Women & Legislative Leadership in The

Women & Legislative Leadership in the U.S. Congress: Representing Women’s Interests in Partisan Times

Michele L. Swers

Abstract: Women are drastically underrepresented in American political institutions. This has prompt- ed speculation about the impact of electing more women on policy and the functioning of government. Examining the growing presence of women in Congress, I demonstrate that women do exhibit unique policy priorities, focusing more on the needs of various groups of women. However, the incentive structure of the American electoral system, which rewards ideological purity, means that women are not likely to bring more consensus to Washington. Indeed, women’s issues are now entrenched in the partisan divide. Since the 1990s, the majority of women elected to Congress have been Democrats, who have pursued their vision of women’s interests while portraying Republican policies as harmful to women. In response, Republican women have been deployed to defend their party, further reducing the potential for bipartisan cooperation.

In the spring of 2016, the public approval rating of the U.S. Congress stood at 17 percent. Congress has not garnered the esteem of even 30 percent of Amer- icans since 2005. To find brief periods of majority MICHELE L. SWERS is Professor approval, one must go back to 2003.1 This disillu- of American Government in the sionment with Congress coincides with long peri- Department of Government at ods of gridlock in which the legislature cannot seem Georgetown University. Her re- to tackle the problems of the day, from the econom- search interests include congressional elections and policy-mak- ic recession to foreign policy. Instead, an ideologi- ing, and women in politics. Her cally polarized Congress has continuously clashed books examining the policy behav- with the administrations of Republican President ior of women in Congress include George W. Bush and the current commander in chief, The Difference Women Make: The Poli- Democrat Barack Obama. These ideological fights cy Impact of Women in Congress (2002) are accompanied by brinksmanship politics, includ- and Women in the Club: Gender and ing government shutdowns and threats to block in- Policy Making in the Senate (2013). She is also coauthor of Women and Pol- creases in the debt ceiling, which would ruin Amer- itics: Paths to Power and Political Influ- ica’s credit rating and plunge the country back into ence (with Julie Dolan and Melissa recession. In this polarized political atmosphere, can Deckman, 2016). the election of more women to political office cre-

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 ate a more consensus-driven and produc- tries, including Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Michele L. tive government? The emergence of Hil- and Norway, women hold only 19.4 percent Swers lary Clinton as the front-runner for the of seats in the U.S. Congress and 24.2 per- Democratic presidential nomination fo- cent of seats in state legislatures.2 cuses more attention on the question of Unlike many European countries that women’s leadership style and whether ex- use proportional representation–where panding the number of women in govern- candidates win seats in proportion to the ment can improve the American political number of votes garnered by their party– system. the American system is candidate-cen- In this essay, I focus on the advance- tered. Congressional candidates are elect- ment of women into Congress since the ed from single-member districts with a early 1990s and the impact of women on plurality of the vote. Candidates must raise policy-making. My research suggests that large amounts of money to compete in pri- electing women will not be a miracle cure maries to secure their party’s nomination, for partisan polarization because the cur- and then raise more money to contest the rent structure of the American electoral general election. Given the arduous na- system favors intensely partisan candi- ture of congressional races, the U.S. sys- dates. Therefore, women who thrive in a tem strongly favors incumbents who have partisan context are the most likely female the name recognition and connections to candidates to win elections. Yet women raise the necessary funds and build a cam- do bring a different set of policy priori- paign operation to mobilize voters. As a re- ties to Congress. Women are more likely sult, despite the dismal approval ratings of to consider the needs of women, children, Congress, incumbents are consistently re- and families when developing their poli- elected at rates above 90 percent.3 cy agenda. As women and often as moth- Since the political incorporation of wom- ers, female officeholders bring a different en has been a slow process, spanning the perspective to the deliberative process, emergence of the suffrage movement in improving the quality of constituent rep- the mid-1800s to the feminist movement resentation and focusing more policy at- of the 1960s and 1970s, male incumbency tention on the needs of different groups was already firmly entrenched when wom- of women, from single mothers in pover- en entered the political arena (see Figure 1). ty to women climbing the corporate lad- In the early years, many women elected to der. Thus, increasing women’s represen- Congress were widows, elected as place- tation in Congress expands the range of holders to keep the seat in party control interests and perspectives considered by until the party elite could coalesce around government leaders. a candidate. By the 1970s and 1980s, when the feminist movement opened more of the While women constitute more than 50 careers that lead women to politics, more percent of the U.S. population, they are women entered Congress as professional dramatically underrepresented in Ameri- politicians. Still, these women continued can governing bodies. Examining legisla- to differ from their male counterparts in tive representation of women, the Unit- their occupational backgrounds and polit- ed States ranks seventy-first among the ical experience. Compared to men, wom- world’s parliaments and far behind most en in Congress were more likely to enter other advanced democracies. While wom- politics as community activists motivated en constitute around 40 percent of the low- by a cause or as local officeholders, such as er houses of Parliament in Nordic coun- school board members. For example, cur-

