Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-07T09:37:10.521Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Throwing Your Hat Out of the Ring: Negative Recruitment and the Gender Imbalance in State Legislative Candidacy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2006

David Niven
David Niven
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Candidate dropouts are a crucial and understudied population; they represent a significant source for increasing women's candidacies and addressing the gender imbalance in office. Survey evidence demonstrates that women are discouraged from running in districts in which their party is strong, while men are discouraged from running in districts in which their party is weak. Are women more likely to drop out of an election race than are men? If so, why? Using election records and an original survey, this article examines the experiences of all declared candidates for the state legislature in Florida in 2000 and 2002. The sample includes candidates who won office, who lost their races, or who dropped out along the way. Evidence here shows that women are no more likely to drop out of a state legislative race than are men. Among dropouts, however, women are disproportionately likely to drop out from districts in which their party is strong. The results offer support for the contention that political elites continue to value men's political leadership more than women's, and that increasing the number of female officeholders may require efforts to support declared women candidates in the earliest stages of their candidacies.A previous version of this research was presented as a paper at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association. My thanks to Kira Sanbonmatsu for helpful comments on this study.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , December 2006 , pp. 473 - 489
Copyright
© 2006 The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

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

Alexander, Deborah, and Kristi Andersen. 1993. “Gender as a Factor in the Attribution of Leadership Traits.” Political Research Quarterly 46 (3): 527–45.Google Scholar
Bernstein, Robert. 1986. “Why Are There So Few Women in the House?” Western Political Quarterly 39 (1): 155–64.Google Scholar
Blair, Diane, and Ann Henry. 1981. “The Family Factor in State Legislative Turnover.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 6 (1): 55–68.Google Scholar
Brown, Jonathon, Rebecca Collins, and Greg Schmidt. 1988. “Self-Esteem and Direct Versus Indirect Forms of Self-Enhancement.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 55 (3): 445–53.Google Scholar
Burrell, Barbara. 1994. A Woman's Place Is in the House: Campaigning for Congress in the Feminist Era. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Chang, Chingching, and Jacqueline Hitchon. 2004. “When Does Gender Count? Further Insights into Gender Schematic Processing of Female Candidates' Political Advertisements.” Sex Roles 51 (3): 197–208.Google Scholar
Clark, Janet, Charles Hadley, and R. Darcy. 1989. “Political Ambition Among Men and Women State Party Leaders.” American Politics Quarterly 17 (2): 194–207.Google Scholar
Darcy, R., and Sarah Schramm. 1977. “When Women Run Against Men.” Public Opinion Quarterly 41 (1): 1–12.Google Scholar
Darcy, R., Susan Welch, and Janet Clark. 1994. Women, Elections, and Representation. New York: Longman.
Diamond, Irene. 1977. Sex Roles in the Statehouse. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Dolan, Kathleen. 2004. “The Impact of Candidate Sex on Evaluations of Candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives.” Social Science Quarterly 85 (1): 206–17.Google Scholar
Dubeck, Paula. 1976. “Women and Access to Political Office: A Comparison of Female and Male State Legislators.” Sociological Quarterly 17 (1): 42–52.Google Scholar
Ekstrand, Laurie, and William Eckert. 1981. “The Impact of Candidate's Sex on Voter Choice.” Western Political Quarterly 34 (1): 78–87.Google Scholar
