Overview

Women, Politics, and Power provides a clear and detailed introduction to women’s political participation and representation across all branches of government and a wide range of countries and regions. Using broad statistical overviews and detailed case-study accounts, authors Pamela Paxton, Melanie M. Hughes, and Tiffany D. Barnes document both historical trends and the contemporary state of women’s political strength across diverse countries. The text considers experiences of women from a range of marginalized groups, including racial, ethnic, and religious minorities; indigenous peoples; and those that face discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Readers will learn about cultural, structural, political, and international influences on women’s access to political power, about the old and new barriers women continue to face like violence, and about the difference women make once in political office. Dedicated chapters on six geographic regions highlight distinct influences and patterns in different parts of the world. There is simply no other book that offers such a thorough and multidisciplinary synthesis of research on women’s political power around the world. The fifth edition includes the latest information available on women in politics around the world, including current events as they have unfolded across the globe. The newest thinking in the field is presented, including on violence against women in politics and intersectional approaches.

Full Product Details

Author:   Pamela Paxton ,  Melanie M. Hughes ,  Tiffany D. Barnes
Publisher:   Rowman & Littlefield
Imprint:   Rowman & Littlefield
Edition:   Fifth Edition
ISBN:  

9781538184202

ISBN 10:   1538184206
Pages:   596
Publication Date:   07 January 2025
Recommended Age:   From 18 to 22 years
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Preface About the Authors 1Introduction to Women in Politics  Arguments for Women’s Representation in Politics  The Story of Mukhtar Mai: Village Council Justice  Wife Beating in Nigeria: De Jure versus De Facto Law  Standing Against Party: The Sister Senators of South Carolina Resist a Total Abortion Ban  Justice Arguments for Women’s Representation  Utility Arguments for Women’s Representation  A Brief Overview of Women’s Participation in Politics  Orienting Theories  Power  The Dimensions of Power: An Example  Gender and Gender Stratification  Gender and Power Concepts: Patriarchy, Public versus Private, and Intersectionality  Feminist Institutionalism  Overview of the Book  2Women Struggle for the Vote: The History of Women’s Suffrage  Suffrage in the United States  Women’s Suffrage and the US Constitution  Gender Transgressions at the Polls in Early America Women and the Antislavery Movement: The Struggle Begins  The Leadership, Organization, and Tactics of the Early Suffrage Movement  Black Women and the US Suffrage Movement  The State Suffrage Movement: Why the West Was Best  Partnering with the Progressive Movement  Opposition to Women’s Suffrage  Women Gain the Vote: The Events Leading to the Passage of the 19th Amendment  Suffrage Movements outside the United States  Movement Size, Composition, and Alliances  Goals and Ideology  Movement Opposition  Tactics and Level of Militancy  Women’s Suffrage after 1945  Women Exercising Their Vote  3Positions and Pathways: Women’s Representation in Government  Government Structures and Positions of Power  Women Presidents and Prime Ministers  Paths to Power for Women National Leaders  Difficulties Faced by Women Leaders  Women in Cabinet Positions  Women in Parliaments  Milestones and Historical Trajectories  Women in Parliaments Today  Women in the Judiciary  Women in Subnational Governments  4Intersectionality and Difference  Thinking Intersectionally  Slower and Lower: Double and Triple Barriers in Politics  Multiple Barriers to Indigenous Women in Politics  Multiple Barriers to Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Intersex People in Politics  The Puzzle of Success: Strategic Opportunities and Complementarity  When Identities Collide: The Rights and Representation of Minority Women  When All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men: Invisibility and Its Political Consequences  But Who Represents Us? Multiple Marginalization and Symbolic Representation  5Explaining the Political Representation of Women: Culture  A Woman’s Place in History: Women in Political Philosophy  A Woman’s Place Today: The Continuing Power of Culture  Regional Differences  Religion  Cultural Attitudes  Culture and Women’s Representation in Politics  Ambition  Role Model Effects  Media  6Explaining the Political Representation of Women: Social Structure  Economic Development  Money  Time  Civic and Political Skills  Education  Work  Networks  Beyond Meritocracy  Violence against Women in Politics  7Explaining the Political Representation of Women: Politics  Democracy  Democratic Leaders Appoint More Women Democracies May Not Elect More Women Democratic Transitions and Backslides Selection Mechanisms  Electoral Systems  Why Are Proportional Representation Systems Good for Women?  