Candidate Recruitment

  • Rethinking Women’s Political Power

    by Kelly Dittmar, Ph.D.

    This report examines women’s political power within diverse state political ecosystems and illustrates that increasing women’s political power is a multi-site, multiracial, and bipartisan endeavor.

    Report
    Research
    Candidate Recruitment
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Women Voters and the Gender Gap
    Women and Term Limits
    Gender and Race/Ethnicity
    Elective Office
    Congress
    Statewide Executive
    State Legislature
    Local
  • Measuring Success: Women in 2020 Legislative Elections

    by Kelly Dittmar

    Measuring women’s electoral success means placing 2020 outcomes into historical and contemporary context. That is the work done in this report, where CAWP breaks down 2020 congressional and state legislative data by gender, race, and party; puts this data into historical context, with specific comparisons to the 2018 election; analyzes women candidates’ paths to office and strategies for success; and looks ahead to what 2020 election outcomes mean for the future of women in American politics.

    Report
    Research
    Political Parties
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment
    Gender and Race/Ethnicity
    State Legislature
    Congress
  • Who Runs? The Masculine Advantage in Candidate Emergence

    by Sarah Oliver, Towson University and Meredith Conroy, California State University, San Bernadino
    University of Michigan Press, 2020, 168 pages

    This book is part of the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics published by the University of Michigan Press in association with CAWP. Meredith Conroy and Sarah Oliver focus on the candidate emergence process (recruitment, perceived qualifications, and ambition), and investigate the affects of individuals’ gender personality on these variables to improve theories of women’s underrepresentation in government. 

    Book
    Research
    CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment
  • Candidates Matter: Gender Differences in Election 2016

    by Kelly Dittmar, Ph.D.

    We looked at gender and party differences in candidate numbers and success in election 2016 to better understand why women made so little progress in representation. Our data demonstrates, consistent with research to date, that there appears to be no consistent gender disparity in candidate win rates; the real gender disparities exist in the proportions of women and men running at each phase of the electoral process. These conclusions are consistent across party, though the dearth of women candidates is particularly acute in the Republican party. 

    Fact Sheet
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    A Closer Look
    Political Parties
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment
    Gender and Race/Ethnicity
    State Legislature
    Statewide Executive
    Congress
  • Women’s Decisions to Run for Office: A Relationally Embedded Model

    by Kira Sanbonmatsu and Susan J. Carroll
    Book chapter in The Political Psychology of Women in U.S. Politics, edited by Angela L. Bos and Monica C. Schneider (New York: Routledge, 2016)

    This chapter presents an alternative approach to the standard ambition model of candidacy. The authors analyze state legislators’ decisions to seek elective office using the 2008 and 1981 CAWP Recruitment Studies. The analysis reveals that a traditional model of ambition, in which candidacy is self-initiated, offers a less adequate account of how women reach office than of how men do so. The authors argue for an alternative model of candidacy, one that seems to apply more often to women than to men, that recognizes running for office as an embedded decision.

    Book Chapter
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment
    State Legislature
  • Women in State Government: Still Too Few

    by Susan J. Carroll
    in The Book of the States, Vol. 48 edited by The Council of State Governments (Lexington, KY: The Council of State Governments, 2016).

    In recent years the movement of women into state-level offices has slowed after several decades of gains. Efforts to actively recruit women for elective and appointive positions will be critical in determining what the future holds for women in state government.

    Article
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Candidate Recruitment
    Women Political Appointees
    Impact of Women Public Officials
    State Legislature
    Statewide Executive
  • Officeholding in the Fifty States: The Pathways Women of Color Take to Statewide Elective Executive Office

    by Kira Sanbonmatsu
    Book chapter in Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S. Politics, edited by Nadia E. Brown and Sarah Allen Gershon (New York: Routledge Press, 2016)

    This chapter investigates the pathways that women of color have taken to statewide elective executive office. Though underrepresented, a sufficient number of minority women have reached statewide executive office to make possible an initial analysis. The traditional scholarly focus on either race alone or gender alone has often obscured the situation of women of color. Yet, previous scholarship has shown that minority women’s access to office and pathways into office often differ from their male and White female counterparts. The chapter shows the gains of women of color, identifies patterns in their pathways to office, and explores the

    Book Chapter
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment
    Gender and Race/Ethnicity
    Statewide Executive
  • Encouragement is not Enough: Addressing Social and Structural Barriers to Female Recruitment

    by Kelly Dittmar
    Politics & Gender 2015 (December)

    Invite a woman to run for office. Based on findings that women are most responsive to and reliant on encouragement in making the decision to run for office, this invitation refrain is pervasive among those seeking greater gender parity in U.S. politics. While organizations have sought to provide potential women candidates with training, information, and resources to assist them throughout the recruitment process, a focus on "invitation" can constrain a more complex and comprehensive approach to female candidate recruitment in both research and practice.

    Article
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Candidate Recruitment
  • Why Not a Woman of Color?: The Candidacies of US Women of Color for Statewide Executive Office

    by Kira Sanbonmatsu
    Oxford University Press (September 2015) 

    This review essay focuses on the intersection of gender and race in statewide executive officeholding. The author argues that scholarly neglect of this topic risks naturalizing the dearth of women of color in statewide executive positions, sending the message that it is understandable that women lack access to those offices and/or that such offices aren’t realistically obtainable. Using data from the Center for American Women and Politics, the author examines the status of women of color in statewide offices and state and party patterns in their presence as candidates and officeholders. Directions for future research are suggested. 

    Article
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment
    Gender and Race/Ethnicity
    Statewide Executive
  • Women’s Election to Office in the Fifty States: Opportunities and Challenges

    by Kira Sanbonmatsu
    Book chapter in Gender and Elections: Shaping the Future of American Politics,
    Eds. Susan J. Carroll, CAWP, Rutgers University and Richard L. Fox, Union College, New York
    Cambridge University Press, 2013 Third Edition, pp. 265-287.

    Discussion of the barriers and opportunities women face in seeking state legislative and statewide executive office and the differences across states in women's officeholding. Party is a key factor in understanding women's candidacies and women's representation. 

    Book Chapter
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Political Parties
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment
    State Legislature
    Statewide Executive