Understanding the Policy Impact of Electing Women: Evidence from Research on Congress and State Legislatures

Abstract

In the 2000 elections, women continued their slow advance into the halls of political power. Today women constitute 13.6% of the House of Representatives, 13% of the Senate, and 22.3% of state legislatures (Center for American Women and Politics 2000). The underrepresentation of women in politics has provoked concern from media commentators, political activists, and feminist scholars who believe that there is a connection between descriptive representation—being a woman—and substantive representation, the advocacy of women's interests (Mansbridge 1999; Phillips 1995; Pitkin 1967; Sapiro 1981). Predictions of the magnitude of women's impact on the policy process span a wide range. The pressure of frequent elections suggests that all representatives, regardless of gender, will zealously advocate the interests of their constituencies. On the other hand, it is possible that female legislators will devote special attention to the interests of women, children, and families. Additionally, women may exhibit a different style of leadership that will have consequences for the very process by which public policy is made. In this essay, I review the evidence concerning the nature of the policy impact of electing women and I suggest directions for future research.

Gender Inequality in Chinese Politics: An Empirical Analysis of Provincial Elites

“…Second, women legislators are different from their male counterparts. An increasing number of studies conclude that female legislators exhibit different behavioral patterns than men in similar positions (Swers 2001;Thomas 1991). In particular, they tend to prioritize bills related to women's issues, such as abortion, family, and reproductive policies.…”

The Impact of Electoral Reform on Women's Representation

“…priorities (Duerst-Lahti and Kelly, 1995;Karvonnen and Selle, 1995;Dolan, 1997;Swers, 1998Swers, , 2001Tremblay, 1998;Reingold, 2000;Tremblay and Pelletier, 2000;Carroll, 2001). If so, then the under-representation of women in parliament may have important consequences for the public policy agenda and for the articulation of women's interests, as well as for the legitimacy of democratic bodies.…”

The priorities and accomplishments of Kentucky legislators : is there a gender difference?

“…In fact, "gender differences in agenda-setting Allen 11 behavior in some states narrow as the percentage of women in the legislature increases" (Bratton 2002). However, other research indicates that these differences intensify as the number of women in the legislature increases (Swers 2001 Figure 1 could mean that there are even regional differences for the number of women in state legislatures and the reasoning behind that as well.…”

“…To bring women's issues to the forefront, congresswomen are using their committee positions and participating in floor debates on these issues (Swers 2001). While issue specialization seems to help women in Congress be effective legislators, women are less likely to find legislative success than their male colleagues in Congress ).…”

“…Next, some scholars have determined that women legislators have policy differences from men (Thomas 1991). Over time, as the number of women in the state legislature approached a critical mass, the sex differences in the policy priorities of state lawmakers intensified (Swers 2001). On the other hand, researchers have found that even where women make up less than 15% of the membership, they were able to represent women interests effectively, and because of that, they concluded that a critical mass was not necessary for substantive representation by women legislators.…”