Types of Proportional Representation Systems  Are the Same Systems and Rules Good for All Women?  Political Appointments  Cabinet Appointments Judicial Appointments Political Parties’ Characteristics  From Candidate to Legislator  Quotas  What Kinds of Quotas Are There and Which Are Better?  Threshold for Representation  Candidate Quotas, Political Party Quotas, and Reserved Seats  Quotas, Looking beyond Gender  ¡SOY JUANA, No “Juanita”!: Quota Reform in Mexico  Looking beyond National Legislatures  The Adoption of Gender Quotas  Do Quotas Affect Candidate Quality? Can Quotas Disrupt Men’s Power?  8Explaining the Political Representation of Women: International Factors  The International Women’s Movement  Women’s Activism: United Nations, WINGOs, and International Protest  Women’s Activism Increases the Supply and Demand of Women in Politics  Foreign Aid and Women’s Representation  The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women  Armed Conflict and Women’s Access to Power: International Dimensions  9Do Women Make a Difference?  Thinking Differently: Women’s Views on Women and Their Policy Priorities  Acting Differently: Women’s Voting Patterns, Bill Sponsorship, and Appellate Court Rulings  Acting Successfully: Women’s Legislative Effectiveness  Legislating Differently: Women’s Legislative Style  Do Numbers Matter?  Women’s Movements and Women’s Policy Machinery Winning Hearts and Minds: Symbolic Representation  10The West and the United States  The Geography of Women in Politics  Western Industrialized Countries  Success Stories: Early Nordic Growth, Parity, and Imbalanced Cabinets  Backlash: Harassment and Violence Against Woman Politicians   Women in the European Union  Middle of the Pack: The United States  Women in the US Senate and House of Representatives: Growing Slowly  Women in the States  Women in the State Legislature  Women Governors  Women and the American Presidency  I Just Don’t Think She Has a Presidential Look  Explanations—Culture  Explanations—Structure (Eligibility)  Explanations—Politics  Gender Gaps in American Politics  Party Affiliation  Voter Turnout  Campaign Activities  11Eastern Europe and Central Asia  The Fall of the Soviet Union: Women Fall Too  Variation in Recovery  Explaining Women’s Political Power since 1990  Eastern and Central Europe and the European Union  Populism and the Far-Right Bring Backslides  Women Press Back 12Latin America and the Caribbean  Legacies of Culture in Latin America  Democratization and Women’s Political Empowerment  Women’s Participation in Guerrilla Warfare and Revolutionary Movements  Women’s Participation in Protest Movements  Participation to Representation?  Gender Quotas  Obstacles to Women’s Political Power Women in Subnational Governments Make Big Gains  Setbacks and Challenges for Women in Politics  13Middle East and North Africa  An Overview and Brief History of the Region  What Explains Women’s Underrepresentation?  Why Authoritarian Leaders Grant Women Rights Changes Come to Women of the Gulf Coast Region  Wins for Women in Bahrain  A “Sudden Surge” in the UAE Forces for Change in the Region  Gender Quotas: A Look at Early Adopters  Raising Awareness about Women’s Underrepresentation in Turkey  Women and the Arab Spring  Tahrir Square Brings Little Improvement for Women in Egypt  After the Arab Spring  14Asia and the Pacific  Cultural Influences on Women in Politics in Asia and the Pacific Islands  Confucianism  Honor Culture  Women Voters (Not) Supporting Women Politicians  Family Ties and Clientelism  Party Politics and Local Gender Quotas  Local Gender Quotas in India: Women in the Panchayat Raj  Women in Afghanistan  15Sub-Saharan Africa  Colonialism  One-Party Rule, Democracy, and Democratization  Women, Ethnicity, and Ethnic Politics  Armed Conflict: Devastation Yet Hope?  Increasing the Supply of Women Candidates  Changing Culture  Creating Opportunities and Changing Politics  Gender and the Presidency in Africa 16Where Do We Go from Here? And How Do We Get There?  Where Are We Now?  Where Are We Going?  How Do We Get There?  Furthering Women’s Position in the Social Structure  Influencing Culture  Disrupting Politics as Usual  In Conclusion: What Would a 50/50 World Look Like?  Glossary  References  Index 

