A01=Michele L. Swers
agenda
Author_Michele L. Swers
bills
candidates
Category=JBSF1
Category=JPQ
committees
congress
elections
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eq_society-politics
expertise
female vote
gender
government
law
legislation
legislators
lobbying
nonfiction
partisanship
party affiliation
policy
political science
politicians
politics
press conferences
reproductive right
senate
social welfare
voter expectations
war on women
womens rights
workplace equality
Product details
- ISBN 9780226022826
- Weight: 425g
- Dimensions: 15 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 22 Apr 2013
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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In the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, Democrats and Republicans were locked in a fierce battle for the female vote. Democrats charged Republicans with waging a "war on women," while Republicans countered that Democratic policies actually undermined women's rights. The women of the Senate wielded particular power throughout, planning press conferences, appearing on political programs, and taking to the Senate floor over gender-related issues such as workplace equality and reproductive rights. The first book to examine the impact of gender differences in the Senate, "Women in the Club" is an eye-opening exploration of how women are influencing policy and politics in this erstwhile male bastion of power. Gender, Michele L. Swers shows, is a fundamental factor for women in the Senate, interacting with both party affiliation and individual ideology to shape priorities on policy. Women, for example, are more active proponents of social welfare and women's rights. But the effects of gender extend beyond mere policy preferences.
Senators also develop their priorities with an eye to managing voter expectations about their expertise and advancing their party's position on a given issue. The election of women in increasing numbers has also coincided with the evolution of the Senate as a highly partisan institution. The stark differences between the parties on issues pertaining to gender have meant that Democratic and Republican senators often assume very different roles as they reconcile their policy views on gender issues with the desire to act as members of partisan teams.
Michele L. Swers is associate professor of American government at Georgetown University. She is the author of The Difference Women Make, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
