Research
Research
The Status of Black Women in American Politics 2014
By the Center for American Women and Politics for Higher Heights Leadership Fund, 2014
Authored by Kelly Dittmar, Ph.D, Assistant Research Professor, Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University
This comprehensive report provides a historical outline of black women’s struggle for political representation and discusses the current landscape of political leadership for black women across the country as well as their growing political influence. It demonstrates the need for greater engagement, recruitment, and inclusion of black women in politics and government.
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.
More Women Can Run: Gender and Pathways to the State Legislatures
by Susan Carroll and Kira Sanbonmatsu
Oxford University Press, September 2013, 176 pages
Analyzing nationwide surveys of state legislators conducted by CAWP, More Women Can Run challenges assumptions of a single model of candidate emergence with a relationally embedded model of candidacy. It reorients research on women's election to office and offers strategies for political practitioners concerned about women's political equality. Video of a book talk given by Carroll and Sanbonmatsu available here.
Women in State Government: Historical Patterns, Recent Trends, Future Prospects
by Susan J. Carroll
Chapter in The Book of the States, edited by The Council of State Governments, 2013
The movement of women into state-level offices has slowed in recent years after several decades of gains, and following the 2012 elections, the numbers of women in both state legislative and executive branch offices increased only slightly. Efforts to actively recruit women for elected and appointed positions will be critical in determining what the future holds for women in state government.
Preparedness Meets Opportunity: Women's Increased Representation in the New Jersey Legislature
by Susan Carroll and Kelly Dittmar
Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
July 2012, 40 pages
This paper examines the factors that account for the rapid rise in the numbers of women legislators in New Jersey, focusing primarily on the time period from 2004 through 2011. Central to the analysis is the question of what it would take to bring about enduring change in a political system characterized by a strong, male-dominated party system like that found in New Jersey.
Women’s Pathways to America’s State Legislatures
by Kira Sanbonmatsu
Scholars Strategy Network Key Findings
Analysis of results from an unprecedented nationwide survey of state legislators conducted in 2008 by the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.
Women in State Government: Past, Present, Future
by Susan J. Carroll
Chapter in The Book of States, edited by the Council of State Governments, 2011
In recent years, the movement of women into state-level offices has slowed following several decades of gains. Following the 2010 elections, the number of women in both state legislative and statewide elective office declined. Efforts to actively recruit women for elective and appointive positions will be critical in determining what the future holds for women in state government.
Can More Women Run? Reevaluating Women’s Election to the State Legislatures
by Susan J. Carroll and Kira Sanbonmatsu
Paper presented at the 2010 American Political Science Association annual meeting
Do men and women take similar or different paths to public office? This paper examines the occupational and educational backgrounds, family situations, and prior political experiences of women state legislators and their male counterparts.
Poised to Run: Women's Pathways to the State Legislatures
by Kira Sanbonmatsu, Susan J. Carroll, and Debbie Walsh
Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 2009, 31 pages
Poised to Run presents the initial findings of a 2008 CAWP study that asked women and men in state legislatures about their routes to elective office.
Gender and Elections: Shaping the Future of American Politics, 2nd Edition
Eds. Susan J. Carroll, CAWP, Rutgers University and Richard L. Fox, Union College, New York
Cambridge University Press, 2009 Second Edition, 314 pages
The 2nd edition of this textbook describes the role of gender in the American electoral process through the 2008 elections. Tailored for courses on women and politics, elections, and gender politics, it strikes a balance between highlighting the most important developments for women as voters and candidates in the 2008 elections and providing a deeper analysis of the ways that gender has helped shape electoral politics in the United States. Individual chapters demonstrate the importance of gender in understanding presidential elections, voter participation and turnout, voting choices, the participation of African American women, congressional elections, the support of political parties and women's organizations, candidate communications with voters, and state elections. This updated volume also includes new chapters that analyze the roles of Latinas in U.S. politics and chronicle the candidacies of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin.