The Empirical Study of Gender (EGEN) Research Network: Small Research Prizes to Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty.
Awarded in Summer 2022. $49,633.
Co-PIs: Amanda Clayton & Dawn Teele
The Empirical Study of Gender (EGEN) Research Network, founded in 2016, is a group of scholars who work on gender from an empirical angle. The NSF grant funds small research prizes to graduate students and early career faculty doing cutting-edge empirical research on Gender and Politics.
Read about our prize winners here.
(SES-2215500)
Read about our prize winners here.
(SES-2215500)
Women as Leaders, Policy-Makers, and Symbols
National Science Foundation. Awarded in Summer 2020. $429,000
Co-PI: Diana Z. O'Brien, Rice University
Post-Doc: Bomi K. Lee, University of Kentucky (U. of Iowa, PhD)
Women have long been denied access to the most powerful political posts, particularly prestigious cabinet positions within the executive branch. This project examines the causes and consequences of women’s exclusion from, and appointment to, three of the most powerful cabinet posts: defense, interior/home affairs, and foreign affairs. These prominent positions policy influence and it is thus vital to explain when, why, and how women access these portfolios, as well as to understand how women’s inclusion shapes policies that are central to the functioning of the state.
The central claim of this project is that women’s presence in political office shapes, and is shaped by, beliefs about the policy responsibilities of the position. Though each of the portfolios studied has distinct responsibilities, they share a focus on security (i.e., protecting the state from domestic and international threats). The first set of hypotheses posits that women access the inner cabinet when the portfolios’ focus expands beyond traditionally masculine policy arenas (such as terrorism and war) to emphasize issues like peacekeeping and human rights. The second set of hypotheses suggests that male and female ministers’ policy priorities are largely explained by the conditions that bring women into (or keep them out of) office, rather than innate gender differences. The third set of hypotheses posits that the appointment of female ministers affects citizens’ beliefs about the aims and prestige of these positions and informs their levels of trust and confidence in the minister, the ministry, and the state.
This project thus advances the scientific study of women’s political representation by collecting original data to test these hypotheses. This project offers the first worldwide study of women in the inner cabinet and a framework for assessing the causes and consequences of women’s access to male-dominated posts in other realms. In doing so, the project develops a new framework for explaining when women access traditionally masculine domains and how their pathways to power affect policy outcomes and citizens’ relationship to the state, we well as compiles a global database on women’s cabinet appointments and policy outputs. (SES-1851407; SES-1851457)
The central claim of this project is that women’s presence in political office shapes, and is shaped by, beliefs about the policy responsibilities of the position. Though each of the portfolios studied has distinct responsibilities, they share a focus on security (i.e., protecting the state from domestic and international threats). The first set of hypotheses posits that women access the inner cabinet when the portfolios’ focus expands beyond traditionally masculine policy arenas (such as terrorism and war) to emphasize issues like peacekeeping and human rights. The second set of hypotheses suggests that male and female ministers’ policy priorities are largely explained by the conditions that bring women into (or keep them out of) office, rather than innate gender differences. The third set of hypotheses posits that the appointment of female ministers affects citizens’ beliefs about the aims and prestige of these positions and informs their levels of trust and confidence in the minister, the ministry, and the state.
This project thus advances the scientific study of women’s political representation by collecting original data to test these hypotheses. This project offers the first worldwide study of women in the inner cabinet and a framework for assessing the causes and consequences of women’s access to male-dominated posts in other realms. In doing so, the project develops a new framework for explaining when women access traditionally masculine domains and how their pathways to power affect policy outcomes and citizens’ relationship to the state, we well as compiles a global database on women’s cabinet appointments and policy outputs. (SES-1851407; SES-1851457)
The Success of Female Representatives: Causes and Consequences of a Gendered Distribution of Legislative Power
2015 Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics. Awarded in Spring 2016. $2,000.
Co-PI: Constanza F. Schibber, Michigan State
Under which circumstances (if any) are female legislators as successful as their male colleagues in pursuing their policy agenda? This project highlights the importance of variation in access to coveted positions of power within the assembly, particularly prestigious committees, in explaining the legislative success (or failure) of female representatives. More specifically, we advance a new theory to explain how institutional design, which varies substantially across legislative assemblies, structures women’s access to prestigious committee assignments and shapes women’s ability to advance their legislative agenda. To empirically evaluate our theory, we rely on evidence from Latin American assemblies, leveraging variation in the prestige of committees within chambers and variation in the institutional organization across chambers. We create an original dataset of women’s and men’s committee appointments and legislative activity, and combine the individual-level data with expert assessments of committee prestige –obtained from a novel expert survey– and chamber-level data from each assembly’s rules.
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Dangerous Places and State Action: Does Violence against Women Legislation Motivate Women to Participate in Civic and Political Activities?
Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women, University of Kentucky. Fall 2014-2016. $14,000.
Co-PI: Dr. Abby Córdova, University of Kentucky
Dr. Abby Córdova and I were recently awarded funding from the Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women (OPSVAW) to examine the impacts of women's policy representation on women's political participation in the Americas. With the generous support of the OPSVAW we plan field surveys in Latin America. In 2014-2015 academic year we designed our survey instrument and collected pilot data. Our first survey instrument is currently being reviewed by IRB.
