Research & Analysis

This report from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) and the Higher Heights Leadership Fund outlines the status of Black women in American politics as of July 2025.

The final report of the Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2024 project analyzes campaign contributions by individuals to major party candidates, both women and men, who ran at the congressional and state level. Analyses were conducted by candidate gender, party, chamber, and seat status, as well as women’s race/ethnicity.

This report details the numeric gains and sites for stasis for women in congressional, statewide elective executive, and state legislative elections in 2024, with particular attention to differences with men, between parties, and among women of different racial and ethnic groups.

This report from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) was commissioned by Close the Gap California to evaluate the campaign's major contributions toward achieving gender parity in the California Legislature, as well as their possible next steps. With prefaces authored by CTG staff, the report provides best practices and an outline of the campaign's targeted recruitment process that could be adopted elsewhere and at different levels of office.

This report provides a 2025 update to a demographic overview of elected officials serving in New Jersey in a project created by the New Jersey Legislature.

This report provides a 2025 update to a demographic overview of officials appointed to state boards, commissions, and authorities in New Jersey in a project created by the New Jersey Legislature.

This report, produced in collaboration with the Latina Civic Foundation, provides a comprehensive analysis of the disparities, challenges, and opportunities for increased political engagement and representation for Latinas in the state.

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.

The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, releases results for women in this year’s election contests. New Jersey and Virginia held elections for statewide elective executive offices and the lower chamber of each of their

Statewide and state legislative primaries were held on Tuesday in Virginia. Full context about women in the 2025 elections, including candidate lists, summaries, and historical comparisons, is available via the Center for American Women and Politics’ (CAWP) Election Watch . LAST UPDATED: 6/18/2025

Gubernatorial and state legislative primaries were held on Tuesday in New Jersey. Full context about women in the 2025 elections, including candidate lists, summaries, and historical comparisons, is available via the Center for American Women and Politics’ (CAWP) Election Watch . LAST UPDATED: 10/21

Full context about women and voting behavior, including gender differences in voter registration, turnout, and vote choice, is available via the Center for American Women and Politics’ (CAWP) fact pages on voters,

General election contest were held on Tuesday, November 5th. Full context about women in the 2024 elections, including candidate lists, summaries, election results tracker, and historical comparisons, are available via the Center for American Women and Politics’ (CAWP) Election Watch . LAST UPDATED

This book is part of the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics published by the University of Michigan Press in association with CAWP. Melissa Haussman and Karen M. Kedrowski examine how women in higher office must balance feminine stereotypes with exercising their power.

This book is part of the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics published by the University of Michigan Press in association with CAWP. Katherine Tate and Belinda Robnett examine the extent to which gender influences the political policy views and attitudes of women.

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.

This book is part of the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics published by the University of Michigan Press in association with CAWP. Kristin A. Goss examines how women’s civic place has changed over the span of more than 120 years, how public policy has driven these changes, and why these changes matter for women and American democracy.

This book is part of the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics published by the University of Michigan Press in association with CAWP. Greenlee investigates the complex relationship between motherhood and women's political attitudes.

This book is part of the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics published by the University of Michigan Press in association with CAWP. Fridkin and Kenney examine in detail senators' official websites, press releases and local news stories, as well as surveys of citizens to discern constituents' attitudes about their senators.

This book is part of the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics published by the University of Michigan Press in association with CAWP. Barbara Burrell presents a comprehensive comparative examination of men's and women's candidacies for the U.S. House of Representatives in elections from 1994 through 2012.

This book is part of the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics published by the University of Michigan Press in association with CAWP. Political theorist S. Laurel Weldon demonstrates that social movements provide a hitherto unrecognized form of democratic representation, and thus offer a significant potential for deepening democracy and overcoming social conflict.

This book is part of the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics published by the University of Michigan Press in association with CAWP. Goss charts the scope and trajectory of American women's policy agendas and collective engagement in public policy-making from the 19th-century suffrage movement through the present day.