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 Women & Figure 1 Legislative Women in the House and Senate by Party (1917–2017) Leadership in the U.S. Congress 70

Democrat House Members 30 Republican House Members Democrat Senators Number ofNumber Women 20 Republican Senators

65th (1917 67th–19) (1921 69th–23) (1925 71st–27) (1929 73rd–31) (1933 75th–35) (1937 77th–39) (1941 79th–43) (1945 81st –47)(1949 83rd–51) (1953 85th–55) (1957 87th–59) (1961 89th–63) (1965 91st–67) (1969 93rd–71) (1973 95th–75) (1977 97th–79) (1981 99th–83) (1985 101st–87) (1989 103rd–91) (1993 105th–95) (1997107th–99) (2001 109th–03) (2005 111th–07) (2009 113th –11)(2013–15) Congress/Years

Source: Center for American Women and Politics (Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey), 2015.

rent senator Patty Murray (d-wa) began women serving in the contemporary Con- her political career as a community activ- gress are more likely to be committed par- ist protesting the elimination of a preschool tisans than moderate consensus-builders. program. She went on to serve on the school The rising number of women in Congress board and as a state senator before she ran starting in the early 1990s coincided with her first campaign for the U.S. Senate using a heightened period of political competi- the slogan “just a mom in tennis shoes.”4 tion in which control of the presidency and The largest increase in women’s rep- the majority in Congress was continuously resentation came after the 1992 election. at stake. In 1994, Republicans gained con- Dubbed the “Year of the Woman,” the trol of Congress for the first time in forty number of women in Congress jumped years. Since then, majority power has shift- from thirty-two to fifty-four. To date, this ed among Democrats and Republicans and remains the greatest increase in women’s margins of control remain so tight that the representation in a single U.S. election. The opposition perceives the number of seats advancement of more women into politics needed to win the majority as always in coincided with important changes in the reach. This has been particularly true in nature of American politics and the rela- the Senate, where party control shifted tionship between the parties. These chang- from Democrats to Republicans in 1994 es fueled a more partisan and polarized po- and briefly back to Democrats in 2001. Re- litical atmosphere that rewards more ideo- publicans retook the majority in 2002 until logically driven candidates. Therefore, the Democrats wrested control of the chamber

46 Dædalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 in 2006, only to lose power again in 2014.5 majority-minority districts. To guarantee Michele L. However, for Democrats, majority control that minorities could elect a representative Swers is considered within reach for 2016. of their choice, minority populations were In addition to increased party competi- concentrated into districts that are more tion, the parties have become more ideolog- urban and strongly Democratic. The sur- ical, with the Republican Party more deeply rounding suburban districts became whit- conservative and the Democrats more uni- er and more Republican.9 As a result, the formly liberal. As this polarization devel- Democratic coalition in Congress and the oped, a partisan gap emerged in the elec- women in the Democratic Party are much tion of women to Congress. Before 1990, the more racially and ethnically diverse. These parties elected small but relatively similar minority members anchor the liberal end numbers of women to Congress. However, of the ideological spectrum. the 1992 Year-of-the-Woman elections real- Finally, the interest groups, donors, and ly marked the year of the Democratic wom- voters that support Democrats are also an, since the number of Democratic wom- more inclined than their Republican coun- en in Congress jumped from twenty-two to terparts to prioritize the election of women forty, while only four new Republican wom- to office. Women’s groups and civil rights en were elected, increasing the presence of organizations are central forces in the Republican women in Congress from ten Democratic coalition. These groups prior- to fourteen. Since 1992, the partisan gap has itize increasing representation of women grown, with representation of Democratic and minorities in elective office. Women’s women far outpacing Republican women.6 groups, most notably emily’s List (an ac- Of the one hundred and four women in the ronym for Early Money Is Like Yeast), have current 114th Congress (2015–2016), seven- developed operations to identify and re- ty-six are Democrats and only twenty-two cruit women candidates and support them are Republicans.7 with fundraising networks and campaign This partisan gap in women’s represen- services. Moreover, the donors and voters tation is larger than the gender gap in the who support Democratic candidates in the voting population and reflects a divergence primary and general election are increas- in the nature of the parties’ electoral coa- ingly liberal. Liberals are more responsive litions. The emergence of the civil rights to messages about the importance of group movement and the adoption of the Civ- representation in Congress and liberal vot- il Rights Act of 1964 precipitated a move- ers are more likely to embrace positive ste- ment of Southern white Democrats to reotypes about female candidates, such as the Republican Party. The formerly sol- that women are more knowledgeable about id Democratic South is now a Republi- social welfare issues.10 can stronghold; historically, this region Meanwhile, the Republican Party es- has also been less likely to elect women to chews identity politics, focusing instead political office. As the South moved to the on the ideological conservatism of the can- Republican Party, northeastern states and didate. Further, social conservatives–a urban areas became Democratic bastions. core constituency of the Republican Party Over time, the districts that elected wom- –hold more traditional views about gen- en tended to be more urban, more racial- der roles. Therefore, there is not a natural ly and ethnically diverse, and of a higher constituency of donors and voters with- median income. In contemporary politics, in the Republican Party responsive to ex- these districts lean Democratic.8 Further- plicit calls to expand women’s representa- more, the 1990s also saw the adoption of tion. While the party has made efforts to

