyone studying congressional behavior, the role of women, or the representation of social identities in Congress will benefit from Swers's balanced and nuanced analysis.
Download or read book Representing Women written by Beth Reingold and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2003-07-11 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women in public office are often assumed to "make a difference" for women, as women--in other words, to represent their female constituents better than do their male counterparts. But is sex really an accurate predictor of a legislator's political choices and actions? In this book, Beth Reingold compares the representational activities and attitudes of male and female members of the Arizona and California state legislatures to illuminate the broader implications of the election and integration of women into public office. In the process, she challenges many of the assumptions that underlie popular expectations of women and men in politics. Using in-depth interviews, survey responses, and legislative records, Reingold actually uncovers more similarities between female and male politicians than differences. Moreover, the stories she presents strongly suggest that rather than assuming that who our representatives are determines what they will do in office, we must acknowledge the possibility that the influence of gender on legislative behavior can be weakened, distorted, or accentuated by powerful forces within the social and political contexts of elective office.
Download or read book Sisters in the Statehouse written by Nadia E. Brown and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Theories of descriptive representation that keep identity constant over time and context fail to account for the substantive work of minority women legislators. Sisters in the Statehouse addresses this gap in the literature by utilizing humanistic inquiry to examine the connection between descriptive and substantive representation in the case of Black women legislators. This link hinges on how such legislators see the effects of their own race-gender identity on their legislative work. By combining humanistic and social science techniques, such as feminist life histories, elite interviews, and participant observation in conjunction with legislative case studies as well as bill sponsorship data, I present a fuller description of how identity informs Black women state legislators' descriptive and substantive representation. Linking personal narratives to political behavior, my study elicits the feminist life histories of African American women legislators to understand how their experiences with racism and sexism have influenced their legislative decision-making and policy preferences. I reveal several distinctions that inform the legislative work of these legislators to provide a broader perspective that exemplifies how an intersectional approach can enhance our understanding of political representation"--
Download or read book Representing Women written by Mercedes Mateo Diaz and published by ECPR Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work discusses questions on political participation, representation and legitimacy in the European Union national parliaments. Three major empirical questions structure the book: What affects women's presence in parliaments?, Does the number of women in parliament have an effect? And are women in parliament representing women? Empirical evidences show that institutional reforms need a 'minimal environment' in terms of socio-economic development so as to prove effective. As opposed to the critical mass theory, claiming that a few representatives cannot have an impact on the political outcomes, here the empirical evidences suggest that smaller groups can also influence the different components of the legislative process. The last part turns to the fundamental question of whether a parliament that is descriptively representative, i.e. in which the parliamentarians share certain characteristics with the voters, also is a substantively descriptive parliament, i.e. in which the parliamentarians mirror the voters' opinions.
Download or read book How Women Legislate written by Sue Thomas and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1994 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The number of women in public office increased dramatically in recent elections, especially in state legislatures where one-fifth of the seats are now held by women. How Women Legislate offers a uniquely comprehensive and timely study of the effects women have had on legislation and thelawmaking process, analyzing the differences between women's and men's backgrounds before entering public office, and differences in their agendas, priorities, working styles, and leadership once they are in office. Arguing that there is a significant difference in legislative outcomes when thenumber of women in a given legislature reaches a certain threshold, the author provides one of the first analyses of the overall effects of women on the laws that are passed and on the way legislative business is done.
Download or read book More Women Can Run written by Susan J. Carroll and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-19 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book advances a new approach for understanding women's election to office, proposing a relationally embedded model of candidate emergence. Analyzing nationwide surveys of state legislators, the authors challenge assumptions of a single model of candidate emergence and the necessity for women to assimilate to men's pathways to office.
Download or read book The Impact of Women in Public Office written by Susan J. Carroll and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2001-11-12 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[A] well-integrated volume by...one of the best known political scientists working on women and politics.... [It] includes contributions by leading scholars in the field, and provides a well-written and accessible overview of the impact of women in office at every level..." -- Pippa Norris, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University "This [book] will be the standard-bearer not simply because it contains most of the early research in the field but more importantly, because of the wide-ranging scope and diversity of the research and the subsequently nuanced and contextualized arguments presented."-Beth Reingold, Emory University In recent years the numbers of women serving in public offices at various levels of government have increased markedly. Is the increasing presence of women in public office making a difference? Are women public officials having a distinctive impact on public policy and the political process? These questions are central to the studies in The Impact of Women in Public Office. These studies examine the impact of women public officials serving in various offices and locales at local, state, and national levels. They are the product of a large, coordinated research project sponsored by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University and funded by the Charles H. Revson Foundation. The subjects of these studies range from a single, very prominent U.S. Senator, who served in Congress from the early 1940s to the early 1970s, to local council members in a New Jersey county in the 1980s. They include state legislators from across the country. The research presented in this volume offers compelling evidence that women public officials do have a gender-related impact on public policy and the political process. Nevertheless, context matters; these studies demonstrate that the impact of women public officials varies considerably across political environments. Finally, the research in this volume suggests that identification with feminism and/or of particular racial or ethnic group also influence how and to what extent women public officials are making a difference. Contributors include Edith J. Barrett, Susan Abrams Beck, Janet K. Boles, Susan J. Carroll, Debra L. Dodson, Lyn Kathlene, Elaine Martin, Nancy E. McGlen, Meredith Reid Sarkees, Janann Sherman, Sue Thomas, Sue Tolleson-Rinehart, and Susan Welch.
