Reassessing Descriptive Representation by Women and Men of Color

Abstract

This research uses the concept of intersectionality to help improve understanding of the relationship between race and gender as it pertains to the jurisdictional context of elective offices held by Blacks, Latinos, Asian-Americans, and American-Indians at the subnational level. Utilizing an enhanced version of a comprehensive data set associated with the Gender and Multicultural Leadership Project, we document more substantial evidence of ethnoracial descriptive representation in state and local offices than previously known as well as important variations by race, gender, level/ type of office, and their intersections. To help disentangle the paradoxical position of political women of color, we discuss with three scenarios implications of jurisdictional context on building electoral coalitions across race or gender by women of color.

Running Local: Gender Stereotyping and Female Candidates in Local Elections

“…The representation of minority women at all levels of government is far below parity. And, the underrepresentation of minority women in politics has implications for the substantive representation of minority citizens (Bratton, Haynie, and Reingold 2007; Brown 2014; Lien 2015). Expanding this research to examine how gender and racial stereotypes affect minority women running for local office is a critical next step.…”

Diversity Matters: The Election of Asian Americans to U.S. State and Federal Legislatures

“…A bedrock expectation is that Asian American candidates will find political success where Asian American voters are more numerous (Espiritu 1992; Hardy-Fanta et al 2006; Lai and Geron 2006; Lien 2015; Sadhwani 2022). Recent empirical research on statewide races in California sustains the idea that support from Asian American voters matters, but also that the relationship is highly contextual (Sadhwani 2022).…”

“…Because Asian American voters almost never form a majority, that they succeed politically at all suggests that they must generate crossover appeal, that is, electoral support from other minority groups (e.g., Espiritu 1992; Hardy-Fanta et al 2006; Lien 2015; Sriram and Grindlife 2017; Takeda 2001). A useful and natural benchmark in assessing this is how likely an Asian American official is to hold a district for a given Asian share of the population relative to the share held by members of other minority groups.…”

“…A key exception to this local focus isHardy-Fanta et al (2006), who paint a portrait of minority descriptive representation at local, state, and federal levels circa 2002-4. See alsoHardy-Fanta et al (2016),Lien (2015),Lien, Conway, and Wong (2004) and Phillips (2021).6 For our purposes here, we limit consideration to ethnic-origin "ingroup" and "out-group," and do not theorize or explore heterogeneity across Asian American-origin groups. For more on that dimension, seeSadhwani (2020).…”

The Status of Public Sector Pay Equity for Women of Color in the United States

“…Why would women of color face additional obstacles to pay equity? At the very least, the literature implies that women of color would be descriptively underrepresented even if White women were in power: Descriptive representation is important not only for women in general but also of special and more specific import for women of particular racial and ethnic identities (Lien, 2015). The literature further suggests that this is due to discrimination of a sort that is in addition to that experienced by women in general in the workforce (Breslin, Pandey, & Riccucci, 2017).…”