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 Women & recruit more women candidates and form en sponsor and cosponsor more bills relat- Legislative donor networks that will contribute to fe- ed to women’s issues, ranging from fem- Leadership in the U.S. male candidates, these organizations do inist proposals regarding equal pay, fami- Congress not have the presence and donor connec- ly leave, and reproductive rights to social tions that groups allied with Democrats welfare proposals related to education and have developed.11 health care. Women are also more aggres- In sum, the modern American electoral sive advocates for these bills, expending system requires candidates to build a per- the political capital necessary to build sona that can attract a highly ideological set coalitions of support and move their fa- of primary voters and donors. Candidates vored policies through the legislative pro- who excel in this atmosphere are more cess. During floor debate, female legisla- likely to be partisan purists than moder- tors tend to discuss the impact of proposed ate compromisers. For women, the current bills on women and refer to their own per- structure of the parties’ electoral coalitions sonal experiences as women, for example, favors the elevation of more Democratic as single mothers struggling financially or women. Liberal Democratic voters and do- as women experiencing discrimination in nors aggressively support the election of the workplace.13 women and minorities who also hold lib- While these general trends hold across eral views on issues like abortion rights, time, the likelihood that an individual fe- while Republicans reject identity politics male legislator will advocate for a particu- and do not prioritize efforts to elect more lar type of women’s-issue bill is strongly in- Republican women. Therefore, the Re- fluenced by the member’s personal back- publican women who gain election must ground, ideology, party affiliation, and the demonstrate their conservative credentials nature of her constituency. For example, to their own highly ideological electorate. one should not expect a conservative Re- publican woman representing a strongly Proponents of electing more women to Republican Southern district to support Congress argue that because of their shared legislation protecting abortion rights. life experiences, women will better under- However, that legislator might advocate for stand the needs and interests of particu- bills to promote breast cancer research or lar groups of women. Moreover, they will curb human trafficking. bring these unique experiences to inform As more racial and ethnic minorities were policy development, will prioritize various elected to Congress in the 1990s, women issues of importance to women, and will of color emerged the most likely to pur- advocate for policy solutions to address sue women’s interest bills that target the these interests.12 needs of minority communities. For exam- Research examining the legislative activ- ple, during the early years of Bill Clinton’s ities of women in Congress from the 1990s presidency, with Democrats in control of to the present confirms this expectation. both Congress and the presidency for the Particularly at the agenda-setting stage of first time since 1980, Democratic women policy-making, women are more likely to sought to advance abortion rights. Looking develop bills focused on the needs of wom- to leverage this unified party control into en, children, and families. Examining the policies promoting reproductive rights, policy priorities of Republican and Dem- white female Democrats focused their ef- ocratic female members in the House of forts on passing the Freedom of Choice Act, Representatives in the early 1990s and in a bill that would codify the right to abor- the Senate in the 2000s, I found that wom- tion granted by Roe v. Wade.14 By contrast,

