Journal of Research on Women andJournal Gender of Research 81 on Women and Gender The role of a gendered policy agenda Volume 6, 81-93 © The Author(s) 2015, 2016 in closing the mayoral ambition gap: Reprints and Permission: email [email protected] Texas Digital Library: The case of Texas female city council members http://www.tdl.org Darlene Budd, Angelique Myers, and Thomas Longoria

Abstract This study explores female city council member political ambition to run for mayor. Women who hold mayoral office are potentially more competitive for higher elected office at the state and federal level. This study is based on a survey sent to Texas city council members in cities over 30,000. Forty-one percent of respondents said they would most likely run for mayor at some point, and we do find a gender gap in ambition (50% of men and 36% of women). However, we find that women who advocated a gendered local government political agenda exhibited higher levels of political ambition compared women who do not, and the ambition gap is reduced significantly. This finding holds up, controlling for other factors suggested by the literature that are predictors of political ambition. Two of these other factors—age and personal support—also increase city council member mayoral ambition. The findings are dis- cussed in terms of strategies to increase female mayoral ambition. Keywords political science, women’s studies, sociology, political ambition, gender, local government

he underrepresentation of women representation through education, leader- in the United States occurs at the ship training, and networking. However, the national, state, and local levels of barriers women face when considering run- Tgovernment. Addressing the representation- ning for office appear to overwhelm these al gender gap has received much attention supportive efforts. from scholars as well as groups intent on Political ambition is enhanced by past reversing this unfortunate fact. Women’s or- success and having the ability to represent ganizations—notably EMILY’s List, WISH an image of experience and authority. Ac- List, and more recently, Project GROW— cordingly, this article posits that one way have provided assistance to increase female to address representation gaps at the federal representation at the state and national lev- and state levels is to increase the number of el, and have been successful to some extent. female mayors. Women who serve as may- Women also receive support from a growing or have demonstrated executive leadership number of nonprofit organizations whose qualities and experience that make them po- mission is to empower women and increase tentially more competitive for higher office. Journal of Research on Women and Gender 82

However, of the 1,351 mayors of U.S. cities factors close the mayoral ambition gap. Fe- with populations over 30,000 in 2014, only male elected officials should be encouraged 18.4% were women (CAWP, 2013). The to pursue a gendered policy agenda. Such an purpose of this study is to explore some of approach contributes to enhanced ambition the factors that influence female city council and, when framed strategically, resonates member ambition to run for mayor. positively among voters and results in wom- Political ambition, specifically the deci- en holding a higher percentage of mayoral sion to run for office, may be viewed as a offices. strategic response to a political opportuni- ty structure (Schlesinger, 1966). A function Literature Review of an individual’s personal attributes, per- sonalities, and motivations (Fishel, 1971), political ambition consists of two stages or This study focuses on the political am- forms: nascent and expressive. Nascent am- bition of female city council members—a bition is a potential interest in seeking of- generally understudied group. The political fice and precedes expressive ambition, the ambition of city council women to run for actual act of deciding to run for office (Fox mayor is also relevant because the position & Lawless, 2012, p. 5). Most of the factors of mayor often serves as a stepping-stone involving nascent ambition are psycholog- to higher-level political positions (McGlen ical, social, and personal. Strategic consid- et al., 2011). In order to increase the per- erations such as term limits, electoral struc- centage of women holding statewide office ture, and the possibility of electoral success and in-state legislatures and Congress, more are discrete factors that influence candidate women are needed in the “pipeline.” Wom- ambition (Black, 1972). Ideology and a de- en gain experience and hone their skills in sire to change public policy are intangibles local level offices that are more within reach that often serve as powerful catalysts driving in terms of time and money. The literature political participation (Burns, Schlozman, on political ambition is adapted to the case & Verba, 2001). Growing up in a political of city council members in the remainder of family (Flanigan & Zingale, 2002), having this section and hypotheses are proposed. the support of political mentors (Wobrecht & Campbell, 2007) and community organi- » Attitudes and Issues zations (Costantini, 1990), as well as over- Some women are motivated to run for all social interactions (McClurg, 2003) help office by the desire to increase awareness of cultivate individual political ambition. policy issues neglected by male candidates Existing research and previous studies and elected officials.Gendered public poli- of these explanatory variables informed the cy priorities emerge in part due to personal creation of a survey administered to city experience with a problem or policy matter council members in Texas cities over 30,000. and efforts to initiate change or improve- This study finds that a female city council ment (Kathlene, 1989, p. 412). The policy member’s policy priorities are an important issues that often motivate women to become predictor of mayoral ambition. In addition politically active are traditionally viewed to holding gendered policy priorities, per- as “women’s issues,” including: education, ceived levels of personal support predict health care, environment, consumer protec- higher levels of political ambition. These tion, helping under-served populations, and Journal of Research on Women and Gender 83 equal rights (Brown, Heighberger, & Shock- to local government. There are several rea- et, 1993). The desire to change public policy sons for this lower level of attention. First, plays a considerably larger role in the deci- local elections are often nonpartisan and sion of women to run for office compared have very low levels of voter turnout, there- to men. Specifically, women mayors more by reducing the visibility of these offices. In often rated their concern over specific poli- addition, in many cities, the council-man- cy issues as most important in their decision ager form of government used in most cities to seek their first municipal office and were reduces the influence of the mayor and city more likely than men to have specific policy council and vests more power in the hands concerns (Carroll & Sanbonmatsu, 2010). of the city manager, reducing the perceived A campaign focused on traditional relevance of city council members. Finally, “women’s issues” targeted at women voters some urbanists have observed that local gov- has produced electoral successes for female ernments have a “unitary interest” in eco- candidates (Herrndon et al., 2003). Female nomic growth and therefore are more likely candidates provide a level of assurance to to prefer “apolitical” developmental and al- many female voters that their interests are locational policies over redistributive poli- represented. While men could arguably rep- cies that are believed to undermine econom- resent the interests of women, female legis- ic growth (Peterson, 1981; Longoria, 1994). lators introduce and vote for legislation that Gender-role attitudes, as a dimension of positively affects women and families more political culture, play an important role in often than male legislators (Thomas, 1990). the decision of a woman to consider running Controlling for party, women legislators also for mayor. Political culture, defined as “the engage in more intense and frequent legis- particular pattern of orientation to political lative action reflecting women’s experiences action in which each political system is em- and concerns (Swers, 2002). As a result, fe- bedded” (Elazar, 1966, p. 78), is at least as male candidates can benefit by running “as important as the electoral system in predict- women” and calling attention to their unique ing the presence and percentage of women qualities and interests (Stokes-Brown et al., city council members and mayors (Smith et 2008). The role these dynamics play in the al., 2012, p. 315). For example, states with nonpartisan local government context where a tradition of gender equity are much more attention to “women’s issues” is less com- likely to see women succeed in elections mon is not clear. To the extent that having (Windett, 2011) and have a higher percent- a woman on the ballot attracts the attention age of women in the legislature (Arceneaux, of more female voters and increases political 2001). Just like states, there are local-level participation among women (Herrndon et differences in gender-role attitudes. In some al., 2003) suggests that women candidates localities, voters and elites have been social- help to mobilize women voters at the local ized to view politics as a man’s world (Car- level. roll & Sanbonmatsu, 2009; Sapiro, 1983), Gendered policy priorities are particular- whereas in other communities this is not the ly relevant and important at the local level case. For these reasons, past female electoral of government. However, while the connec- success is a potential indicator of a favorable tion between gendered political views and political culture where voters have experi- ambition has been examined at other levels enced women as capable political executives, of government, less attention has been paid and are more likely to support women can- Journal of Research on Women and Gender 84 didates in the future. Based on the literature political wrangling and try to pacify various review above, the following hypotheses are political constituencies inside and outside proposed: of city hall (DeNardis & Rodriguez, 2007). Because women are more likely to identify H1: Advocating gendered policy issues is themselves as “public servants” rather than associated with greater mayoral ambition. “politicians” (Ford, 2010, p. 142; Flam- H2: Serving as a city council member in a ming, 1984), female city council members city with a previously elected woman may have more ambition to run for mayor mayor is associated with greater mayoral in cities with the council-manager form of ambition. government. Female city council members who have » Institutional Characteristics and Outcomes won their seats in at-large (city-wide) elec- The “attractiveness” of the office of -may tions have demonstrated that they can win or may influence a female city council mem- a city-wide office and have a chance to win ber’s desire to run for mayor. While wom- the mayor’s office, which is also elected en have differing views on various issues, citywide. In contrast, a female city council women tend to prefer a style of politics that member that represents a single-member focuses on people and solving problems co- district has a smaller constituency and has operatively while avoiding political conflict likely built a record focusing on district is- (Karpowitz & Mendelberg, 2014, p. 19). sues rather than city-wide issues that might The nature of the office of mayor varies- de give focus to a mayoral campaign. Thus, pending on a city’s form of government. For holding an at-large city council seat bolsters example, the office of mayor is much more self-assurance, potentially narrows the gen- politicized in the mayor-council form of der “confidence-gap” (Fox & Lawless, 2012, government compared to the council-man- p. 10), and may enhance mayoral ambition. ager form of government. The role of a may- At-large election victories help to change at- or in the council-manager form of government titudes of citizens in general, and encourage emphasizes ceremonial tasks such as repre- women to participate politically, and run for senting the city at dinners and special events, office. Based on the literature review above, serving as the presiding officer at meetings the following hypotheses are proposed: and acting as the spokesman for the council. H3: Serving as a city council member with Serving as representative and spokesperson, a council-manager form of government is the mayor becomes an important channel associated with greater mayoral ambition for citizen input (Svara, 1987). It is the city council in a council-manager form of gov- H4: Serving as a city council member elect- ernment that adopts the city budget, iden- ed to an at-large seat is associated with tifies policy priorities, sets the local tax rate, greater mayoral ambition. and leaves administration to a professional city manager. Local government is generally » Personal Support depoliticized in a council-manager form of In the not-so-distant past, a woman did government. In contrast, the office of mayor not seek elected office because politics were in a mayor-council local government is more viewed as “dirty” and not an “appropriate” politicized. The mayor in a mayor-council public venue for women (Hedlund et al., form of government must deal with more 1979). While attitudes have changed, to this Journal of Research on Women and Gender 85 day one of the leading factors hindering gen- tatives were more likely than men to consult der parity in elective office is the fact that with a (female) political mentor when con- women are much less likely than men (60% sidering running for office (Padgett-Owen, less) to see themselves as “very qualified” to 2010). Women candidates who referenced run for office (Fox & Lawless, 2011). Wom- support and advice of a female mentor re- en are also less likely than men to think they portedly perceived their own performance will win their first campaign (Fox & Law- and likelihood of winning an election in a less, 2011). Since an overwhelming majority more positive light (Latu et al., 2013). of potential candidates do not run for of- Based on the literature review above, fice unless they believe they can win, low- the following hypotheses are proposed: er self-assessment scores of women directly affect representation levels (Fox & Lawless, H5: A city council member’s perceived level of personal support is associated with may- 2011). Support from family, friends, politi- oral ambition. cal organizations, and civic groups can help boost confidence and nurture a candidate’s “inclination to consider a candidacy” (Fox » Data and Methods & Lawless, 2005). This study examines the mayoral ambi- Women are not traditionally socialized to tion of city council members in Texas using take an active role in politics (McGlen et al., online survey research. Texas is a useful re- 2011), and they face the challenge of over- search site for a number of reasons. First, coming gender stereotypes and traditional the percentage of female mayors in Texas attitudes. Because of these barriers, perceived (16.8%) is below, but close to, the nation- personal support is essential to increasing the al average (18.4%). The state includes many number of women mayoral candidates. For large