The Impact of Women in Congress
Debra L. Dodson
Abstract
This book explores the complex relationship between women’s presence and impact in two strikingly different, consecutive congresses. Drawing on hundreds of elite interviews and archival information, the case studies of three highly visible policy areas (reproductive rights, women’s health, and health care policy) move beyond the question of ‘Do women make a difference?’ to confront the oft-ignored, contested issues surrounding gender difference and impact: its probabilistic nature, contested legitimacy, and disputed meaning. The analysis enhances understanding of how gendered forces at the ind ... More
This book explores the complex relationship between women’s presence and impact in two strikingly different, consecutive congresses. Drawing on hundreds of elite interviews and archival information, the case studies of three highly visible policy areas (reproductive rights, women’s health, and health care policy) move beyond the question of ‘Do women make a difference?’ to confront the oft-ignored, contested issues surrounding gender difference and impact: its probabilistic nature, contested legitimacy, and disputed meaning. The analysis enhances understanding of how gendered forces at the individual, institutional, and societal levels combine to reinforce and redefine gendered relationships to power in the public sphere, and suggests strategies to strengthen substantive representation of women.
Keywords:
Congress,
descriptive representation,
substantive representation,
women’s impact,
gender difference,
political environment,
reproductive rights policy,
health care policy,
women’s health
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2006 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198296744 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2006 |
DOI:10.1093/0198296746.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Debra L. Dodson, author
Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University
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