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Since the publication of the first edition of this book, former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun's campaign for the presidency in 2004 and the widespread discussion of a run in 2008 by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton have significantly raised the profile of women on the national political stage. At the same time, progress in electing women to the U.S. Congress and state legislatures has stalled. The essays in Women and Elective Office: Past, Present and Future, which feature research on women as political candidates and officeholders, address this paradox. Recruitment patterns, media portrayals, and voter reactions to women candidates are analyzed along with the impact of women in office relative to the challenges they face. The 2nd edition includes increased coverage of women on the congressional level, women officeholders of color, and analysis of women parliamentarians worldwide. In total, Women and Elective Office offers a comprehensive look at the experiences and influence of women politicians today, while considering women's prospects for political leadership in the twenty-first century.
Barbara Burrell presents a comprehensive comparative examination of men's and women’s candidacies for the U.S. House of Representatives in elections from 1994 through 2012. Analyzing extensive data sets on all major party candidates for 10 elections—covering candidate status, party affiliation, fund-raising, candidate background variables, votes obtained, and success rates for both primary and general elections—Burrell finds little evidence of categorical discrimination against women candidates. Women compete equally with men and often outpace them in raising money, gaining interest group and political party support, and winning elections. Yet the number of women elected to the U.S. House has expanded only incrementally. The electoral structure limits opportunities for newcomers to win congressional seats and there remains a lower presence of women in winnable contests despite growing recruitment efforts. Burrell suggests that congressional dysfunction discourages potential candidates from pursuing legislative careers and that ambitious women are finding alternative paths to influence and affect public policy.
Minorities and Representation in American Politics is the first book of its kind to examine underrepresented minorities with a framework based on four types of representation—descriptive, formalistic, symbolic, and substantive. Through this lens, author Rebekah Herrick looks at race, ethnic, gender, and sexual minorities not in isolation but synthesized within every chapter. This enables readers to better recognize both the similarities and differences of groups’ underrepresentation. Herrick also applies her unique and constructive approach to intergroup cooperation and intersectionality, highlighting the impact that groups can have on one another.