48 Dædalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 minority women were more concerned women losing their seats to Democrats. Michele L. with access and costs for poor women, The new Republican women being elect- Swers rather than abstract rights. They therefore ed were much more conservative legisla- pursued the goal of overturning the Hyde tors elected from the South and West. In- Amendment, which prohibits the use of deed, studies of voting behavior demon- federal Medicaid dollars to pay for abor- strate that Republican women in the House tions. Similarly, during the debates over of Representatives were distinctly more welfare reform, women of color were the liberal than their male colleagues, partic- most aggressive opponents of the Repub- ularly on women’s issues, throughout the lican bill, speaking out against what they 1980s and 1990s. However, by 2002, the vot- perceived as stereotyping of women on wel- ing records of male and female Republicans fare as poor, irresponsible minority women. in the House were converging, and the cur- These congresswomen of color voted uni- rent contingent of Republican women is formly against the bill while white Demo- just as conservative as Republican men.17 cratic men and women split their votes.15 Meanwhile, the few Republican women in The ideological and partisan profiles of the Senate have remained more moderate the women in Congress strongly impact than their male counterparts,18 though, fol- their legislative priorities and leadership lowing the 2012 and 2014 elections of in- styles. Just as the larger chamber has polar- creasingly conservative women to the Sen- ized, Democratic women are now more uni- ate, even this trend may reverse. formly liberal and there are few conservative Democratic men or women. Similarly, Today there is little cross-party collabora- Republicans in Congress are more intense- tion among women legislators, particularly conservative. In the early 1990s, many of ly in the House of Representatives. Under the Republican women in Congress were current electoral configurations, women’s moderates who would work across the issues have become strongly associated aisle with Democratic women on specif- with the Democratic Party. Utilizing is- ic women’s issues, including reproductive sues like contraception and equal pay, the rights, women’s health research, and initia- party actively courts women voters, partic- tives to help women in the workforce. In- ularly young women, single women, and deed, in the 1990s, moderate Republican college-educated women, to win elections. and Democratic women worked together Indeed, in both the 2012 and 2014 elections, to pass legislation that funded research on Democrats appealed to women voters by various women’s health concerns, ensured accusing Republicans of waging a “war that women were included in more clinical on women” in which Republican policies trials, and created the Office of Women’s condoned pay discrimination and sought Health at the National Institutes of Health. to deny women access to health care and When Republicans gained the majority in contraception.19 1994 and promoted welfare reform, Repub- The fact that women’s issues are a key lican women who held seats on the com- element of Democratic electoral strate- mittee of jurisdiction, the Ways and Means gy means that when Democratic women Committee, convinced their male Republi- champion issues like child care, pay equi- can colleagues to incorporate child-support ty, or reproductive rights, they are pursu- enforcement and greater funding for child ing their own policy priorities and helping care in the bill.16 their party energize voters and donors. For Yet by the early 2000s, electoral trends example, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, resulted in these moderate Republican the first bill signed into law by President

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 Women & Obama, was a top priority for Democrat- heavily for him and her story became an Legislative ic women looking to advance pay equity. integral part of the Democratic campaign Leadership in the U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (d-md), House message. After Obama’s victory, he signed Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosi (d-ca), and Con- the bill into law as his first major legisla- gresswoman Rosa DeLauro (d-ct) had tion, with Lilly Ledbetter and a group of worked for years to advance initiatives to Democratic congresswomen looking on in combat pay discrimination. When the Su- a visual that reinforced the image of Dem- preme Court decided that Lilly Ledbetter ocrats as the party of women’s rights. could not recover damages from her em- In such a partisan atmosphere, Repub- ployer Goodyear Tire and Auto because lican women could not collaborate with the statute of limitations to file a claim had Democrats on pay equity. Instead, when run out, Democrats seized on her story to Democrats accuse the Republican Party of promote legislation that would reset the being antiwomen, Republican women are clock with each discriminatory paycheck. called on to defend the party against these As a result, women like Ledbetter, who was charges. In the Senate, Kay Bailey Hutchi- not aware of the ongoing discrimination son, a Texas Republican who served in par- until a colleague secretly sent her a note ty leadership as Policy Committee chair, outlining the disparities between her pay was the lead sponsor of a Republican al- and that of male colleagues with less se- ternative to the Ledbetter bill. She defend- niority, could now fight for equal pay. To ed the party’s position on the floor and build support for the legislation, the Dem- pushed back against the characterization ocratic women of the House and Senate of Republicans as protecting their busi- held press conferences, wrote editorials ness allies and denying women equal pay. in support of the bill, organized speech- In the House of Representatives, conserva- es on the floor, and continuously worked tive women voted against the Democratic to move the bill forward in the legislative bill, while the more moderate Republican process and see it through to law. 20 women, particularly the moderates in the While the Democratic women were ful- Senate, voted in favor of the Democratic ly dedicated to the policy goals behind the bill. However, the Republican women who legislation, the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was voted for the bill and supported the goals also used as an electoral tool to highlight of the policy did not actively lobby for the Democrats’ commitment to women’s eco- bill by participating in press conferences nomic empowerment and to portray Re- and other efforts to build support for it; publicans as siding with their business al- those efforts were wrapped in rhetoric to lies over the interests of women and their mobilize women voters for the Democrat- families. First proposed in the 2008 elec- ic Party and against Republicans.21 tion cycle, Senate Democrats used the de- Similarly, Democratic women have bate and the vote on the bill to let Dem- long advocated for making contraception ocratic presidential primary candidates, more affordable and accessible. President senators Barack Obama (il) and Hillary Obama’s decision to pursue national health Clinton (ny), make floor speeches demon- insurance created an opportunity to achieve strating their commitment to women’s this goal. Democratic women were among economic needs, while portraying the Re- the most aggressive advocates for requir- publican nominee, John McCain (az), as a ing insurance companies to provide free business apologist unconcerned with the access to contraceptives as part of a broad- needs of women. Once Barack Obama won er package of preventative health benefits. the nomination, Ledbetter campaigned Making contraception more widely avail-

