Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T12:46:36.288Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sexism and Gender Bias in Election 2008: A More Complex Path for Women in Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2009

Jennifer L. Lawless
Affiliation:
Brown University

Extract

When Hillary Clinton announced her presidential candidacy, questions about the role of gender in presidential politics immediately surfaced. Would gender stereotyping and sexism pervade the electoral environment? Would the media treat Clinton differently than her competitors in the Democratic primary field? Would Clinton's candidacy mobilize women of all types, simply by virtue of its historic nature? And when Clinton lost the Democratic nomination, new questions quickly arose. Was America just not ready to elect a female president? To what extent did Bill Clinton account for Senator Clinton's successes and failures? How would the 18 million women and men who cast their ballots for Clinton vote in the general election? With so many interesting unknowns, political scientists will likely spend the next several years examining Hillary Clinton's campaign and assessing the extent to which her sex affected her experiences and contributed to her primary loss.

Type
Critical Perspectives on Gender and Politics
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Braden, Maria. 1996. Women Politicians in the Media. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press.Google Scholar
Bystrom, Dianne G., Banwart, Mary Christine, Kaid, Lynda Lee, and Robertson, Terry A.. 2004. Gender and Candidate Communication. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Carroll, Susan and Schreiber, Ronnee. 1997. “Media Coverage of Women in the 103rd Congress.” In Women, Media and Politics, ed. Norris, P.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chaney, C., and Sinclair, B.. 1994. “Women and the 1992 House Elections.” In The Year of the Woman, ed. Cook, E. A., Thomas, S., and Wilcox, C.. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Falk, Erika. 2008. Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Fox, Richard L. 1997. Gender Dynamics in Congressional Elections. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, Richard L. 2006. “Congressional Elections: Where Are We on the Road to Gender Parity?” In Gender and Elections: Shaping the Future of American Politics, ed. Carroll, S. and Fox, R.. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald, and Norris, Pippa. 2003. Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahn, Kim Fridkin. 1996. The Political Consequences of Being a Woman. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Koch, Jeffrey W. 2000. “Do Citizens Apply Gender Stereotypes to Infer Candidates' Ideological Orientations?Journal of Politics 62 (2): 414–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer L. 2004a. “Politics of Presence: Women in the House and Symbolic Representation.” Political Research Quarterly 57 (1): 8199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer L. 2004b. “Women, War, and Winning Elections: Gender Stereotyping in the Post September 11th Era.” Political Research Quarterly 53 (3): 479–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer L., and Fox, Richard L.. 2005. It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer L., and Fox, Richard L.. 2008. “Why Are Women Still Not Running for Public Office?” Issues in Governance Studies 16. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer L., and Pearson, Kathryn. 2008. “The Primary Reason for Women's Under-Representation: Re-Evaluating the Conventional Wisdom.” Journal of Politics 70 (1): 6782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansbridge, Jane. 1999. “Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent ‘Yes.’Journal of Politics 61 (3): 628–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDermott, Monika L. 1997. “Voting Cues in Low-Information Elections: Candidate Gender as a Social Information Variable in Contemporary US Elections.” American Journal of Political Science 41 (1): 270–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDermott, Monika L. 1998. “Race and Gender Cues in Low-Information Elections.” Political Research Quarterly 51 (4): 895918.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moncrief, Gary F., Squire, Peverill, and Jewell, Malcolm E.. 2001. Who Runs for the Legislature? Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Niven, David. 2006. “Throwing Your Hat Out of the Ring: Negative Recruitment and the Gender Imbalance in State Legislative Candidacy.” Politics & Gender 2 (4): 473–89.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa. 1997a. “Introduction: Women, Media and Politics.” In Women, Media, and Politics, ed. Norris, P.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa. 1997b. “Women Leaders Worldwide: A Splash of Color in the Photo Op.” In Women, Media, and Politics, ed. Norris, P.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Palmer, Barbara, and Simon, Dennis. 2006. Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Plutzer, Eric, and Zipp, John F.. 1996. “Identity Politics, Partisanship, and Voting for Women Candidates.” Public Opinion Quarterly 60 (1): 3057.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, Cindy Simon. 1995. “The Role of Gender in Descriptive Representation.” Political Research Quarterly 48 (3): 599612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanbonmatsu, Kira. 2002. “Gender Stereotypes and Vote Choice.” American Journal of Political Science 46 (1): 2034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seltzer, Richard A., Newman, Jody, and Leighton, Melissa Voorhees. 1997. Sex as a Political Variable. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Eric R.A.N., and Fox, Richard L.. 2001. “A Research Note: The Electoral Fortunes of Women Candidates for Congress.” Political Research Quarterly 54 (1): 205–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Sue. 1998. “Introduction: Women and Elective Office: Past, Present, and Future.” In Women and Elective Office, ed. Thomas, S. and Wilcox, C.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, Seth, and Steckenrider, Janie. 1997. “Gender Stereotypes and Decision Context in the Evaluation of Political Candidates.” Women and Politics 17 (4): 7192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tolleson Rinehart, Sue. 1992. Gender Consciousness and Politics. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Weir, Sara J. 1996. “Women as Governors: State Executive Leadership With a Feminist Face?” In Women in Politics: Outsiders or Insiders, 2d ed., ed. Duke, L.. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar