Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-tdptf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-14T19:11:20.989Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Predicting Presence at the Intersections: Assessing the Variation in Women's Office Holding across the States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Becki Scola
Becki Scola*
Affiliation:
St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
*
Becki Scola, St. Joseph's University, 5600 City Avenue, B/L 204, Philadelphia, PA 19131, USA. Email: bscola@sju.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Over the past several decades, women's office holding at the state level has grown substantially, but there is still a large range of electoral service across the 50 states. In this article, I revisit the most common explanations provided by the literature in helping us understand this variation and assess whether these explanations can be effectively applied to different racial/ethnic groups of female legislators. Using data from a 20-year time span, I find that there are differences between the factors that predict white women and women of color's state legislative presence.

Keywords

identity/group politicsgender politicspolitical culturerepresentationelectoral systems
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , September 2013 , pp. 333 - 348
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arceneaux, Kevin. 2001. “The ‘Gender Gap’ in State Legislative Representation: New Data to Tackle and Old Question.” Political Research Quarterly 54:143–60.Google Scholar
Camobreco, John F., and Barnello, Michelle A.. 2003. “Postmaterialism and Post-Industrialism: Cultural Influences on Female Representation in State Legislatures.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 3 (2): 117–38..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caress, Stanley. 1999. “The Influence of Term Limits on the Electoral Success of Women.” Women and Politics 20 (3): 45–63..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, Susan J., and Jenkins, Krista. 2001a. “Do Term Limits Help Women Get Elected?” Social Science Quarterly 82 (1): 197–201..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, Susan J., and Jenkins, Krista. 2001b. “Increasing Diversity or More of the Same? Term Limits and the Representation of Women, Minorities, and Minority Women in State Legislatures.” Paper presented at the American Political Science Association's Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, August 30–September 2.Google Scholar
Carroll, Susan J., and Jenkins, Krista. 2001c. “Unrealized Opportunity? Term Limits and the Representation of Women in State Legislatures.” Women and Politics 23 (4): 1–30..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ceaser, James W., and Saldin, Robert P.. 2005. “A New Measure of Party Strength.” Political Research Quarterly 58 (2): 245–56..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Center for American Women and Politics. 2005. “Women of Color in State Legislatures 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005.” Personal Request. Eagleton Institute for Politics, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, November 2005.Google Scholar
Center for American Women and Politics. 2010a. “Women in State Legislatures 2010.” Eagleton Institute for Politics, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick. http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/levels_of_office/documents/stleg.pdf (accessed May 4, 2013).Google Scholar
Center for American Women and Politics. 2010b. “Women of Color in Elective Office 2010.” Eagleton Institute for Politics, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick. http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/levels_of_office/documents/color.pdf (accessed May 4, 2013).Google Scholar
Collins, Todd, and Moyer, Laura. 2008. “Gender, Race, and Intersectionality on the Federal Appellate Bench.” Political Research Quarterly 61 (2): 219–27..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crenshaw, Kimberle. 1989. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” University of Chicago Legal Forum, 139–67.Google Scholar
Crenshaw, Kimberle. 1991. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review 43 (6): 1241–99..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darcy, R., and Hadley, Charles D.. 1988. “Black Women in Politics: The Puzzle of Success.” Social Science Quarterly 69 (3): 629–45..Google Scholar
Darling, Marsha. 1998. “African-American Women in State Elective Office in the South.” In Women and Elective Office: Past, Present, and Future, eds. Thomas, Sue and Wilcox, Clyde. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 150–62.Google Scholar
Elazar, Daniel J. [1984] 1966. American Federalism: A View from the States. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., Wright, Gerald C., and McIver, John P.. 2007. “Replication Data for: Public Opinion in the States: A Quarter Century of Change and Stability.” UNF:3:42A1SVhk3cWA2Ss5az8zjQ== Gerald C. Wright [Distributor] V1 [Version]. http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/10442 (accessed May 4, 2013).Google Scholar
Fraga, Luis Ricardo, Martinez-Ebers, Valerie, Lopez, Linda, and Ramire, Ricardo. 2005. “Strategic Intersectionality: Gender, Ethnicity, and Political Incorporation.” Paper delivered at the Western Political Science Association's Annual Meeting, Oakland, March 17-19.Google Scholar
Fraga, Luis Ricardo, Martinez-Ebers, Valerie, Ramirez, Ricardo, and Lopez, Linda. 2003. “Gender and Ethnicity: The Political Incorporation of Latina and Latino State Legislators.” Inequality and Social Policy Seminar, John F. Kennedy School of Government, November 10.Google Scholar