50 Dædalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 able is popular with the public and reduc- tained that Republicans are concerned with Michele L. es the incidence of unwanted pregnancies. protecting religious freedom, not denying Swers However, the issue is also wrapped up in the women contraception. Most recently, Ay- contentious politics of abortion; it quick- otte has promoted a bill with Senator Cory ly developed into a fight over the need for Gardner (r-co) to allow contraception to exemptions for employers who have reli- be sold over the counter without a prescrip- gious objections to providing contraception. Gardner successfully used the propos- tion. Democratic women wanting to ex- al to counter the incumbent Democratic tend benefits to as many women as pos- senator’s attempts to portray him as dam- sible, including Senators Patty Murray aging to women’s health, and subsequent- (wa), Barbara Boxer (ca), Debbie Stabe- ly won his 2014 Senate challenge.23 now (mi), and Jeanne Shaheen (nh), ag- The sharp polarization surrounding gressively pressed for the broadest possi- women’s issues has engulfed formerly bi- ble coverage. Meanwhile, other prominent partisan areas of agreement. Thus, while Democrats, including Vice President Biden, the Violence Against Women Act passed advised President Obama to create a wid- easily in the 1990s and was later renewed er exemption, fearing a backlash from the without controversy, the most recent ef- Catholic Church and antiabortion groups. fort to reauthorize the legislation was en- Thus, while most Democrats supported in- snared in conflict over gay rights and oth- cluding contraception in the preventative er issues delaying passage. The conflict health package, Democratic women were followed the familiar pattern of parti- more strongly committed to the issue and san polarization, with Democratic wom- resisted efforts to scale back coverage. Ul- en championing the proposal, the Dem- timately, President Obama opted for broad ocratic Party highlighting Republican re- coverage, precipitating an ongoing fight sistance as evidence of the party’s lack of over the parameters of the religious exemp- commitment to women’s rights, and Re- tion and who qualifies for it. To date, the ad- publican women speaking up to defend ministration has revised the rules numer- the party.24 ous times, the Supreme Court weighed in Still, when issues arise that dispropor- and expanded the exemption to privately tionately impact women and are not as- held corporations, and the courts are still sociated with the partisan divide, wom- considering other issues related to religious en engage in cross-party collaboration. freedom and the contraception mandate. For example, Democratic and Republi- Amidst this continuing controversy, Dem- can women in the Senate have aggressive- ocratic women remain among the staunch- ly pursued reforms to the military justice est defenders of the mandate.22 system to address the problem of sexual As with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, assault in the military. Pentagon surveys the contraception mandate is also a pillar in indicate that the incidence of sexual as- Democratic efforts to attract women vot- sault in the military increased 35 percent ers, and the party uses the partisan battles between 2010 and 2012. Moreover, only a over contraception as supporting evidence small percentage of victims file a report of the Republican war on women. As a re- and very few perpetrators are prosecuted. sult, Republican women have been called Incensed by the ongoing problem of sexu- on to defend their party. Most prominent- al assault and the military’s inability to ad- ly, Senator Kelly Ayotte (r-nh) has served dress it, the women in the Senate sought as a primary cosponsor and spokesperson to draw more attention to the issue and for a religious freedom bill, and has main- began crafting policy solutions. Because

