Female Candidates in State Legislatures A
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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE BIAS, GATEKEEPING, OR AMBITION?: FEMALE CANDIDATES IN STATE LEGISLATURES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Leslie J. Baker Norman, OK 2015 BIAS, GATEKEEPING, OR AMBITION?: FEMALE CANDIDATES IN STATE LEGISLATURES A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE BY ________________________________________ Dr. Cindy Simon Rosenthal, Chair ________________________________________ Dr. Glen S. Krutz ________________________________________ Dr. Ronald Keith Gaddie ________________________________________ Dr. Alisa Fryar ________________________________________ Dr. Kelly Damphousse © Copyright by LESLIE J. BAKER 2015 All Rights Reserved Acknowledgements I owe a debt of gratitude to so many people. First and foremost, I need to thank my children, Adam and Samantha Bracy. The two of you have kept me going, giving me encouragement in the times I wanted to quit and sharing in the joy as checkpoints were met. I know that having a single mother who was writing a dissertation was not easy for you, but I hope that this completion teaches you that even when situations become less than ideal, you keep chasing what matters to you. Also, many thanks to my mother, Mary Holmes, who never failed to believe in my academic endeavors. I also thank my dissertation chair, Cindy Simon Rosenthal, for both fostering my interests in gender and politics issues and her insightful guidance and enormous patience with me as I prepared this dissertation. My committee – Keith Gaddie, Glen Krutz, Alisa Fryar, and Kelly Damphousse – were also excellent sources of guidance. During the drafting of this dissertation, I worked for two different universities. The faculty and staff at both of these institutions provide immeasurable support and encouragement for me. From Oklahoma State University, Dr. Jeanette Mendez and Dr. Rebekah Herrick proved to be a wealth of knowledge about my topic and provided great ideas and counsel. I would like to thank the staff there – Cindy Hutchinson, Pam Amos, and Vince Burke - for all of their kindness and support. At Mississippi State University, Dr. Brian Shoup and Dr. Eddie Hearn patiently answered all of my methodological questions and provided needed tutoring in statistical analysis. Dr. Staci Zavattaro provided a wealth of encouragement, a sympathetic ear, and the iv occasionally needed threat to my personal safety to keep me working away. The staff in the MSU Political Science office, Quintara Miller and Kamicca Brown-Lott, also provided much needed support in keeping me on track in my first full-time teaching position. To all of my mentors and friends who encouraged me along the way – thank you. Your friendship and support has meant the world to me. My academic pursuits began at the University of Arkansas. Friends and faculty there were my first source of encouragement and ideas for a multitude of papers and assignments that led to this dissertation. I thank Dr. Todd Shields and Dr. Lori Holyfield for getting me interested in a wealth of gender issues. Gwynda Shields, your friendship and awesome grammatical and editing skills are always appreciated. All the friends I made my first year as a Ph.D. student at OU, especially Kate Carney Huston, helped me hone my interest in the intersection of gender and politics. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................. vi List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................ xi Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... xii Chapter One: What Accounts for Female Underrepresentation the Oklahoma Legislature? ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Conceptual Framework for the Study ........................................................................................ 4 The State Structure of the Political System .............................................................................. 5 Gatekeeping and Female Candidates ......................................................................................... 6 Limited Female Political Ambition ............................................................................................ 7 Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................................ 8 The Need for Single State Studies .............................................................................................. 8 Oklahoma as a State of Study ....................................................................................................... 9 The Positive Attributes of Oklahoma for Increasing Female Representation ....... 10 Attributes that Depress Female Representation ............................................................... 11 A Comparison of Oklahoma and Neighboring States ................................................... 12 Significance of the Study ........................................................................................................ 14 Organization of the Study ....................................................................................................... 15 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter Two: Data and Methods .................................................................................................... 17 Data ..................................................................................................................................................... 17 Candidate Information .............................................................................................................. 17 District Level Variables ........................................................................................................... 20 Survey Data ...................................................................................................................................... 23 Survey data was obtained through two surveys that were conducted online using the Qualtrics software (see complete survey in the appendix). Legislative candidates and party chairs received separate surveys. The data was supplemented by survey data from local elected officials in Oklahoma, conducted by Rosenthal and Collins (2013). ......................................................................................... 23 Legislative Candidate Survey ................................................................................................ 23 Party Chair Survey .................................................................................................................... 23 Personal Interviews ................................................................................................................... 24 Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 26 Chapter Three: Female Candidates and Oklahoma Voters .................................................... 28 Literature Review ........................................................................................................................... 29 Are Voters Biased Against Women? ................................................................................... 29 Is Voter Bias Masked? ............................................................................................................. 31 State Electoral Structures ........................................................................................................ 33 District Level Factors ............................................................................................................... 37 Hypotheses ................................................................................................................................... 39 Summary of Methods .................................................................................................................... 41 Findings .............................................................................................................................................. 43 Term Limits Did Increase Female Candidacies ............................................................... 43 vi Limited Female Candidacies .................................................................................................. 46 Who Enters the Race? .............................................................................................................. 47 General Election Entries .......................................................................................................... 51 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................