Predominantly Women? Sponsorship And Promotion Of Elementary And Secondary Education Policy In The House Of Representatives

Abstract

Background: In 1954, the ruling on Brown v. Board opened the door to future federal involvement in education policy. This imitative began in earnest with the National Defense Education Act of 1958 and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Objective: This study analyzes to what extent subsequent pieces of legislation were introduced and furthered by Congresswomen in the House of Representatives from the 93 rd -114 th Congresses. It also performs a case study analysis of No Child Left Behind. This thesis presents two main hypotheses. H1 -for all 22 Congresses studied, Congresswomen will sponsor proportionally more education bills on average than Congressmen. H2 -women will make up a greater proportion of the members of the education committee than they do members of Congress in a particular Congress. Methods: During my interrogation of these hypotheses, I used data from the Congressional Bills Project, voteview.com, and Charles Stewart's Congressional Data Page. Results: Descriptive analysis did not show support for H2, as women were not more likely to serve on the education committee. As for H1, Congresswomen, over the 22 Congresses, did not consistently support education more than men. As the Congresses progressed, political party became a more consistent predictor of education bill sponsorship, with Democrats sponsoring more elementary and secondary education legislation. Conclusion:The findings of this thesis are in line with current scholarship that identifies partisanship as the dominant predictor of legislative activity.