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 Women & seven women, two Republicans and five problem more seriously. McCaskill had the Legislative Democrats, served on the Armed Services support of the chairman of the Armed Ser- Leadership in the U.S. Committee, they were able to convince the vices Committee and the two Republican Congress Committee chair to call a rare hearing with women on the Committee, Kelly Ayotte the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and all (nh) and Deb Fischer (ne). McCaskill’s the uniformed chiefs of the armed services proposal was ultimately adopted, and ef- in order to confront each of them about the forts to improve the treatment of women issue and what could be done to improve in the military are ongoing.26 the military’s response. The female senators then worked together to craft reforms, Female senators’ success in building bi- several of which Congress ultimately ad- partisan policy coalitions to force the mil- opted, including changing the procedures itary bureaucracy to change its policies used to prosecute sexual assault, eliminat- regarding sexual assault was facilitated ing the ability of military commanders to by the fact that women held a significant overturn jury convictions, and providing block of seats on the Armed Services Com- services and legal counsel to victims.25 mittee, constituting seven of the Commit- While the female senators agreed on tee’s twenty-six members. Further, wom- the importance of the issue, they did not en held pivotal leadership positions on the always agree on the necessary policy solu- Committee, including Kirsten Gillibrand’s tions. Indeed, the Senate was strongly di- position as chair of the Subcommittee on vided over the question of whether the de- Personnel. The advancement of women cision to prosecute a sexual assault should into congressional leadership is a relative- be taken out of the hands of military com- ly new phenomenon and raises questions of manders and entrusted to independent whether women have different leadership prosecutors. The coalitions on this issue styles from men. Seniority is a crucial fac- did not fall neatly along party lines. Dem- tor for advancement into leadership posi- ocrat Kirsten Gillibrand (ny)–supported tions in committees and within the parties. by most of the Democratic women in the Since most women in Congress today were Senate and two Republican women, Lisa elected after 1992, women have only recent- Murkowski (ak) and Susan Collins (me)– ly earned the seniority necessary to attain championed a proposal to remove this committee and party leadership posts. power from the chain of command, hop- The partisan gap in women’s representa- ing to encourage more women to come for- tion means that women have greater num- ward to report the crime and to increase the bers and more seniority in the Democrat- rate of prosecutions. The Pentagon and the ic Party. Thus, when sexual assault reforms chair of the Armed Services Committee, were adopted in 2013 and 2014, Democrats Carl Levin (d-mi), strongly opposed Gil- held the majority in the Senate and Demo- librand’s bill; in response, she worked dili- cratic women chaired eight of the Senate’s gently to build a cross-party coalition, even committees, including the powerful Appro- gaining the support of conservative stal- priations Committee and Budget Commit- warts Rand Paul (r-ky) and Ted Cruz (r- tee. In the current Republican-controlled tx). Meanwhile, another female Demo- Congress, women chair only one commit- crat, Claire McCaskill (mo) led a coalition tee in the House, the Committee on House working to keep the imperative to prose- Administration, and two committees in the cute within the military chain of command Senate, the Energy and Natural Resources in order to clearly delineate responsibili- Committee and the Select Committee on ty and pressure military leaders to take the Aging.27 Because most Republican women

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 serving in Congress were elected as part of Looking at female leadership in Con- Michele L. or following the 2010 Republican wave, few gress, scholars who focus on legislative Swers Republican women have gained enough se- behavior note distinct differences in how niority to acquire committee chairman- men and women spend their time. Wom- ships. As a result, when Republicans con- en engage in higher rates of bill sponsor- trol the majority, women have a much more ship and cosponsorship, and when ear- limited influence over policy. marks were still allowed, female members Looking at the party caucuses, few wom- brought home more projects to their dis- en have advanced to the highest levels of tricts.31 Thus, female legislators are more party leadership. Women in both the Re- active than men and are more likely to cast publican and Democratic parties have a broad net in their policy activity. Examin- served in lower-level leadership positions, ing how far members’ proposals advance in such as conference vice chair, conference the legislative process, there are clear gen- secretary, and deputy whip. However, in der differences in levels of policy success. the Senate, no women have advanced to Women are more effective legislators than the top leadership positions of party leader men when they serve in the minority par- and whip. In the House of Representatives, ty. As minority-party legislators, women’s only Nancy Pelosi has reached the highest ability to build consensus and potentially leadership position: Speaker of the House. reach across party lines to forge coalitions Republicans in the House have elected two is necessary for achieving progress on leg- women to serve as conference chair, the islation. However, when serving in the ma- fourth-ranking leadership position that jority party, women are less effective than is focused on selling the party’s agenda to men as measured by how far their propos- the public.28 Both Deborah Pryce (r-oh), als advance through the legislative process. conference chair from 2003 to 2007, and This gender disparity is particularly true in current conference chair Cathy McMor- more recent polarized Congresses; parti- ris Rodgers (r-wa) cite outreach to wom- san environments value confrontation over en voters and combating the Democratic female consensus-building skills.32 war-on-women message as among their As perhaps the most prominent woman top priorities.29 in Congress, former Speaker of the House Studies of the leadership styles of fe- Nancy Pelosi illustrates how a female lead- male committee chairs in the state legis- er can both bring distinctive policy priori- latures indicate that compared with male ties to Congress and thrive in a highly polar- committee chairs, women display a more ized and partisan context. Pelosi won a con- egalitarian leadership style that values tested race for minority party whip in 2001. consensus and collaboration, while men Emerging from the more liberal wing of the adopt more authoritative styles that em- Democratic Party to run against Steny Hoy- phasize conflict and competition. Howev- er (d-md), Pelosi emphasized the need for er, gender differences in leadership style more diversity in leadership and had the are less apparent in more professional- support of most of the women in the Dem- ized legislatures: institutions that meet ocratic caucus, as well as the large Califor- year round with a full-time staff and are nia delegation. Rising to minority leader in likely to be partisan bodies in the mold of 2003, Pelosi became Speaker of the House Congress.30 Thus, it is possible that the in- when Democrats took back the majority in stitutional norms of Congress make it less the 2006 elections. Rather than someone likely that women will exhibit a distinctive who builds coalitions across party lines, Pe- leadership style. losi has been described as a partisan warrior

