Publications

The prospects for electing more women governors will be considerably brighter in 2014 than was the case in 2013, according to a new research brief from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). In this edition of "A Closer Look," CAWP reports that with 36 gubernatorial races across the country, 28 women in 19 states have already indicated that they are likely candidates. In contrast, with just two gubernatorial races in 2013, the lone woman candidate was soundly defeated in New Jersey. The brief highlights key races, sets the 2014 elections in the context of past records for women candidates, and outlines the potential impact of having more women governors.

Despite slight gains in congressional representation in 2012, women make up only 18.3% of the United States Congress. Research points to multiple reasons for women's political underrepresentation, including the need for more women to run. But when women do run, how do they fare?

Analyzing nationwide surveys of state legislators conducted by CAWP, More Women Can Run challenges assumptions of a single model of candidate emergence with a relationally embedded model of candidacy. It reorients research on women's election to office and offers strategies for political practitioners concerned about women's political equality. Video of a book talk given by Carroll and Sanbonmatsu available here. 

Drawing on insights from gender, race, and intersectionality research, Sanbonmatsu examines the status of women of color and analyzes the role of parties in shaping their candidacies for statewide elective executive office. While women of color have made important inroads with respect to statewide officeholding, they remain underrepresented as candidates and officeholders in both parties.
 

The movement of women into state-level offices has slowed in recent years after several decades of gains, and following the 2012 elections, the numbers of women in both state legislative and executive branch offices increased only slightly. Efforts to actively recruit women for elected and appointed positions will be critical in determining what the future holds for women in state government.

This chapter analyzes the 2008 Democratic presidential primary to consider the ways in which a male spouse challenges a female candidate’s image as a capable and independent executive.  Dittmar examines the media’s framing of both male and female spouses on the campaign trail and analyzes the extent to which coverage reflects a transgendering, or equal gender valuing, of candidate spouses’ roles. She finds a combination of spousal role evolution and constraint in media frames, simultaneously empowering presidential spouses while attributing greater gender power to the masculine partner – whether candidate or spouse. 

An analysis of women voters and the role they will play in the 2012 elections. 

This paper examines the factors that account for the rapid rise in the number of women legislators in New Jersey, focusing primarily on the time period from 2004 through 2011. Central to the analysis is the question of what it would take to bring about enduring change in a political system characterized by a strong, male-dominated party system like that found in New Jersey.

Analysis of results from an unprecedented nationwide survey of state legislators conducted in 2008 by the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

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.