Conventional descriptions of how New Jersey women secured the right to vote in the late eighteenth century, and of the extent to which they took advantage of that right, tend to be incomplete. Moreover, the subsequent disenfranchisement of women was not principally a product of corruption in an 1807 Essec County referendum, as some maintain, as much as it was the result of a shift in the balance of power within the state.

This chapter presents an alternative approach to the standard ambition model of candidacy. The authors analyze state legislators’ decisions to seek elective office using the 2008 and 1981 CAWP Recruitment Studies. The analysis reveals that a traditional model of ambition, in which candidacy is self-initiated, offers a less adequate account of how women reach office than of how men do so. The authors argue for an alternative model of candidacy, one that seems to apply more often to women than to men, that recognizes running for office as an embedded decision.

This chapter investigates the pathways that women of color have taken to statewide elective executive office. Though underrepresented, a sufficient number of minority women have reached statewide executive office to make possible an initial analysis. The traditional scholarly focus on either race alone or gender alone has often obscured the situation of women of color. Yet, previous scholarship has shown that minority women’s access to office and pathways into office often differ from their male and White female counterparts. The chapter shows the gains of women of color, identifies patterns in their pathways to office, and explores the

This chapter examines how the contemporary women's movement posed a challenge to the entrenched system of patriarchal relations that characterizes Western societies and the socialization processes that help maintain that system. Carroll describes the feminist movement as an agent of political socialization. 

This chapter evaluates the role of women state legislators and women's organizations in representation of women and women's culture in the United States.

This chapter assesses the political careers of women elected officials and offers suggestions for future research in this area.

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

This chapter examines the ways that various gender stereotypes influenced the strategies employed by the 2008 campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, the media’s coverage of their campaigns, and public reactions to the candidates.  It begins with a brief historical review of women’s efforts to run for president and vice president, focusing largely on major party candidates.  It then provides short overviews of the backgrounds and accomplishments of both Clinton and Palin before turning its attention to several major gender stereotypes and the ways these stereotypes affected their campaigns.

This chapter focuses on the history and treatment of women as presidential and vice-presidential candidates.  It begins with an overview of the pioneering women who have dared to step forward as presidential or vice-presidential candidates throughout American history.  It then turns to the 2008 campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, analyzing the ways that gender stereotypes influenced the strategies they employed, the media’s coverage of their campaigns, and public reactions to their candidacies. It also examines Michele Bachmann’s 2012 primary campaign, asking whether the pioneering candidacies of Clinton and Palin altered the path

This chapter provides an overview of scholarship examining the behavior and influence of women voters in United States history, from the fight for suffrage to the emergence of gender gaps in vote choice, voter preferences, and voter turnout. Dittmar exposes and explains gender differences between men and women voters, as well as among women, and discusses how those differences influence the electoral process. This chapter introduces subsequent chapters in the volume that analyze gender differences in specific issue areas such as guns and crime, abortion, and the role of government.