Women in State Political Parties

Matthews, Morgan

doi:10.1177/1536504220950405

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As the party binary became more clearly defined in terms of the issues parties support, partisanship also became associated with gendered stereotypes and a disparate gender composition in parties’ voters and elected representatives (Box‐Steffensmeier et al. 2004; Matthews 2020; Winter 2010). Given these outcomes, the institutionalization of gender divisions in the demographics of each party’s chosen leaders and gendered meanings in the process of legislative party politics—which this paper calls gender polarization —demands deeper investigation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizational Roots of Gender Polarization in the State Legislature

Matthews

2021

Sociological Inquiry

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Political institutions in the United States have become increasingly polarized. This paper asks how gender has been part of party polarization’s institutionalization and what consequences gender has on relations of power in increasingly divisive legislative work. Drawing on interviews with 21 New Hampshire state representatives and archival legislative and committee leadership records, I analyze the process and changing meanings of partisanship in the everyday work of the legislature. As this state’s moderate conservative caucus disbanded and the Republican Party lost its long‐standing control, more divisive Republican alliances masculinized legislative politics as combative. Meanwhile, the newly competitive Democratic Party began to actively showcase women as party and committee leaders. State representatives’ accounts demonstrate the gendered meanings and consequences of party polarization in the legislative workplace beyond what is captured by traditional measures of ideological polarization. These findings show how gender polarization produces new forms of institutionalized political inequalities in the hierarchical legislative workplace.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%