cities, suburbs, and rural communities example, coming from a “political family” where the political and social contexts vary increases candidate motivations to run for within the broader context of a conserva- office. Women who are raised in a family tive political environment. The pathway to environment where involvement in politics advancement for women in this politically is considered routine are more likely to per- and socially conservative state deserves spe- ceive themselves as viable candidates to run cial attention in an attempt to better under- for office (Fox & Lawless, 2005). Friends stand the factors that contribute to greater and family can play an equally influential female representation in Texas and across the role. In a study of state legislators, the most country. In addition, Texas has an interest- influential source of personal encourage- ing political history with respect to women. ment for women was their spouse or part- Women in Texas have served as governor, in- ner. Married (or living as married) female cluding Ma Ferguson in the 1920s and the legislators were also significantly more likely very celebrated Ann Richards in the 1990s. than men to say their spouse was “very sup- Other nationally visible Texas women in portive” of their position in office (Carroll & politics include Oveta Culp Hobby, Barba- Sanbonmatsu, 2009, p. 12). Female political ra Jordan, and Lady Bird Johnson among mentors are especially helpful to newcom- many others. ers experiencing campaign challenges for the The election pitting Ann Richards first time. Female candidates running for a against Clayton Williams highlighted the seat in the United States House of Represen- clash of the traditional patriarchal culture Journal of Research on Women and Gender 86 and how women can confront it with élan (Tolleson-Rinehart & Stanley, 1994). Ann Table 1 Richards looms large as a role model for Descriptive Statistics many women in politics. She used her quick wit and toughness to govern effectively as a Variable Min Max Meana SD liberal in a conservative state, and led passage Mayoral Ambition 0 1 41 of education finance reform, prison reform, Female 0 1 63 and gun regulation. Despite stereotypes that Gendered Policy Agenda 0 1 48 Texas is anti-woman and anti-feminist, there Former Female Mayor 0 1 64 are currently eight women serving as may- Mayor-Council Government 0 1 17 or in the 64 Texas cities larger than 50,000, Hold Single Member Seat 0 1 45 including Betsy Price (Fort Worth), Ivy Tay- Personal Support Index 12 20 17.5 1.96 lor (San Antonio), Nelda Martinez (Corpus Age 1 6 3.68 1.22 Married 0 1 81 Christi), Beth Van Duyne (Irving), Becky College Degree 0 1 69 Ames (Beaumont), Deloris Prince (Port Ar- No children in Home 0 1 79 thur), Linda Martin (Euless). Notably May- or Anise Parker (Houston), is one of the N 82 few openly gay mayors of a major U.S. city.

However, it is important to note that while a Values for dichotomous variables are percentages; the strides are being made, women hold only modal category for age is 4 (55 to 65) 12.5% of the mayor’s offices in Texas cities with populations exceeding 50,000. To examine mayoral ambition among Texas city council members, 323 city coun- communities in North Texas, 23% represent cil members serving in Texas cities with a communities in East Texas, 17% represent population exceeding 30,000 (U.S. Cen- communities in Central Texas, 10% repre- sus, 2013) were sent an online survey. The sent communities in West Texas, and seven names and email addresses of city council percent represent communities in South members were obtained from local govern- Texas. Sixty percent of respondents repre- ment websites. The survey was conducted sent suburban communities, four percent in two waves. In order to maximize female of respondents represent rural communities, participation, an initial survey was sent, and and 36% represent urban areas including frequent reminders were made to encourage major cities in their own metropolitan sta- responses. The remaining list of city coun- tistical areas. Respondents under the age of cil members received the online survey, and 44 comprise 17% of the sample, over half two email reminders were sent to obtain a (55%) of the respondents are age 45-64, and sample of men. None of the respondents 28% are older than 65. Eighty-one percent knew the purpose of the study or of focus on of respondents are married. A majority of mayoral ambition. The descriptive statistics respondents (69.2%) are college graduates. for the sample are summarized in Table 1. Age is operationalized as an ordinal variable Of the 323 council members who re- due to question wording used to maximize ceived the survey, 82 returned the survey the response rate. The majority of respon- resulting in a response rate of 24%. For- dents (79%) had no children under the age ty-three percent of respondents represent of 16 living in their household. Journal of Research on Women and Gender 87

The dependent variable in this study is “women’s issues” that emphasize and address mayoral ambition measured by the question: the needs of women and their families, such “Please select the statement that you most as healthcare, education, and safe living con- closely agree with,” and the following re- ditions for children (Swers & Larson, 2005). sponse categories: “I will most likely not run Based on this coding, 48% of respondents for mayor” and “I will most likely run for expressed at least one gendered policy pri- mayor.” In the case of the latter option, fu- ority. ture time frames were provided: one to four Gender-role attitudes favorable to elect- years, five to 10 years, and 11 to 15 years. All ing a woman mayor are operationalized with respondents indicating an interest in run- the question: “Has a woman ever served as ning for mayor at some point in less than 15 mayor in your city?” Sixty-four percent of years were collapsed into a single category. respondents indicated that there had been at Forty-one percent of council members indi- least one woman elected mayor in the past cated that they may run for mayor at some (coded 1). While this number may seem point. There is clearly a mayoral ambition high, recall that the question asks if a wom- gap as 50 of men have mayoral ambition an served as mayor at any point in the past. compared to 36% of women (Chi Square = The actual percentage of women currently 1.52; sig. = .16). serving as mayor in Texas cities is 16.8%. The independent variables in this study In order to determine the type of seat are questions measuring respondent atti- the female city council member represents, tudes and institutional characteristics of each respondents were asked the following ques- respondent’s city. Advocating a gendered tion: “Do you represent an at-large seat, or policy agenda is operationalized using the a single-member district?” Forty-five percent open-ended responses to the following ques- of women hold a single member district seat. tion: Please list your top three policy priority Form of Government was determined using areas. We consider both the literature on lo- the following question: “What is the form cal government policy and women and pol- of government in your city?” Based on this itics to code the responses. Responses that question, 17% of women served in a may- focused on “traditional” local government or-council city. This finding is not surpris- issues—also known as developmental and ing given that 15% of home-rule Texas cities allocational policies (Peterson, 1981)—such use the mayor-council form of government as taxes, economic development, protective (Texas State Historical Association, http:// services, and infrastructure were coded 0. www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/arti- Responses that focused on redistributive is- cles/moc02). sues (Peterson, 1981), such as housing, ed- Perceived personal support is operation- ucation, environment, health and poverty, alized using a four-question additive index. were considered gendered policy issues and Respondents were asked to indicate on a five- coded 1. In addition, self-reported policy point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree to 5 = priorities to improve collaboration and co- strongly agree) their level of agreement with operation were coded 1 given the relative the statements listed. The four questions in- emphasis women place on collaboration and clude: (1) My spouse/partner supports my cooperation compared to men. The catego- political career; (2) My immediate family rization of policy issues described above co- supports my political career; (3) My extend- incides with policy issues considered to be ed family supports my political career; and Journal of Research on Women and Gender 88

(4) I have effective, meaningful mentoring advocates a gendered policy agenda is 12% relationships who support me and my po- higher (Exp(b) = 12.00). On the other hand, litical career. The mean index score is 17.5 the odds that a woman who does not advo- (Std. Dev. = 1.96) and the range is 12 to 20. cate a gendered policy agenda will have may- If the respondent indicates having a spouse oral ambition is 17% lower (Exp(b) = .167). or partner, the spousal support variable was Interestingly, the odds of men who advocate coded 0. a gendered policy agenda also having may- oral ambition are 50% lower. There is clear and strong support for Hypothesis 1. Findings Interpreting odds ratios can be cumber- some. In order to clarify these findings, pre- Table 2 presents two logistic regressions. dicted probabilities were calculated. Figure In the first column, we regress gender, advo- 1 presents a summary of the findings in the cacy of gendered policy agenda, and the in- Model 1 presented in Table 2 using predict- teraction between these two variables. In the ed probabilities. The predicted probability of interaction term, the women who also advo- a male city council member having mayoral cate a gendered policy agenda are contrast- ambition is .57, or a 57% chance. On the oth- ed with women who do not and the men in er hand, men who advocated a gendered pol- the sample. The model successfully predicts icy agenda at the local government level have 63% of the cases. The model Chi-Square is a .33 predicted probability of having mayoral statistically significant (Chi Square = 8.62; ambition. Women who do not advocate