Speaking for the Underrepresented in the House of Representatives: Voicing Women's Interests in a Partisan Era

Abstract

We ask whether women's descriptive representation in Congress enhances women's substantive representation through speechmaking on the House floor. Much of the research on women's substantive representation has focused on members' votes for and sponsorship of “women's issues” legislation. We depart from this research by systematically analyzing how members' gender and partisan identities affect gendered rhetoric in their floor speeches. In an era marked by significant increases in the number of congresswomen and partisan polarization, understanding the interactive effect of gender and partisanship on women's representation is particularly important. In an analysis of more than 30,000 speeches from 1993 to 2008, we find that when members speak about issues of their choosing during one-minute speeches, and during specific legislative debates over the most important policies considered on the House floor, congresswomen in both parties are significantly more likely than men to discuss women, enhancing women's representation.

The Application of Social Role Theory to the Study of Gender in Politics

“…We have reviewed work examining the behavior of citizens and elites, but social role theory could also be extended to studying the behavior of men and women elected to office. There are numerous studies that demonstrate that male and female lawmakers differ in their legislative approaches and outputs (e.g., Anzia & Berry, ; Frederick, ; Lazarus & Steigerwalt, ; Pearson & Dancey, ; Swers, ; Volden et al, , to name a few). A political psychology approach could extend this research by examining the extent to which male and female politicians conform to or deviate from their gender roles once elected.…”

Women's authority in political decision-making groups

“…In other words, women's ability to occupy formal positions of power does not easily follow from women's rising numbers in a decision-making group. This disparity is partly the result of partisan differences in women's representation: at both the state and national level, the gender gap in women's representation is much greater in the Republican Party than in the Democratic Party (Carroll & Sanbonmatsu, 2013;Pearson & Dancey, 2011b;Sanbonmatsu, 2002;Wolbrecht, 2000). So when Republicans hold power, as they do in the current Congress, an especially large gender disparity in leadership positions may be expected.…”

“…For example, Pearson and Dancey (2011b) find evidence that among both Democrats and Republicans, women literally speak differently from men, raising the needs of women much more often when they give speeches on the floor of the House (see also Hall, 1996; but see Gerrity et al, 2007). Similarly, Osborn and Mendez (2010) show that female senators are more likely than their male counterparts to make floor speeches about issues of direct relevance to women, such as family and women's health.…”

“…14 Pearson and Dancey (2011a) show that even after controlling for political party, women were also significantly more likely than men to give one-minute floor speeches and to give speeches in advance of important floor votes taken in the 103rd and 109th Congresses. The researchers hypothesize that such floor speeches are a response to the challenges faced by women working in an institution heavily dominated by men and where other paths to influence might be obstructed, but regardless of the specific motivation, the results 14 Party leaders exercise little gatekeeping over one-minute speeches (Pearson & Dancey, 2011a, 2011b. Speakers are granted time in the order in which they arrive on the floor, with parties alternating turns.…”

The Impact of Women Legislators on Humanitarian Military Interventions

“…Women are also more likely to vote for stricter laws related to gender violence like laws on domestic abuse, sexual assault and rape, and on foreign women's rights policies (Childs 2006;Swers 2006). 6 Women legislators across parties are more likely to discuss women's interests in floor debates (K. Pearson and Dancey 2011). Women legislators also tend to vote more as a block when it comes to these issues (Swers 1998(Swers , 2002Dolan 1997).…”