Elder, Laurel. 2004. “Why Women Don't Run: Explaining Women's Underrepresentation in America's Political Institutions.” Women and Politics 26 (2): 27–56.Google Scholar
Fowler, Linda, and Robert McClure. 1989. Political Ambition. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Fox, Richard, and Jennifer Lawless. 2004. “Entering the Arena? Gender and the Decision to Run for Office.” American Journal of Political Science 48 (2): 264–80.Google Scholar
Fox, Richard, and Zoe Oxley. 2003. “Gender Stereotyping in State Executive Elections: Candidate Selection and Success.” Journal of Politics 65 (3): 833–50.Google Scholar
Gaddie, Ronald, and Charles Bullock. 1995. “Congressional Elections and the Year of the Woman: Structural and Elite Influences on Female Candidacies.” Social Science Quarterly 76 (4): 749–62.Google Scholar
Hill, Kevin, Susan MacManus, and Dario Moreno. 2004. Florida Politics: Ten Media Markets, One Powerful State. Tallahassee: Florida Institute of Government.
Huddy, Leonie, and Nayda Terkildsen. 1993a. “Gender Stereotypes and the Perception of Male and Female Candidates.” American Journal of Political Science 37 (1): 119–47.Google Scholar
Huddy, Leonie, and Nayda Terkildsen. 1993b. “The Consequences of Gender Stereotypes for Women Candidates at Different Levels and Types of Office.” Political Research Quarterly 46 (3): 503–25.Google Scholar
Jackman, Mary, and Michael Muha. 1984. “Education and Intergroup Attitudes.” American Sociological Review 49 (6): 751–69.Google Scholar
Jacobson, Gary, and Samuel Kernell. 1981. Strategy and Choice in Congressional Elections. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Jussim, Lee. 1990. “Social Reality and Social Problems: The Role of Expectancies.” Journal of Social Issues 46 (2): 9–34.Google Scholar
Kenski, Kate, and Erika Falk. 2004. “Of What Is that Glass Ceiling Made? A Study of Attitudes About Women and the Oval Office.” Women and Politics 26 (2): 57–80.Google Scholar
King, David, and Richard Matland. 2003. “Sex and the Grand Old Party: An Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Candidate Sex on Support for a Republican Candidate.” American Politics Research 31 (6): 595–612.Google Scholar
Lublin, David, and Sarah Brewer. 2003. “The Continuing Dominance of Traditional Gender Roles in Southern Elections.” Social Science Quarterly 84 (2): 378–96.Google Scholar
Menefield, Charles. 2001. Representation of Minority Groups in the U.S. Lanham, MD: Austin and Winfield.
Miller, Lawrence. 1986. “Political Recruitment and Electoral Success: A Look at Sex Differences in Municipal Elections.” Social Science Journal 23 (1): 75–90.Google Scholar
Moncrief, Gary, Peverill Squire, and Malcolm Jewell. 2001. Who Runs for the Legislature? Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Niven, David. 1998. The Missing Majority: The Recruitment of Women as State Legislative Candidates. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Niven, David. 2005. “Gender Bias? Media Coverage of Women and Men in Congress.” In Gender and American Politics: Women, Men, and the Political Process, ed. Sue Tolleson-Rinehart and Jyl Josephson. New York: M. E. Sharpe, pp. 264–83.
Rule, Wilma. 1981. “Why Women Don't Run: The Critical Contextual Factors in Women's Legislative Recruitment.” Western Political Quarterly 34 (1): 60–77.Google Scholar
Sanbonmatsu, Kira. 2002. “Political Parties and the Recruitment of Women to State Legislatures.” Journal of Politics 64 (3): 791–809.Google Scholar
Sapiro, Virginia. 1982. “Private Costs of Public Commitments or Public Costs of Private Commitments? Family Roles versus Political Ambition.” American Journal of Political Science 26 (2): 265–79.Google Scholar
Sigelman, Lee, and Susan Welch. 1984. “Race, Gender, and Opinion Toward Black and Female Presidential Candidates.” Public Opinion Quarterly 48 (2): 467–75.Google Scholar
Theilmann, John, and Al Wilhite. 1989. “The Determinants of Individuals' Campaign Contributions to Congressional Campaigns.” American Politics Quarterly 17 (3): 312–31.Google Scholar
Welch, Susan. 1978. “Recruitment of Women to Public Office.” Western Political Quarterly 31 (2): 372–80.Google Scholar