Reviews

Women, Politics, and Power is a must-read text for all students and researchers seeking a compact yet thorough summary of the key developments in the field of women's political representation. The book takes a global and intersectional perspective. The chapters cover the latest cutting-edge research, including backlash to women's political empowerment. I use this book for all my gender and politics courses. --Jennifer M. Piscopo, Royal Holloway, University of London Women, Politics, and Power is my go-to course book for undergraduate courses and an essential resource for graduate students and scholars working on gender and politics. It expertly reviews the most cutting-edge research and puts it all in conversation with where the discipline is heading. --Amanda Clayton, The University of California, Berkeley This is the book you want your students to read before class; accessible and comprehensive; engaging and pacy; combining conceptual clarity alongside illustrative empirical examples; and introductory and yet extensively illustrated, substantiated, and evidenced. Women, Politics, and Power is a critical resource too for the lecturer, with its focus in the first section on historical patterns, theories of representation, and intersectionality and difference, followed by a second section that provides global coverage via a deeper regional overview. Its in-text referencing and extensive bibliography enables all readers to thereafter follow their own interests in politics and gender yet further. --Sarah Childs, University of Edinburgh This is the most comprehensive and accessible textbook on women, gender, and politics from a global perspective. The book reflects the state-of-the-art literature and provides powerful vignettes to illustrate key points. Situating women in U.S. politics in a comparative context is an especially useful contribution. --Aili Mari Tripp, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Women, Politics, and Power is my go-to course book for undergraduate courses and an essential resource for graduate students and scholars working on gender and politics. It expertly reviews the most cutting-edge research and puts it all in conversation with where the discipline is heading. --Amanda Clayton, The University of California, Berkeley This is the book you want your students to read before class; accessible and comprehensive; engaging and pacy; combining conceptual clarity alongside illustrative empirical examples; and introductory and yet extensively illustrated, substantiated, and evidenced. Women, Politics, and Power is a critical resource too for the lecturer, with its focus in the first section on historical patterns, theories of representation, and intersectionality and difference, followed by a second section that provides global coverage via a deeper regional overview. Its in-text referencing and extensive bibliography enables all readers to thereafter follow their own interests in politics and gender yet further. --Sarah Childs, University of Edinburgh This is the most comprehensive and accessible textbook on women, gender, and politics from a global perspective. The book reflects the state-of-the-art literature and provides powerful vignettes to illustrate key points. Situating women in U.S. politics in a comparative context is an especially useful contribution. --Aili Mari Tripp, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Author Information

Pamela Paxton is the Linda K. George and John Wilson Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in economics and sociology and her PhD in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has consulted for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Academies. She has intersecting research interests in prosocial behavior, politics, gender, and methodology. She is the author of articles and books on women in politics, nonprofits, and quantitative methodology. Her research has appeared in a variety of journals, including American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Comparative Politics, International Studies Quarterly, and Legislative Studies Quarterly. She is also an author of Nonrecursive Models: Endogeneity, Reciprocal Relationships, and Feedback Loops (2011). Melanie M. Hughes is a professor of sociology, has a secondary appointment in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and is a codirector of the Gender Inequality Research Lab (GIRL) at the University of Pittsburgh. She holds a BA in government and sociology from the University of Texas and an MA and PhD in sociology from the Ohio State University. Her research considers how gender intersects with other forces of marginalization to influence women’s political power. She has published numerous articles on women’s legislative representation cross-nationally in journals such as American Political Science Review, American Sociological Review, European Journal of Political Research, and Politics & Gender. Currently, she is consulting with the United Nations Development Programme to increase the availability of data on women in decision-making positions in public administration. She is also writing a book on the political dominance of men from majority racial, ethnic, and religious groups worldwide. Tiffany D. Barnes is professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. She received a BA in political science from Southwestern University and her PhD in political science from Rice University. Her research focuses on gender and politics, Latin America, and comparative political institutions. Her first book Gendering Legislative Behavior (Cambridge University Press 2016) won the Alan Rosenthal Prize in 2017. Her newest book, Working Class Inclusion (Cambridge University Press 2023) won the Richard F. Fenno Jr. Prize (2024). Her other research appears in journals such as the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, and Politics & Gender. She was awarded the Emerging Scholar Award from the Legislative Studies Section of the APSA and the Early Career Award from the Midwest Women’s Caucus for Political Science. She formerly served as the president for the Midwest Women’s Caucus, editor of Legislative Studies Quarterly, and associate editor at Research & Politics. She is currently an executive editor at the British Journal of Political Science and a series editor for Cambridge Elements in Gender & Politics Series.

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