Women Take Their Place in State Legislatures: the Creation of Women's Caucuses

Anna Mitchell Mahoney is an Administrative Assistant Professor of Women’s Political Leadership at Tulane University’s Newcomb College Institute.

• Table of ContentsChapter One: Women Take Their Place……………….…………...……………………………..9Chapter Two: Many Paths to Yes: The Creation of Women’s Caucuses………………………..33Chapter Three: For Women, There is No One Way or Place to Caucus………………………...52Chapter Four: The New Jersey Women’s Legislative Caucus………………………………..…85Chapter Five: The Colorado Women’s Legislative Caucus……………………………………114Chapter Six: The Pennsylvania Attempt………………………………………………………..148Chapter Seven: The Iowa Attempt……………………………………………………………...174Chapter Eight: Explaining Women’s Caucuses………………………………………………...199References………………………………………………………………………………………219

"In addition to important documentation of women's caucuses and where they have emerged, Mahoney offers important theoretical and conceptual contributions to literatures on identity politics, partisanship, and collective action within legislative institutions.... Beyond telling compelling stories about the success or failure of specific caucuses, Women Take Their Place in State Legislatures successfully tells a much larger—and even more broadly applicable—story about the ways in which gender and partisanship significantly shape the patterns, distribution, and exercise of power within our legislative institutions."--State Legislature