Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective is the first comprehensive global text on women in politics. It provides a clear and detailed introduction to womenA s political representation across a wide range of countries and regions, addressing both womenA s parliamentary representation and womenA s ascendance to leadership positions as heads of state or cabinet ministers. Using broad statistical overviews and detailed case-study accounts, the book documents both historical trends and the contemporary state of womenA s political strength across diverse countries. It also reviews and evaluates contemporary debates on why and how womenA s access to political power varies across countries. The facts and figures detailed in the book, combined with its synthesis of existing theory, help to answer questions such as: Why have women succeeded in obtaining political power in some countries and not in others? Why did some countries take decades to elect their first female member of parliament, while others had women in their first legislative meeting? Is America a leader in promoting womenA s political representation, or does it fall behind other countries?There is simply no other book that provides such a thorough and multidisciplinary synthesis of research on womenA s political power from around the world. aa

Table of Contents

List of Figures, Tables, and Maps About the Authors Preface 1. Introduction to Women in Politics Arguments for Women's Representation in Politics A Brief Overview of Women's Participation in Politics Orienting Theories 2. Women's Struggle for the Vote: The History of Women's Suffrage Suffrage in the United States Suffrage Movements Outside the United States The International Women's Movement Women's Suffrage After 1945 3. Women Struggle for Representation: Accessing Positions of Power First Female Members of Parliament Women Access Parliaments: Patterns of Representation Women in Top Leadership Positions Women in Cabinet Positions 4. Explaining the Political Representation of Women - Culture and Social Structure Beliefs Have Consequences: Culture But Who Will Run? Social Structure 5. Explaining the Political Representation of Women - Politics Democracy Electoral Systems Characteristics of Political Parties From Candidate to Legislator Quotas 6. Explaining the Political Representation of Women: Overarching Factors Armed Conflict: Devastation Yet Hope? International Influences 7. Do Women Make a Difference? Thinking Differently: Women's Views on Women and Their Policy Priorities Acting Differently: Women's Voting Patterns and Bill Sponsorship Acting Successfully: Women's Legislative Effectiveness Legislating Differently: Women's Legislative Style Do Numbers Matter? Critical Mass and Women's Impact Women's Movements and Women's Policy Machinery as Alternate Sources of Influence In Summary: What Do We Know? 8. All Regions Are Not Created Equal The Geography of Women in Politics Western Industrialized Countries Eastern Europe and Central Asia Latin America and the Caribbean Sub-Saharan Africa Asia and the Pacific Islands Middle East and North Africa 9. Middle of the Pack: Women and Politics in the United States Women in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives: Growing Slowly Women in the States Women and the American Presidency Explanations Donkeys and Elephants: The Influence of Political Parties The Rise and Fall of the Equal Rights Amendment Gender Gaps in American Politics International Comparisons 10. Where Do We Go From Here? And How Do We Get There? Where Are We Now? Where Are We Going? How Do We Get There? In Conclusion: What Would a 50/50 World Look Like? References Glossary/Index

Author Biography

Pamela Paxton is Professor of Sociology and Government and Christine and Stanley E. Adams, Jr. Centennial Professor in the Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in Economics and Sociology and her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has taught at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Summer Training Program in Advanced Statistical Techniques and has consulted for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She is the author of articles and books on prosocial behavior, women in politics, and quantitative methodology. She lives with her husband, Paul von Hippel, in Austin, Texas. Melanie M. Hughes is a Ph.D. student in Sociology at Ohio State University. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2001 with a degree in Sociology and Government. After coming to Ohio State in 2002, she wrote a master's thesis investigating new explanations for women's parliamentary representation in developing countries. She has also researched the lasting impact of colonialism on women's parliamentary representation. She has won multiple university awards, has presented her work on women in politics at several conferences, and has a number of articles forthcoming in journals such as American Sociological Review and the Annual Review of Sociology. Currently, she is working on her dissertation, which looks at intersectionality through the representation of minority women in national legislatures around the world.