Research and Scholarship

This report is the second in the CAWP Women, Money, and Politics series. Analyzing 2001-2020 campaign contributions data, the report examines attorney general, secretary of state, and treasurer primary elections and general election contests for all statewide executive offices (other than governor and lt. governor). It identifies challenges and opportunities facing women as donors and candidates with analysis of candidate party and race/ethnicity. This is the companion study to our report on gubernatorial elections, The Money Hurdle. This report is made possible through a collaboration with OpenSecrets.

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.

This update from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) and the Higher Heights Leadership Fund outlines the number of Black women in the U.S. Congress at the start of 2021. 

This report is the first in a new CAWP series of reports on the role of money in politics. Analyzing 2000-2018 data from the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP), it examines primary and general election receipts and giving patterns by donor gender, identifying opportunities and challenges for women candidates and women donors. Its focus on gender and giving to gubernatorial candidates is unique.

This article draws on theories of intersectionality and social identity to hypothesize about how different subgroups of women respond to the prospect of electing more "women of color" to Congress.

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 update from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) and the Higher Heights Leadership Fund outlines the status of Black women in American politics in the fall of 2019.

Gender disparities in American politics were not upended in a single cycle, but the 2018 election marked sites of progress as well as persistent hurdles for women candidates. Evaluating the 2018 election in the context of both past and present offers key insights into the gendered terrain that candidates will navigate in 2020 and beyond. In this report, CAWP combines its unmatched data with a review of the latest research on gender, candidacy, and representation to analyze an unprecedented year for women in American politics, identify sites for both destruction and durability of barriers to women, and offer a guide for gender and