Friday, June 02, 2006

En-Gendering Choice in Congressional Leadership Elections

Abstract: Women today serve in the U.S. Congress in greater numbers than ever before and congresswomen are climbing the leadership ladder with greater frequency. In spite of this apparent progress, signs of resistance and the problem of invisibility persist both in the institution and the political science literature. Women in congressional leadership are exceptional, in three senses of the word being a rare occurrence, deviating from the norm, and being held to higher standards and expectations.

The goals of this paper are: 1) to recount the status of and obstacles for women in congressional leadership, 2) to analyze the media coverage of recent elections involving contested Democrat and Republican Party congressional leadership elections, 3) to pose some questions and implications for the study of women in congressional leadership, and 4) to argue for more analyses of gender in congressional leadership elections. Institute of Governmental Studies. Paper WP2006-26. University of California, Berkeley

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