Gay, Claudine, and Tate, Katherine. 1998. “Doubly Bound: The Impact of Gender and Race on the Politics of Black Women.” Political Psychology 19 (1): 169–84..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardy-Fanta, Carol, Lien, Pei-te, Sierra, Christine Marie, and Pinderhughes, Dianne. 2007. “A New Look at Paths to Political Office: Moving Women of Color from the Margins to the Center.” Paper delivered at the American Political Science Association's Annual Meeting, Chicago, August 30–September 2.Google Scholar
Hardy-Fanta, Carol, Sierra, Christine Marie, Lien, Pei-te, Pinderhughes, Dianne, and Davis, Wartyna L.. 2005. “Race, Gender, and Descriptive Representation: An Exploratory View of Multicultural Elected Leadership in the United States.” Paper delivered at the American Political Science Association's Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, September 1–5.Google Scholar
Hawkesworth, Mary. 2003. “Congressional Enactments of Race-Gender: Toward a Theory of Raced-Gendered Institutions.” American Political Science Review 97 (4): 529–50..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hero, Rodney E. 1998. Faces of Inequality: Social Diversity in American Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, David B. 1981. “Political Culture and Female Political Representation.” The Journal of Politics 43:159–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogan, Robert E. 2001. “The Influences of State and District Conditions on the Representation of Women in U.S. State Legislatures.” American Politics Research 29:4–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Charles A. 1976. “Political Culture in American States: Elazar's Formulation Examined.” American Journal of Political Science 20 (3): 491–509..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer L., and Fox, Richard L.. 2005. It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Moncrief, Gary, Thompson, Joel, and Schuhmann, Robert. 1991. “Gender, Race, and the State Legislature: A Research Note on the Double Disadvantage Hypothesis.” Social Science Journal 28:481–87.Google Scholar
Nechemias, Carol. 1987. “Changes in the Election of Women to U.S. State Legislative Seats.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 8 (1): 125–142..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norrander, Barbara, and Wilcox, Clyde. 1998. “The Geography of Gender Power: Women in State Legislatures.” In Women and Elective Office: Past, Present, and Future, eds. by Thomas, Sue and Wilcox, Clyde. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 103–17.Google Scholar
Norrander, Barbara, and Wilcox, Clyde. 2005. “Change in Continuity in the Geography of Women State Legislators.” In Women and Elective Office: Past, Present, and Future. 2nd ed., eds. by Sue Thomas and Clyde Wilcox. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 176–96.Google Scholar
Palmer, Barbara, and Simon, Dennis. 2008. Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Philpot, Tasha S., and Walton, Hanes Jr. 2007. “One of Our Own: Black Female Candidates and the Voters Who Support Them.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (1): 49–62..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prestage, Jewel L. 1991. “In Quest of African American Political Woman.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 515:88–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prindeville, Diane-Michele, and Gomez, Teresa Braley. 1991. “American Indian Women Leaders, Public Policy, and the Importance of Gender and Ethnic Identity.” Women and Politics 20 (2): 17–32..Google Scholar
Rule, Wilma. 1990. “Why More Women Are State Legislators: A Research Note.” Western Political Quarterly 43 (2): 432–48..Google Scholar
Rule, Wilma. 1999. “Why Are More Women State Legislators?” In Women in Politics: Outsiders or Insiders? 3rd ed., ed. Lois Duke Whitaker. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, pp. 190–202.Google Scholar
Sanbonmatsu, K. 2002. “Political Parties and the Recruitment of Women to State Legislatures.” Journal of Politics 64 (3): 791–809..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanbonmatsu, K. 2006. Where Women Run: Gender and Party in the American States. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharkansky, Ira. 1969. “The Utility of Elazar's Political Culture: A Research Note.” Polity 2:66–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smooth, Wendy. 2001. “African American Women State Legislators: The Impact of Gender and Race on Legislative Influence.” Doctoral diss. University of Maryland College Park.Google Scholar
Smooth, Wendy. 2006. “Intersectionality in Electoral Politics: A Mess Worth Making.” Politics & Gender 2 (3): 400–14..Google Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 1992. “Legislative Professionalization and Membership Diversity in State Legislatures.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 17(1): 69–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 2007. “Measuring State Legislative Professionalism: The Squire Index Revisited.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 7(2): 211–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Linda Faye. 2001. “The Civil Rights-Black Power Legacy: Black Women Elected Officials at the Local, State, and National Levels.” In Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement, eds. Collier-Thomas, Bettye and Franklin, V. P.. New York: New York University Press, pp. 306–31.Google Scholar
United States Census Bureau. 2000. “United States Census 2000, Summary File 3.” http://www.census.gov/census2000/sumfile3.html (accessed May 4, 2013).Google Scholar
United States Census Bureau. 1990. “United States Census 1990, Summary File 3.” http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DatasetMainPageServlet?_ds_name=DEC_1990_STF3_&_program=DEC&_lang=en (accessed May 4, 2013).Google Scholar