Publications

A general overview on the effect of term limits on the numbers of women in elective office.

This report examines the political work of women legislators in the 103rd and 104th congresses as they attempted to transform their commitment to represent women into law. 

This article finds that "contrary to the expectation of term-limit advocates and many scholars, the number of women serving in term-limited statehouse seats actually decreased following the 1998 and 2000 elections."

This monograph reports on a November, 1999 CAWP meeting to examine preliminary data on the impact of term limits on women’s representation and to explore how women might capitalize upon the political opportunities created by term limits.

This chapter examines the efforts by women members to influence the provisions and the fate of welfare reform in the 104th Congress. 

This report examines Elizabeth Dole's bid for the Republican presidential nomination and the ways in which gender bias affected media coverage.

This report assesses the extent to which women members of Congress see themselves and act as surrogate representatives for women who may live beyond the borders of their districts. (Data based on larger CAWP report on women members of the 103rd and 104th Congresses.)

The predominance of the soccer mom frame in coverage of the 1996 presidential election campaign helps to explain why the largest gender gap in the history of voting in the U.S. and strong support for Bill Clinton among women voters did not translate into substantially increased political clout for most activists who claim to represent women's interests. Instead of empowering feminist and other women's organizations, the soccer mom news frame actually led to the disempowerment of most women through its narrow portrayal of women voters and their interests. 

In April 1994, CAWP convened a group of 79 scholars, researchers, political practitioners, and activists to help identify existing gaps in our knowledge, discuss the reasons for the gaps, and imagine the kinds of research projects needed to address unanswered questions in our understanding of women's political behavior.

This report examines how the women in the 103rd Congress acted to shape the content of legislation, to build support for bills, and to create a political environment in which they could effect change.