Civic and Political Activism

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 report is an overview of the proceedings and outcomes of The White House Conference on Girls’ Leadership and Civic Education, convened by the White House, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Center for American Women and Politics. The conference explored the roots of the signifi cant gender gap in public leadership and sought concrete, immediate ways to change how we educate, entertain and engage young people in order to expand the image of who can and does lead.

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.
 

This CAWP-funded study explores whether gender is salient in civic engagement. For the most part, author Jenkins determines that “[y]oung women and men appear to be receiving the same cues about politics, elected officials, and the political process.” While young men and women appear to behave in a similar fashion, “young women are distinguishing themselves from young men on some key precursors to engagement, particularly attentiveness and knowledge." 

This study finds that political knowledge of one kind--knowledge about the actual level of women's representation--is related to support for having more women in office. Individuals who underestimate the percentage of women in office are more likely than individuals who know the correct percentage to support increasing women's representation. Meanwhile, individuals who overestimate the percentage of women in office are less likely to support increasing women's representation. Ironically, women are more likely than men to overestimate the presence of women in office. 

This report was prepared by Susan J. Carroll, senior CAWP scholar, for a conference held at St. John's College, University of Manitoba, in May, 2003. While we have considerable evidence that women legislators give greater priority to women’s issues than their male colleagues, we know less about why they do so. What is the process underlying the substantive representation of women by women legislators? Why does the representation of women by women legislators happen? This paper examines these questions with particular attention to the role of women’s organizations and networks.

This volume presents a research agenda, developed by leading scholars of American politics, suggesting directions that could fruitfully shape the study of women and American politics in the early twenty-first century. Contributors suggest approaches, methods, and topics for future research on political recruitment, campaign strategy, money, political leadership, parties and women's organizations, the gender gap in voting and public opinion, media, women of color, and participation outside of conventional electoral politics.

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.