The Ruth B. Mandel Dissertation Research Awards were established in honor of our founding director, Ruth B. Mandel, whose leadership was critical in building CAWP into a national center with multi-faceted research, education, public service, and information programs, helping to define and build the field. The Mandel Awards support dissertation research on women, gender, and U.S. politics and are $2,000 each in value.
Learn more about the Ruth B. Mandel Dissertation Research Awards here, and learn more about Ruth’s remarkable life here.
2023 Ruth B. Mandel Dissertation Award Recipients
The New Congressional Black Caucus: Differentiating Divisions within the CBC
Abstract: The CBC boasts a record membership of 58 members, representing 13% of the House of Representatives– proportional to the population of Black US citizens. At its founding in 1971, Shirley Chisolm was the only Black woman in Congress, and today, women represent more than half or 53 percent of the Caucus. The Caucus’s growing influence has produced prominent leadership positions within the Democratic Party. However, the Caucus’s high membership has also revealed more significant heterogeneity and ideological diversity, evidenced by the ideological caucuses Black members join. Such ideological diversity has exacerbated tension within the CBC by signaling a divide between moderate, older veterans and progressive, young newcomers like Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Summer Lee (D-PA), the first Black women to serve their states in Congress, whose policy stances on social issues diverge. As redistricting and retirement occur, there are growing concerns that the CBC may no longer represent a distinctive Black voice in Washington as members are more ideologically divided today.
By analyzing ideological differences between legislators, my work investigates how the intersectional representation of individual members' behavior reshapes the collective narrative of Black interests and the community's growing demands. Skeptical of the way political scientists have measured the political behavior of Black lawmakers and their representation of Black interests, I propose an improved and more robust measure of Black legislative behavior that includes membership in ideological caucuses, bill sponsorship, communication avenues, and rhetoric to provide a nuanced portrait of how members of the CBC pursue and advocate for Black interests. I anticipate this project will offer a new model of Black policy positions that broadens the horizon of Black representation by bridging the gap between social identity, ideological preferences, and substantive representation.
Karra McCray Gibson is a fourth-year PhD candidate in American politics at Brown University. Her dissertation examines ideological differences among members of race-based caucuses. Karra has worked with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies to co-author the 2018 "Racial Diversity Among Top U.S. House Staff" and "Black Representation Among Commissioned Officers in the Biden White House" reports. Karra holds a master's in Black politics from Howard University and a bachelor’s in political science and English from the University of South Carolina.
The Mominees’ Dilemma: The Raced-Gendered Experience of Moms Running for Office
Abstract: 7% of the current House representatives in Congress are moms of children under 18, 2% of whom are non-white. While this is a record number, this is still severely underrepresented compared to the share of population who are mothers with young children (17.8%), and Black, Latina, and other race/ethnic minority mothers remain even more underrepresented compared to their national demographic. Thus, there are far fewer moms in formal political positions of power compared to their share of the population. In my project, I ask how does the identity of motherhood intersect with racial/ethnic identities of women candidates to shape their political opportunities? I argue that there are specific opportunities and constraints afforded to mothers which may vary based on their racial and partisan status. To date, this hypothesis has been difficult to test, as much of the experimental research in political science that has looked at moms running for office generally use white candidate photos or do not indicate racial status, and subsequently we know very little about moms of color running for office. I investigate this question using a mixed method approach including a qualitative set of case studies, interviews (time permitting) and a survey experiment. This project does not intend to claim causality between mechanisms; but rather trace potential mechanisms at work using an intersectional lens. The goal of the project is to gain insight into the psychology of candidate and voter preferences when it comes to the identity of motherhood. By the end of the project, I expect to have a baseline of (1) which motherhood strategies are most salient for congressional candidates, (2) if/how these strategies vary by candidate factors(race/partisanship), and (3) which strategies are successful among different voter attributes. Preliminary findings suggest diverging patterns of how motherhood is presented based on a candidate’s racial background.
Michelle Irving is a PhD candidate at Rutgers University. She studies women and politics with a regional focus on American and Canadian politics. Her research focuses on the intersection of parenthood in politics, candidate emergence, and political psychology. She works with voter behavior surveys and experiments to analyze how gender, parenthood, and race influence voter perceptions of political candidates. She currently holds the graduate editorial assistant position for the journal Politics & Gender and has previously worked as a graduate research assistant for the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). She is also a recipient of a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. Prior to graduate school, she worked in government communications in Canada, has an MA in political science from Memorial University and BA in communications from Simon Fraser University.
Intersectional Stereotyping and Voter Bias: The Impact of Mammy, Jezebel, and Sapphire Stereotypes on Black Women Candidates
Abstract: According to research on women in politics, voters use stereotypes when evaluating female candidates. For example, voters perceive female candidates as more compassionate but less assertive than male candidates. Research on racial resentment and Black candidates has found a similar finding. Voters believe that Black candidates are more compassionate and competent regarding welfare and civil rights issues but less competent regarding military and foreign policy. However, little research has been conducted on voters’ perceptions of Black female political candidates. This project investigates how historical stereotypes of Black women influence voters’ assessments of Black female political candidates. Leveraging an experimental vignette, I find that historical stereotypes of Black women (e.g., angry and hypersexual) influence voters’ assessments of Black female candidates. The study seeks to fill a gap in the literature by investigating how intersecting race and gender stereotypes influence voters’ perceptions of Black women candidates.
Rana B. McReynolds is a doctoral student in political science at the University of California, Davis. Her research focused on intersectionality and political behavior. Rana examines how voters’ perceptions of minority and women candidates shape vote choice, candidate incentives, and policy outcomes. She also studies gender discrimination, sexism, and misogynoir. Rana’s dissertation project examines how a voter’s level of ambivalent sexism and racial resentment influences their evaluations of Black women candidates.
Marginality in the Movement: The Effect of Intersectionality on Activist Strategies
Abstract: Under what conditions does intersectionality influence the strategies of women of color activists? Social identities are crucial for social movement organizations (SMO), serving as one of the strongest mobilizers for movement participants. Activists utilize group identities to recruit and retain participants (Polletta and Jasper 2001), similarly, the social identities of the movement’s recognized activists are important for mobilization processes. People tend to expect prominent figures to hold more privileged identities such as whiteness or masculinity (Rosette, Leonardelli, and Phillips 2008; Scott and Brown 2006). Between discrimination from within movements (Hurwitz 2019) and outside the organization, leaders with multiple marginalized, or intersectional, identities face tremendous challenges in leading activist organizations.
I argue intersectional activists take resistance against their intersectional identity into account in their strategizing and therefore prefer more moderate tactics rather than techniques considered radical. I speculate this includes a hesitation to include demands focusing on women of color issues specifically, into their organizing for fear of backlash. Preliminary results demonstrate women of color activists experiencing discrimination tend to agree to prioritize appealing to broader audiences.
Crystal Robertson is a political science PhD candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a master's degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research examines the role of social identities and their intersections in political engagement within social movements. More broadly, her research interests include racial politics, Black-Latinx inter-group relations, intersectionality, Black feminist politics, and social movements. Her dissertation scholarship seeks to understand women of color's experiences in activist organizations and the role of public opinion in their leadership. Her work has been published in the American Political Science Review, Political Behavior, and The Washington Post.