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 Women & in the mold of Newt Gingrich (r-ga), the never advanced in the Senate.34 Clearly, Legislative former Speaker of the House who led the Pelosi has pursued both a partisan agenda Leadership in the U.S. Republican revolution of 1994. Like Ging- and a distinctive set of priorities focused Congress rich, Pelosi draws sharp contrasts between on the needs of women, children, and fam- the policy agendas of Democrats and Re- ilies. These priorities reflect both the poli- publicans. As Speaker, she pushed a strong- cy preferences of current Democratic elec- ly liberal agenda, and as minority leader in toral coalitions and Pelosi’s own life expe- the current Congress, she prefers to force riences as a woman and a mother. Republicans to find votes within their own party for must-pass bills before coming to In sum, it is clear that women are bring- the table to negotiate a deal. Pelosi is a pro- ing a distinctive perspective and set of issue lific fundraiser and a favorite target of Re- priorities to Congress. In comparison with publicans who characterize her as a San men, Democratic women and moderate Francisco big-government liberal emblem- Republican women have focused more at- atic of the wrongheaded ideas of the Dem- tention on the needs and interests of wom- ocratic Party.33 en, children, and families. Yet the advance- Meanwhile, in line with research on ment of women into Congress coincided women’s leadership styles, within the with electoral trends that have created a Democratic caucus, Pelosi is seen as a con- more partisan and polarized Congress. In sensus-builder who listens to the needs of this contentious atmosphere, issues relat- her members and tries to bridge differenc- ed to women’s rights are now strongly as- es across the different factions of the cau- sociated with the Democratic Party, in ef- cus. She also prioritizes bringing more di- fect reducing opportunities for bipartisan versity to the leadership table via appoint- cooperation among women. Democratic ing more women and more minorities to women aggressively pursue policies rang- chair committees.33 Pelosi is strongly coming from expanded family leave to women’s mitted to pursuing legislation focused on health initiatives while utilizing these pro- the needs of women, children, and fami- posals to attract particular groups of wom- lies. She played a pivotal role in pressing en voters, such as single and college-ed- President Obama to make his health in- ucated women. Since women’s issues are surance reform as comprehensive as pos- now a part of the partisan divide, Demo- sible, rather than scale it back in the face cratic women serve their party’s electoral of Republican opposition. As Speaker, she goals by attacking the Republican agenda also pushed through an expansion of the as harmful to women’s interests. In turn, State Children’s Health Insurance Pro- Republican women are compelled to de- gram, which provides health insurance fend their party’s record rather than reach to low-income children whose family in- across the aisle to find compromise. While comes are above the poverty threshold women as a group may be more inclined necessary to qualify for Medicaid. Pelo- to compromise and consensus-building, si is a staunch defender of abortion rights current electoral trends and partisan dy- and a proponent of equal pay initiatives. namics in Congress reward women can- She helped convince President Obama to didates and legislators who are aggres- make the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act the sive partisans. Thus, the election of more first bill he passed through Congress and women to Congress will bring more di- she shepherded passage of other equal pay verse viewpoints to the legislative process, bills through the House, such as the Pay- but is not likely to change overall levels check Fairness Act, although these bills of polarization and gridlock.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 endnotes Michele L. Swers 1 Gallup, “Congress and the Public,” http://www.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx (accessed May 16, 2016). 2 Interparliamentary Union, “Women in National Parliaments,” http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/ classif.htm (accessed July 17, 2015); and Center for American Women and Politics, “Fact Sheet: Women in the U.S. Congress 2015” and “Fact Sheet: Women in the State Legislatures 2015” (New Brunswick: Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 2015). 