a gen- sig. = .03), and the Hosmer and Lemeshow Test (Chi Square = .0001; Sig. = .99) is not statistically significant, indicating that the Table 2 model is a good fit for the data. Mayoral Ambition Logistic Regression Analysis As noted above, women are less likely to have mayoral ambition (b = -1.79; sig. = Model 1 Model 2 .01). Having a gendered policy agenda has Variable b Exp(b) b Exp (b) no impact on mayoral ambition for all re- Gender (Female) -1.79** .17 -1.56* .22 spondents (male and female). It is notewor- Gendered Policy Agenda -.98 .38 -.59 .56 Gender*Gendered Agenda 2.49* 12.00 1.97+ 7.20 thy that the coefficient for a gendered policy Former Female Mayor -.27 .76 agenda is in the negative direction, suggest- Council Manager Govt. .82 2.29 ing that candidates who are outside of the Hold At-Large Council Seat -.60 .55 policy mainstream of developmental and al- Personal Support Index .30+ 1.35 locational policies are less likely to have may- Age -.51* .60 oral ambition (b = -.98; sig. = .24). Howev- Married -.76 .47 er, women who also have a gendered policy College Degree .14 1.15 agenda are more likely to have mayoral am- No children in Home -.18 .84 bition compared to women and men who Constant .29 1.33 -2.53 .08 do not (b = 2.49; sig. = .02). The odds of a % Cases Correctly Predicted 62.5 72.7 man having ambition to run for mayor are Model Chi Square 8.62* 19.11* 33% higher than a woman having ambition N = 80 to run for mayor (Exp(b) of the Constant = + = <.10;* = <.05; ** =<.01 1.33). However, the odds of a woman who Journal of Research on Women and Gender 89

Figure 1 Predicted Probabilities for Mayoral Ambition

dered policy agenda have a .18 predicted prob- attitudinal and institutional factors as well ability of having mayoral ambition. Women as individual-level characteristics. The mod- who have a gendered policy agenda have a el correctly predicts 74% of the cases, and .50 predicted probability of having mayor- the model is a good fit for the data (Model al ambition. In other words, holding a gen- Chi Square = 19.98; sig. = .05; Hosmer and dered policy agenda increases the probability Lemeshow Test = 4.32; sig. = .83). There is of a woman having mayoral ambition by .32. support for Hypothesis 5, in that stronger Perhaps more notably from the standpoint of perceived personal support for one’s politi- closing the ambition gap, women with a gen- cal career increases ambition (b = 1.06; sig. dered policy agenda are only .07 less likely to = .06). We also find that age is statistically have mayoral ambition than men who hold a significant and in the expected direction, as non-gendered policy agenda. Having a gen- older respondents tend to have less mayor- dered policy agenda closes the gap in mayor- al ambition (b = -.57; sig. = .03). For each al ambition between men with a traditional category increase in age, there is a decrease agenda and women with a gendered agenda in the odds that the respondent has mayoral and increases ambition to levels greater than ambition (Exp(b) = .60). men with a gendered political agenda. There is no support for the other pro- The second column in Table 2 presents posed hypotheses. Women city council mem- the full model examining the five hypoth- bers serving in cities where no women have eses introduced above and control variables ever been elected mayor are not more likely (Model 2). In Model 2, we find that gender to have mayoral ambition (Hypothesis 2 not and the interaction term between gender supported). Perhaps, as suggested in the lit- and advocating a gendered policy agenda re- erature review, the fact that these cities have main statistically significant, controlling for not elected a woman mayor in the past indi- Journal of Research on Women and Gender 90 cates that the voters are not open to female understanding of political attitudes, institu- leadership. However, this question alone is tional characteristics, and existing support likely not a sufficient measure of a city’s -po for potential mayoral candidates will help to litical culture and orientation toward woman better inform the efforts and activities of or- leaders. In addition, Hypotheses 3 and 4 are ganizations working to increase female rep- not supported. The potentially politicized resentation at all levels of government. The environment associated with mayor-coun- mayoral ambition gender gap can be closed cil system does not either encourage or dis- by focusing on younger women, enhancing courage ambition. Forms of government are personal support of family and mentors, and converging in a number of ways that mini- by encouraging women to advocate a gen- mize the differences in politics and the ways dered policy agenda. that things get done in council-manager and Advocating a “women’s agenda” focused mayor-council cities and where the difference on issues historically salient to women ap- between “traditional” cities and “reformed” pears to be a stronger motivator than a gen- cities are decreasing (see, for example, Fred- der-neutral political agenda that focuses on erickson, et al., 2003, p. 10). In other words, economic development and infrastructure council-manager cities are becoming more