Download or read book How Women Represent Women written by Tracy L. Osborn and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-22 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title argues that political parties fundamentally structure the ways in which women legislators represent women's interests. Using original election, sponsorship and roll call data across the US state chambers, Osborn shows how parties shape the policy alternatives women offer.
Download or read book Women of Congress written by Marcy Kaptur and published by CQ-Roll Call Group Books. This book was released on 1996 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the history of women legislators in Congress, providing an overview of the achievements and progress of women in the House and Senate during three separate periods in history, and including the personal stories of congresswomen who served in each different era.
Download or read book Gendering Legislative Behavior written by Tiffany Barnes and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-07-04 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using interview evidence and archival data from Argentina, the book examines why and when women collaborate in Congress.
Download or read book Women Take Their Place in State Legislatures written by Anna Mitchell Mahoney and published by . This book was released on 2018-11 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investigating the opportunities, resources, and frames that women utilize to create legislative caucuses
Download or read book Women Legislators in Central America written by Michelle A. Saint-Germain and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2009-03-16 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the years between 1980 and 1999, in the midst of war and economic crisis, a record number of women were elected to national legislatures in Central American republics. Can quantitative increases in the presence of elected women in Central America produce qualitative political changes? In this detailed study, Michelle A. Saint-Germain and Cynthia Chavez Metoyer explore the reasons for this unprecedented political rise of women, and what effect it has had on the region. Focusing on Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, the authors analyze national and regional indicators to evaluate various hypotheses concerning the reasons for women's electoral success in the region, as well as to make comparisons with findings from other world regions. They find that the election of more women depends on three things: the presence of a crisis, a pool of politically experienced women, and a culture of gender consciousness. They also compare the characteristics of Central American women legislators to women in other national legislatures around the world. The authors document how elected women have used their policy-making power to begin to change the lives of all Central Americans, women and men alike. In more than seventy-five in-depth, personal interviews, these women legislators reflect on their lives, political careers, and gender identities in their own words, providing deep insights into recent events in this region.
Download or read book Gender Politics and Institutions written by M. Krook and published by Springer. This book was released on 2010-12-07 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political institutions profoundly shape political life and are also gendered. This groundbreaking collection synthesises new institutionalism and gendered analysis using a new approach - feminist institutionalism - in order to answer crucial questions about power inequalities, mechanisms of continuity, and the gendered limits of change.
Download or read book The Right Women written by Malliga Och and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2018-01-18 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful exploration of the role of women in the Republican Party that enhances readers' understanding of gender representation in the GOP and suggests solutions to address the partisan gender gap. Why is the Republican Party dominated by men to a far greater extent than its primary rival? With literature on conservative women in the United States still in its infancy, this book fills an important gap. It does so by examining Republican women as distinct from their male Republican and Democratic female counterparts and also by exploring the shifting role of Republican women in their party and in politics overall. The book brings those subjects together in one volume that will provide fascinating reading to students, scholars, and anyone else interested in U.S. politics. The analysis is presented in four parts, beginning with a look at the role of women as voters and activists in the GOP. The second section explores the process of candidate emergence, tackling the question as to why so few women run as Republicans and why those who do are less successful than their Democratic female and Republican male counterparts. In the third part, the contributors shed light on Republican women in Congress and state legislatures and their behavior as lawmakers. The final section assesses the outcome of the 2016 election for Republican women in general and, specifically, for Carly Fiorina, the only female candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Each section of the book concludes with a short "guide to action" that takes the insights set forth and applies them to suggest ways to promote a greater involvement of women in the Republican Party.
Download or read book Women and Elective Office written by Sue Thomas and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-09-02 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the publication of the first edition of this book, former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun's campaign for the presidency in 2004 and the widespread discussion of a run in 2008 by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton have significantly raised the profile of women on the national political stage. At the same time, progress in electing women to the U.S. Congress and state legislatures has stalled. The essays in Women and Elective Office: Past, Present and Future, which feature research on women as political candidates and officeholders, address this paradox. Recruitment patterns, media portrayals, and voter reactions to women candidates are analyzed along with the impact of women in office relative to the challenges they face. The 2nd edition includes increased coverage of women on the congressional level, women officeholders of color, and analysis of women parliamentarians worldwide. In total, Women and Elective Office offers a comprehensive look at the experiences and influence of women politicians today, while considering women's prospects for political leadership in the twenty-first century.
Download or read book Women Transforming Congress written by Cindy Simon Rosenthal and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 554 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the first to one of the most recent--Jeannette Rankin (Montana, 1916) to Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York, 2001)--only two hundred women have ever served in the U.S. Congress. Have these relatively few women changed the predominantly masculine institution in which they serve? Have women as voters, activists, staff, and members made a difference? Edited by Cindy Simon Rosenthal, Women Transforming Congress examines the increasing influence of women on Congress and the ways in which gender defines and shapes Congress as a political institution. Written by women in politics and leading scholars on Congress, the essays in this volume go beyond the limitations of prior research through their diverse analytical approaches and singular historical breadth. The volume follows women on the campaign trail, in committee rooms, in floor debate, and in policy deliberations where previously the focus was on men’s interests and activities. A gallery of photographs showing notable women from their earliest years of involvement with Congress to the present complements the essays.
