Content area
Full Text
(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)
We are indebted to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, the Center for American Women and Politics, David Lowery, and Gerald Wright, who graciously provided data, to Irina Novikova, who ably helped with data collection, and to the anonymous reviewers, whose comments improved the manuscript. We remain responsible for any remaining errors.
When women are not represented in elected bodies in proportion to their numbers in the general population, a case can be made that their exclusion is unjust, that it impairs the quality of general debate and undermines democratic legitimacy (Mansbridge 1999). But more typically, substantive, not descriptive, representation is the reason scholars and activists concern themselves with numbers of women in legislatures. Because they expect women to act differently than their male colleagues, both scholars and activists expect that electing more women to public office will "make a difference" for women in public policy. Studies show that women in public office do tend to support public policy that is women-friendly or even feminist and to give greater legislative attention to women's issues than do their male colleagues (see inter alia Bratton 2005; Carey, Niemi, and Powell 1998; Carroll 1992; Darcy, Welch and Clark 1994; Dodson 2006; Dodson and Carroll 1991; Dolan 1997; Dolan and Ford 1995; Hogan, 2008; Saint-Germain 1989; Swers 1998, 2002; Thomas 1991, 1994; Thomas and Welch 1991; Thomas and Wilcox 1998). But just because women in public office often support different policies than do their male colleagues does not guarantee that their presence leads legislatures to adopt these policies. This study aims to determine if having more women in a state legislature makes a state's policy any more women-friendly.
Women's descriptive representation is linked to their substantive representation through the idea that women will "act for" or on behalf of other women (see Pitkin 1967), as their delegates in the "microcosm" of the legislature. Sharing their group membership means sharing their experiences and policy goals, understanding their perspectives, and prioritizing their issues. Thus, having more women in a legislature will mean that there will be more advocates for a women-friendly policy agenda in a legislature and that more policy reflecting that agenda will be initiated and passed. As Jane Mansbridge writes, "...descriptive representation by...