investments. A gendered policy agenda may “political,” and mayor- council cities are also lead a woman to see herself as “qualified” and becoming more “professional” as cities adapt thereby increase mayoral ambition. Confi- to the expectations of their residents. Hy- dence of female city council members to ac- pothesis 4, that city council members elected tively seek the office of mayor is potentially at-large are more likely to have mayoral am- enhanced when women successfully convey bition, is not supported. the importance of a gendered approach to In order to facilitate understanding, a local policy and how this benefits the entire best-case scenario for female political ambi- community. A policy seen as developmental tion was calculated. A young woman with by one set of interests may be seen as redis- the maximum amount of personal support tributive by others (Stone, 2004) and vice and a gendered policy agenda—setting other versa. For example, education policy framed variables at values to enhance likelihood— as a strategy to attract employers and thus has a .65 probability of having mayoral am- boost economic development will likely bition. In comparison, a young man with the promote engagement and support of busi- maximum amount of personal support and ness interests who might be otherwise be a non-gendered agenda—setting other vari- resistant to more “redistributive spending” ables at values to enhance likelihood—has a (Stone, 2004). .69 probability of having mayoral ambition. Conservative groups—especially at the A gendered policy agenda clearly closes the national level, but increasingly at the local mayoral ambition gap. level—recruit women to run for office and champion their traditional gender-role atti- tudes and conservative public policies. For Discussion example, “Feminists for Life” promotes the idea that abortion is “anti-woman,” and The purpose of this study was to explore the “Mama Bear movement” suggests that the mayoral ambitions of women city coun- women should focus on national security cil members in Texas cities. Gaining a better and the economy to protect children from Journal of Research on Women and Gender 91 foreign threats and economic insecurity. notoriously low turnout, and, as a result, The rhetoric of conservative women’s groups the candidates who win the support of pro- promotes an “anti-feminist identity,” osten- growth and low-tax interests often—but not sibly to fuel the political ambition of conser- always—win at the local level. There is an vative women. To date, conservative efforts additional complication that voters in Texas to support women candidates in primaries are more conservative, while the eligible vot- and elections has had limited success in part ers that include many nonvoters are increas- because “female lawmakers on the state level ingly more liberal. A more gendered policy tend to be more moderate […] and even if agenda may produce more successful elec- they are as conservative, women candidates toral outcomes in the future. For example, also tend to be less bombastic, making it a majority of Texans now support gay mar- tough to break through on a rhetorical lev- riage, and a growing percentage of residents el” (Newton-Small, 2014). Women running in urban areas acknowledge the need for on issues championed traditionally by men sustainable development and smart growth. may not be an effective strategy to increase The fact that women have been elected to the female representation. position of mayor in many Texas cities sug- This study suggests that women should gests that women can and do win if they run. have confidence in a “gendered” policy agen- Identifying the right strategy and remaining da and not shy away from campaigning on committed to that strategy would likely pro- the issues that are proven to make a differ- duce more political ambition among women ence in the quality of life, education, health, and increased female executive leadership in and well-being of families and communities. the long run.  Nor should they feel that they have to move away from women’s issues to get support. Address correspondence to: Thomas Longoria, Encouraging women to campaign on a plat- Department of Political Science, Texas State University. Tel: 512.245.2143. Email: [email protected] form that perpetuates the status quo (i.e., not advocating policy issues that will change or enhance the quality of life for women, fami- lies, and communities) will not change “poli- tics as usual” and does not appear to increase political ambition. This study’s findings in the context of nonpartisan local politics in a conservative state such as Texas suggests the power of “feeling qualified,” and those inter- ested in enhancing female representation in executive and higher offices should enhance those feelings in local elected officials (such as female city council members) to increase the pool of qualified candidates for higher office. It is important to note that efforts to in- crease mayoral ambition among city coun- cil members may not lead to their eventual election. Local government elections have Journal of Research on Women and Gender 92

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