CAWP in the News

  • Candidate Recruitment and Women's Election to the State Legislatures

    by Kira Sanbonmatsu
    Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 2003, 47 pages

    This report points out that where women run is a critical but overlooked question in studies on women’s successes in running for office. The report finds that candidate emergence and recruitment differs across states. To varying degrees, party recruitment, beliefs about women’s electability, interest groups, and the presence of women legislators, women leaders, and women’s organizations in a state all play a role in the likelihood of a woman running for the legislature.

    Report
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Political Parties
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment
  • Are US Women Legislators Accountable to Women? The Complementary Roles of Feminist Identity and Women’s Organizations

    by Susan J. Carroll
    2003, 14 pages

    This report was prepared by Susan J. Carroll, senior CAWP scholar, for a conference held at St. John's College, University of Manitoba, in May, 2003. While we have considerable evidence that women legislators give greater priority to women’s issues than their male colleagues, we know less about why they do so. What is the process underlying the substantive representation of women by women legislators? Why does the representation of women by women legislators happen? This paper examines these questions with particular attention to the role of women’s organizations and networks.

    Report
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Civic and Political Activism
    Impact of Women Public Officials
  • Women and American Politics: New Questions, New Directions

    Edited by Susan J. Carroll 
    Oxford University Press, 2003, 262 pages

    This volume presents a research agenda, developed by leading scholars of American politics, suggesting directions that could fruitfully shape the study of women and American politics in the early twenty-first century. Contributors suggest approaches, methods, and topics for future research on political recruitment, campaign strategy, money, political leadership, parties and women's organizations, the gender gap in voting and public opinion, media, women of color, and participation outside of conventional electoral politics.

    Book
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Political Parties
    Civic and Political Activism
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment
    Gender and Race/Ethnicity
    Women Voters and the Gender Gap
  • "Have Women State Legislators In the United States Become More Conservative?: A Comparison of State Legislators in 2001 and 1988"

    by Susan J. Carroll, Atlantis 27:2(2003): 128-139. 

    Carroll finds that: Women state legislators in the United States in 2001 are more liberal in their political ideology and policy attitudes than their male colleagues, just as they were in 1988. Nevertheless, a notable change is evident in the ideological predispositions of Republican Party women, especially in the lower houses of the legislatures. Republican women representatives in 2001 are more conservative and more like their male counterparts than they were in the late 1980s.

    Article
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    State Legislature
  • Gender, Political Ambition, and the Initial Decision to Run for Office

    by Richard L. Fox 
    Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 2003, 14 pages 

    Funding for this report was provided by the Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University. The report sheds light on how women and men think about running for office and the manner in which their attitudes will affect the future prospects of gender parity in U.S. governing bodies. Fox concentrates his research on factors such as age, party affiliation, personal income, external support, and notoriety.

    Article
    Research
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Candidate Recruitment