Research and Scholarship

CAWP research and research by CAWP scholars that addresses emerging questions about American women's political participation. 

  • Preparedness Meets Opportunity: Women's Increased Representation in the New Jersey Legislature

    by Susan Carroll and Kelly Dittmar
    Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 
    July 2012, 40 pages

    This paper examines the factors that account for the rapid rise in the number of women legislators in New Jersey, focusing primarily on the time period from 2004 through 2011. Central to the analysis is the question of what it would take to bring about enduring change in a political system characterized by a strong, male-dominated party system like that found in New Jersey.

    Report
    New Jersey
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Political Parties
    Candidate Recruitment
    State Legislature
    DownloadPreparedness Meets Opportunity: Women's Increased Representation in the New Jersey Legislature

  • Women’s Pathways to America’s State Legislatures

    by Kira Sanbonmatsu
    Scholars Strategy Network Key Findings

    Analysis of results from an unprecedented nationwide survey of state legislators conducted in 2008 by the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

    Article
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Candidate Recruitment
    State Legislature
    Access the PDF

  • When Protest Makes Policy: How Social Movements Represent Disadvantaged Groups

    by S. Laurel Weldon, professor of Political Science, Purdue University
    University of Michigan Press, 2011, 244 pages

    This book is part of the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics published by the University of Michigan Press in association with CAWP. Political theorist S. Laurel Weldon demonstrates that social movements provide a hitherto unrecognized form of democratic representation, and thus offer a significant potential for deepening democracy and overcoming social conflict. 

    Book
    Research
    CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics
    Civic and Political Activism
    Order the book

  • Gender Stereotypes and Gender Preferences in American Politics

    by Kira Sanbonmatsu and Kathleen Dolan
    Chapter in Improving Public Opinion Surveys: Interdisciplinary Innovation and the American National Election Studies, Eds. John H. Aldrich and Kathleen M. McGraw. Princeton University Press, 2012

    Book Chapter
    Research
    CAWP Scholar
    Candidates and Campaigns
    Women Voters and the Gender Gap
    Congress
    Order the book

  • The Paradox of Gender Equality: How American Women's Groups Gained and Lost Their Public Voice

    by Kristin A. Goss, assistant professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Duke University
    University of Michigan Press, 2012, 256 pages

    This book is part of the CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics published by the University of Michigan Press in association with CAWP. Goss charts the scope and trajectory of American women's policy agendas and collective engagement in public policy-making from the 19th-century suffrage movement through the present day.
     

    Book
    Research
    CAWP Series in Gender and American Politics
    Civic and Political Activism
    Order the book