Women in Congress Do They Act as Advocates for Women’s Issues?

Abstract

Abstract A central question about women officeholders is whether they make a policy difference in office. Michele L. Swers and Carin Larson offer compelling evidence that female members of Congress have been more likely than men to advocate for women’s issues bills, particularly feminist bills, throughout the legislative process. It is true that the prevailing political environment, such as the Democratic-controlled 103rd Congress and the Republican-controlled 104th, affects the extent to which women demonstrate their support. In particular, women’s commitment to women’s issues is mediated by both the party in power and their position in the institution, such as their status as members of the majority or minority party and their committee positions, but changing political winds have not eradicated their commitment. Whether it is bill introduction, committee markup. floor scheduling, or floor action, women are instrumental at all stages of the process, and their energy, effort, and effectiveness is demonstrable.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 28 citations exist upstream.