3 Gary Jacobson, The Politics of Congressional Elections, 8th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2013). 4 Julie Dolan, Melissa Deckman, and Michele L. Swers, Women and Politics, 3rd ed. (Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016). 5 Jacobson, The Politics of Congressional Elections. 6 Laurel Elder, “The Partisan Gap among Women State Legislators,” Journal ofWomen, Politics & Policy 33 (1) (2012): 65–85; and Danielle M. Thomsen, “Why So Few (Republican) Women? Explaining the Partisan Imbalance of Women in the U.S. Congress,” Legislative Studies Quar- terly 40 (2) (2015): 295–323. 7 Center for American Women and Politics, “Fact Sheet: Women in the U.S. Congress 2015.” 8 Barbara Palmer and Dennis Simon, Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2008). 9 Jacobson, The Politics of Congressional Elections. 10 Barbara Burrell, Gender in Campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014). 11 Ibid. 12 Jane Mansbridge, “Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Con- tingent ‘Yes,’” Journal of Politics 61 (3) (1999): 628–657. 13 Michele L. Swers, The Difference Women Make: The Policy Impact of Women in Congress (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002); and Michele L. Swers, Women in the Club: Gender and Policy Making in the Senate (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013). 14 Debra Dodson, The Impact of Women in Congress (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). 15 Mary Hawkesworth, “Congressional Enactments of Race-Gender: Toward a Theory of Raced-Gendered Institutions,” American Political Science Review 97 (4) (2003): 529–550. 16 Swers, The Difference Women Make. 17 Brian Frederick, “Are Female House Members Still More Liberal in a Polarized Era? The Con- ditional Nature of the Relationship between Descriptive and Substantive Representation,” Congress and the Presidency 36 (2) (2009): 181–202. 18 Brian Frederick, “Gender and Patterns of Roll Call Voting in the U.S. Senate,” Congress and the Presidency 37 (2) (2010): 103–124. 19 Dolan, Deckman, and Swers, Women and Politics. 20 Swers, Women in the Club. 21 Ibid. 22 Ibid. 23 Seung Min Kim and Jennifer Haberkorn, “‘War on Women’: The gop Counteroffensive,” Polit- ico, June 17, 2015, http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/contraception-gop-war-on-women -counteroffensive-gardner-ayotte-119088.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DAED_a_00396 by guest on 26 September 2021 Women & 24 Beth Reinhard, “The Democrats’ War to Win Women Voters,” National Journal, February 16, Legislative 2013. Leadership 25 in the U.S. Dolan, Deckman, and Swers, Women and Politics; and Donna Cassata and Nedra Pickler, “Obama Congress Orders Military to Review Sexual Assault,” Associated Press, December 20, 2013. 26 Melinda Henneberger, “Sen. McCaskill’s Military Sexual-Assault Bill is Meatier than Adver- tised,” The Washington Post, March 9, 2014. 27 Center for American Women and Politics, “Fact Sheet: Women in Congress—Leadership Roles and Committee Chairs” (New Brunswick: Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 2015). 28 Ibid. Senator Margaret Chase Smith (r-me) was the first woman to hold a significant leadership position, serving as Republican conference chair from 1967 to 1972. Smith also ran for the Republican nomination for President in 1964. 29 Michele Swers and Carin Larson, “Women and Congress: Do They Act as Advocates for Wom- en’s Issues?” in Sue Thomas and Clyde Wilcox, eds., Women and Elective Office: Past, Present, and Future, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). 30 Cindy Simon Rosenthal, When Women Lead: Integrative Leadership in State Legislatures (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). 31 Sarah Anzia and Christopher R. Berry, “The Jackie (and Jill) Robinson Effect: Why Do Congress- women Outperform Congressmen?” American Journal of Political Science 55 (3) (2011): 478–493. 32 Craig Volden, Alan E. Wiseman, and Dana E. Wittmer, “When Are Women More Effective Lawmakers Than Men?” American Journal of Political Science 57 (2) (2013): 326–341. 33 Ronald M. Peters, Jr., and Cindy Simon Rosenthal, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American Pol- itics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010). 33 Swers and Larson, “Women and Congress.” 34 Robert Pear, “House Votes to Expand Children’s Health Care,” The New York Times, January 15, 2009; and Vince Bzdek, “Why Did Health-Care Reform Pass? Nancy Pelosi was in Charge,” The Washington Post, March 28, 2010.

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