WOMEN IN POLITICS MATTERS

Does the under-representation of women in politics matters?

Does the under-representation of women in politics matters

Introduction

A number of studies have found that women know more, care more, and talk more about politics when they see more women running for and occupying public office in their state or congressional district. At the same time, the rising number of women in political leadership appears to have had little or no impact on men's interest in politics. Although some studies (Atkeson 2003; Hansen 1997; Koch 1997) suggest these effects may be limited to particularly gender salient or competitive electoral environments, scholars have been quick to point out how better numerical or descriptive representation of women in politics can not only mobilize women in the electorate but also close long-standing gender gaps in political involvement. Burns, Schlozman, and Verba (2001, 354-55; hereafter referred to as BSV), for example, estimate that if everyone lived in a state with just one woman on the ballot for governor or U.S. senator, the gender gap in political interest and information would be reduced by more than half. This increase in women's psychological engagement with politics, in turn, could have a substantial impact on women's political activity and corresponding gender gaps. According to BSV, if there were ever gender parity among state-wide political elites, the gender gap in citizen participation would disappear almost completely.

These studies confirm the arguments of contemporary democratic/feminist theorists who advocate greater descriptive representation as a way to empower and mobilize historically disadvantaged groups (Dovi 2002; Mansbridge 1999; Phillips 1995; Williams 1998). Empirically, this research also reveals important, gendered links between political representation and civic engagement. Scholars are now recognizing that the impact of women running for and holding public office may go beyond the composition and behavior of political elites and may extend to the political attitudes and behavior of ordinary citizens. Similarly, this new line of research expands our understanding of the varying levels of citizens' engagement in politics by looking beyond individual characteristics and resources to the cues embedded in the larger political context-especially those cues that speak to legacies of political disenfranchisement and marginalization.

The two most recent contributions (Dolan 2006; Lawless 2004), however, find that the links between women's descriptive representation and political engagement are more apparent than real. Notably, both studies call attention to the potentially confounding role of party. Lawless (2004) suggests that what we thought was the effect of gender congruence (in this case, between women in Congress and women in the electorate) was really the effect of party congruence. Dolan (2006) not only controls for party congruence (between congressional candidates and voters), but also investigates the possibility that female Democratic candidates have more powerful effects on women's political attitudes and behavior than do female Republican candidates. In the end, she finds that regardless of party, female candidates rarely have an impact on political involvement.

Discussion

There are several reasons to expect that one's "taste" for politics (Verba, Schlozman, and Brady 1995) may depend, at least in part, ...