Kathleen A. Bratton

Agenda Setting and Legislative Success in State Legislatures: The Effects of Gender and Race

In this paper, we investigate the agenda-setting behavior of female and black state legislators, and examine whether women and blacks are as successful as white men in passing legislation. Using a six-state, three-year sample, we test a descriptive representation model in which group members (blacks and women) represent group interests above and beyond the extent motivated by constituency and party pressures. Moreover, in keeping with the social distance between the races, we expect blacks to be less successful than whites at passing legislation. We find that although constituency influences sponsorship agendas, blacks and women share a set of distinctive policy interests. Women are generally as likely as men to achieve passage of the legislation they introduce, whereas blacks are, in three states, significantly less likely than whites to pass legislation.

Critical Mass Theory Revisited: The Behavior and Success of Token Women in State Legislatures

Research on women and representation has argued that women who serve in “skewed” legislatures—that is, legislatures in which women make up less than 15% of the membership—avoid addressing womens interests and are marginalized by other legislators. I argue that women in such legislatures may actually be encouraged to develop legislative agendas that are distinct from those of their male colleagues, and that they may be as successful as their male counterparts. Analyzing data from three state legislatures in four years, I find that even in extremely skewed state legislatures, women are generally more active than men in sponsoring legislation that focuses on womens interests; indeed, in two of the three states, gender differences narrow as the legislature becomes more gender balanced. Second, I find that women are generally as successful as men in passing the legislation that they sponsor, and that in very homogeneous settings, they are sometimes more successful than men. Moreover, little evidence exists that they are less likely to be appointed to leadership positions. Finally, I find that increasing gender diversity within a legislature is accompanied by a greater overall focus on womens issues. I conclude that a “critical mass” is not necessary for substantive representation on the part of individual female state legislators, but that increased diversity may indeed bring about changes in policy outputs that reflect the interests of women.

The Effect of Legislative Diversity on Agenda Setting: Evidence from Six State Legislatures

I examine the relationship between increasing gender and racial diversity within legislatures and agenda setting and find important differences within and across minority groups (i.e., Blacks and women). Increasing gender diversity among Democrats is associated with an overall increase in the number of women’s interests measures introduced; the opposite effect is observed for Republicans. Increasing racial diversity among Democrats is associated with a transference phenomenon in which White legislators introduce fewer Black interest measures, and Black legislators share the role of bringing Black interests to the agenda. Moreover, evidence exists that increasing racial diversity among Democrats is associated with a higher number of bills sponsored by Republicans that are contrary to Black interests and with fewer such bills sponsored by Democrats. I conclude that although increasing diversity can be accompanied by an increased attention to group interests, it is important to take into account partisan differences and differences between minority groups.

Existing Diversity and Judicial Selection: The Role of the Appointment Method in Establishing Gender Diversity in State Supreme Courts

Objectives. To explore differences in the appointment and election method of selecting state high court justices in promoting gender diversity, and to explore the effect of existing gender diversity within the political institutions on the selection of women to office. Methods. Our data include all justices who have been selected to state courts of last resort from 1980 through 1997. We use logistic regression analysis to test the effect of existing gender diversity on a high court on the likelihood that a woman will be selected to fill a vacancy. Results. Women are significantly more likely to be selected to a state high court when initially appointed, and this effect is particularly pronounced when the governor is Democratic. When an appointment system is used, women are much more likely to be appointed to an all-male court than to a gender-diverse court. Conclusions. Appointment systems are more likely to create gender diversity on state courts; however, this effect operates primarily to diversify all-male courts. This difference between appointment and election systems may reflect differences in knowledge between elite actors and the mass public about the composition of the institution.

Agenda Setting and African American Women in State Legislatures

SUMMARY Political scientists have, in recent years, uncovered substantial evidence that political representation in the United States is influenced by gender and race, yet generally examine the effects of gender entirely separate from the effects of race. In this article, we explore the agenda-setting behavior of African American female state legislators. We find that African American women do respond to both womens interests and black interests. We also find that while the sponsorship of black interest measures by African American women (or other legislators) is not influenced by the proportion of African Americans within the chamber, African American women are less likely to sponsor womens interest measures in legislatures with a relatively high proportion of women present. We conclude that because of their focus on multiple groups, black women occupy a unique place in representation, and that their choices are influenced by the institutional context in which they work.

Bridging the Gender Gap In Bill Sponsorship

Under what circumstances do men sponsor issues that are traditionally regarded as salient primarily to women? By examining the sponsorship of legislation in the upper and lower chambers of 15 state legislatures in 2001, we explored the conditions under which men are likely to focus attention on policy areas involving womens issues and childrens issues. We found little effect of institutional context (such as party control of the legislature or diversity within the legislature) on the sponsorship behavior of either men or women. Personal characteristics such as race, education, age, and family circumstances are associated with sponsorship by men, but not by women. Committee service is also strongly associated with sponsorship behavior, particularly for men. Differences in sponsorship are relatively marked in the sponsorship of legislation that focuses on reproduction or other health issues particularly relevant to women. We conclude that the boundaries of the set of issues traditionally defined as “womens issues” may be changing over time and that it is important to recognize that the influences on the sponsorship of womens issues can be different for men than they are for women.

Latino Representation and Education: Pathways to Latino Student Performance:

The rapid growth of the Latino population in the U.S. over the past 15 years has led to a significant increase in levels of primary and secondary school enrollment rates of Latino children. Research on Latino education has demonstrated the institutional and contextual challenges faced by this increasingly significant group, but studies that link Latino representation and Latino educational performance have neglected to sort out the direct and indirect effects of representation on student achievement. The central assumption in these studies outlines a causal chain running from Latino political representation (school boards), to Latino bureaucratic representation (administrators and teachers), to Latino student performance. This study tests these theoretical assumptions by employing a path analytic model using data from 1,040 Texas school districts for the years 1997–2001 to tease out the direct and indirect effects of Latino representation on Latino student achievement. We find robust evidence of the impact of Latino political representation on Latino educational attainment in Texas, operating via a direct effect on the number of Latino administrators and teachers and an indirect effect on Latino student performance. Additionally, our results demonstrate that descriptive representation becomes substantive representation in the area of education policy for Latinos and that this relationship remains strong over time. These findings underscore the importance of school board elections and school district hiring practices on Latino student performance.

Moving Up the Judicial Ladder The Nomination of State Supreme Court Justices to the Federal Courts

State institutions have assumed increasingly important roles in policymaking. Moreover, prior research indicates that judicial experience has emerged as a particularly important factor in nomination to the federal courts. Despite these developments, justices from state Supreme Courts are not often nominated to the federal judiciary. This article identifies the factors that influence the nomination of state Supreme Court justices to the federal courts. The results indicate that partisan alignment between the nominee, senators, and president is a critical factor in nomination. Age is also a significant factor in predicting nomination; a justice’s likelihood of being nominated peaks in her early 50s. Moreover, state high court justices who serve on relatively prestigious courts or have considerable seniority are less likely to be nominated to the federal courts thereby suggesting that visibility may not be an asset to state justices wishing to move to the federal courts.