Gender, Race, and Descriptive Representation in the United States: Findings from the Gender and Multicultural Leadership Project

Carol Hardy-Fanta · Pei‐te Lien · Dianne M. Pinderhughes · Christine Marie Sierra

80 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Women Politics & Policy

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Gender Politics and Representation Electoral Systems and Political Participation Gender Diversity and Inequality

Abstract

SUMMARY This research draws on the nation's first comprehensive database of elected leadership of color to provide a multi-cultural, multi-office, and multi-state look at the contours and context of descriptive representation by race and gender and with women of color at the center of analysis. We find that key to the persistent trend of growth in elective office holding of the nation's Black, Latino, and Asian American communities in recent decades is the expanding size of women of color elected officials. Compared to whites, gender gaps in descriptive representation are smaller among nonwhite groups. Although the proportion of nonwhite population may impact the degree of electoral success, we find parity ratios to vary by race, gender, level of office, and state. For example, states that have the highest share of the black population did not produce the highest level of representation of Black women. Finally, we find that gender differences within each race are generally significant, but far greater racial differences are found among men and women of color elected officials–especially at the municipal and school board levels of offices. We conclude that women of color have played a significant role in advancing descriptive political representation of people of color and of women in the United States as a whole.

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References

1966The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups.1967The Concept of Representation 1969The Concept of Representation, by Hanna F. Pitkin 1999Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent "Yes"1973The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups.2012How the Irish Became White 2003Congressional Enactments of Race–Gender: Toward a Theory of Raced–Gendered Institutions 2002Preferable Descriptive Representatives: Will Just Any Woman, Black, or Latino Do?

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