Gender, Race, and Office Holding in the United States: Representation at the Intersections by Becki Scola

Author:Becki Scola [Scola, Becki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Legislative Branch, Political Science, Political Process, American Government, General
ISBN: 9781135010447
Google: fVVKAgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 19350395
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-12-04T00:00:00+00:00

significant differences in the region of both the increasing and decreasing states, meaning that this decrease is not necessarily a “regional” effect. The remainder of the states registers stagnant or weak increases in female representation.

If we disaggregate by race/ethnicity, an interesting picture emerges. The previously noted increases and decreases in legislative service for all women are quite different if we investigate white women and women of color separately. First, on average, white female legislators increased their percentages by 3.4% compared to their 1990 numbers, and women of color legislators came in slightly lower at 3.3%. In terms of high states, white women legislators increased their descriptive representation the most in Minnesota (14.9%), Arkansas (14.1%), New York (11.4%), Michigan (10.8%), and Louisiana (10.4%). Women of color recorded the highest gains in New Mexico (13.4%), Maryland (9.6%), California (8.3%), Hawaii (7.9%), and Texas (7.2%).

White women witnessed a decrease in their representational levels since 1990 in 10 states, a full 20% of the legislatures across the United States! In Arizona (–7.8%), Hawaii (–2.6%), Idaho (–4.0%), Maine (–2.2%), Maryland (–1.1%), Nebraska (–2.0%), North Dakota (–0.6%), West Virginia (–4.5%), Wisconsin (–4.5%), and Wyoming (–1.1%), white female legislators lost representation at the state level since 1990. Women of color, however, saw a decrease in their numbers in only two states—Idaho (–0.8%) and Wyoming (–1.1%). In fact, women of color increased their numbers in all of the states that registered a decrease in white female representation except for Idaho and Wyoming, where they also showed decreases, and North Dakota, which remained constant. In other words, where white women lost representation, the increase in women of color legislators made up for some of those losses.

This means that, on average, women of color have steadily increased their numbers in state legislatures whereas white women have steadily decreased in numbers. To say it another way, the percentage increases that we see in women state legislators is primarily women of color and not white women. For example, more than three-fourths of the 17% increase in women legislators that New Mexico experienced from 1990 to 2010 was due to women of color. New Jersey witnessed a similar phenomenon, with more than half of their increase in female representation comprising women of color. In places such as Minnesota and Arkansas, where white women’s gains were highest, women of color increased their numbers as well.

To summarize, women in the aggregate experienced an increase in state legislative office holding from 1990 to 2010. However, this growth in numbers was not even across state or among racial/ethnic groups. There are distinct differences in the pattern of the descriptive representation of white female and women of color legislators, especially in how this representation has increased or decreased since 1990. The next step is to see if women of color mirror the trends in office holding compared to their men of color counterparts.

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