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It is well established that the race and gender of elected representatives influence the ways in which they legislate, but surprisingly little research exists on how race and gender interact to affect who is elected and how they behave once in office. This book takes up the call to think about representation in the United States as intersectional, and it measures the extent to which political representation is simultaneously gendered and raced. Drawing on original data on the presence, policy leadership, and policy impact of Black women and men, Latinas and Latinos, and White women and men in state legislative office in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, this book demonstrates what an intersectional approach to identity politics can reveal.
List of contents
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: The Political Geography of Descriptive Representation
- Chapter 3: Conceptions of Group Interests and the Links between Descriptive and Substantive Representation
- Chapter 4: Race-Gender Policy Leadership
- Chapter 5: Explorations in Intersectional Policymaking
- Chapter 6: Welfare Policy Outcomes: Comparing Single-Axis and Intersectional Approaches
- Chapter 7: Conclusion
- References
- Appendix
About the author
Beth Reingold is Professor of Political Science and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Emory University.
Kerry L. Haynie is Dean of Social Sciences and Professor of Political Science and African and African American Studies at Duke University.
Kirsten Widner is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee.
Summary
It is well established that the race and gender of elected representatives influence the ways in which they legislate, but surprisingly little research exists on how race and gender interact to affect who is elected and how they behave once in office. How do race and gender affect who gets elected, as well as who is represented? What issues do elected representatives prioritize? Does diversity in representation make a difference?
Race, Gender, and Political Representation takes up the call to think about representation in the United States as intersectional, and it measures the extent to which political representation is simultaneously gendered and raced. Specifically, the book examines how race and gender interact to affect the election, behavior, and impact of all individuals. By putting women of color at the center of their analysis and re-evaluating traditional, "single-axis" approaches to studying the politics of race or gender, the authors demonstrate what an intersectional approach to identity politics can reveal. Drawing on original data on the presence, policy leadership, and policy impact of Black women and men, Latinas and Latinos, and White women and men in state legislative office in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, each chapter shows how the politics of race, gender, and representation are far more complex than recurring "Year of the Woman" frameworks suggest. An array of race-gender similarities and differences are evident in the experiences, activities, and accomplishments of these state legislators. Yet one thing is clear: the representation of those marginalized by multiple, intersecting systems of power and inequality is intricately bound to the representation of women of color.
Additional text
Drawing on a wealth of quantitative and qualitative data, Reingold, Haynie, and Widner demonstrate the importance of centering intersectionality and women of color in the study of political representation. They convincingly demonstrate the tremendous impact of women of color in their capacity as policy leaders and agenda-setters, as well as their role in mitigating some of the more punitive aspects of welfare-reform in the late 1990s. It is a must-read for anyone interested in how race and gender identity shapes the election, behavior, and impact of state legislators.