Graffiti in Neuquén, Argentina
Gender Stereotypes and Election Coverage in South Korea
Competitive Research Funding Korean Studies Grant, The Academy of Korean Studies.
May 2014 - May 2016. $20,000.
Collaborators: Dr. Jinhyeok Jang, University of Louisville & Jaehoo Park, University of Oxford
Our project "Gender Stereotypes and Election Coverage in South Korea" uses newspaper coverage of male and female political candidates in recent presidential and mayoral elections in South Korea to examine if gender stereotypes shape media coverage of executive candidates in East Asia. We collect an original dataset using newspaper coverage from five leading newspapers in Korea. In addition to the novel data set another innovative aspect of this research is that we will account for the political reputation of the newspaper to examine how gendered media coverage varies across progressive and conservative media outlets. This research contributes to the work on gender stereotypes and media coverage by providing the first systematic quantitative analysis of how gender stereotypes and political party cues shape media coverage of female candidates in East Asia. The first article from this study was published in the Review of Korean Studies. We are currently using this data to write a book chapter for an edited volume, Internet and the Media in East Asia (Ed. Jason P. Abbott).
Political Violence and the Human Condition: Political Violence and Issues of Measurement and Methodology.
John R. Gaines Center for the Humanities. Spring 2015. $5,000.
Co-PI: Dr. Emily Beaulieu, University of Kentucky
John R. Gaines Center for the Humanities. Spring 2015. $5,000.
Co-PI: Dr. Emily Beaulieu, University of Kentucky
We were awarded funding from the Gaines Institute to host a workshop on Political Violence with a focus on the measurement and methodological challenges of studying violence. To effectively address and prevent political violence we need to advance its study, which hinges on scholars’ ability to accurately measure and empirically model violence. We hosted scholars doing cutting edge research on the causes and effects of political violence to discuss the major challenges to improving our empirical understanding of political violence. The workshop on political violence was open to the public (read more details on UKNOW) and was part of the Visions in Methodology Conference that Emily Beaulieu and I hosted in 2015.
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Visions In Methodology: 2015 Conference
Vice President for Research, Conference and Workshop Award. Spring 2015. $1,500.
Co-PI: Dr. Emily Beaulieu, University of Kentucky.
Vice President for Research, Conference and Workshop Award. Spring 2015. $1,500.
Co-PI: Dr. Emily Beaulieu, University of Kentucky.
Dr. Emily Beaulieu and I were awarded a grant from the Vice President for Research, which provided partial support to host Visions in Methodology (VIM) Conference in the Spring of 2015. VIM is designed to address the broad goal of supporting women who study political methodology. Since 2008, various institutions have hosted VIM annually. In addition to providing a forum to share scholarly work with the entire university community, VIM conferences also serve to connect women in a field where they are under-represented. My co-authored research using survey evaluations of the VIM program (here and here) show that participation in VIM conferences is associated with increased networking, mentoring, and publication productivity.
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Visions in Methodology Participants, May 2015
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Visiting Research Fellowship
Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame. Fall 2013. $30,000.
I was awarded a visiting fellowship to spend the Fall 2013 at the Kellogg Institute. I spent this time developing a first draft of my book manuscript Gendering Legislative Behavior: Institutional Constraints and Collaboration. My book asks the question: why and when do women collaborate? I argue that women collaborate more than men because they face structural barriers that restrict their ability to exert influence on the policy-making process. By collaborating with other women they can overcome structural barriers and attain political power. Despite the benefits of collaboration, women’s collaboration varies because not all women have the same opportunities to collaborate. Drawing on extensive fieldwork from Argentina, I demonstrate that female legislators do collaborate more frequently than their male colleagues. But, under certain circumstances, their incentives to collaborate are constrained by political institutions. Click here to read more about my book.
Notre Dame Campus, December 2013
Women’s Representation and Legislative Committee Appointments
Summer Faculty Research Fellowship, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Kentucky. Summer 2013. $3,000.
This research grant was used to support a research assistant during my fieldwork in the summer of 2013. During this time I visited Mendoza, Salta, Entre Ríos, and the Federal District. I conducted approximately 30 interviews for a project that examines women's access to powerful committee appointments and leadership posts. Although, in recent years, women's numeric representation has increased precipitously in legislatures across the globe, it is unclear if women are being incorporated into the legislative body and gaining their own political power. Using an original data set that tracks committee appointments and leadership posts in twenty-two Argentine legislative chambers over an eighteen-year period (from 1992-2009), I evaluate the extent to which women have access to powerful committee appointments and leadership posts—beyond traditional women’s domains committees—and how women’s access to committee appointments changes over time. This research was previously presented at the Women in Politics Scholarly Workshop at the University of Tennessee. The first manuscript from this project was published in Uruguayan Journal of Political Science [Revista Uruguaya de Ciencia Política]. This article is part of a special edition on women's representation edited by Niki Johnson and Michelle Taylor-Robinson. See my working paper for more information about this project.
Finally, the data and interviews are also used as part of a larger project to examine when and why female legislators collaborate in my book: Gendering Legislative Behavior. |
Gender Quotas and The Representation of Women: Empowerment, Decision-making, and Public Policy
Dissertation Grants & Awards
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My dissertation, “Gender Quotas and The Representation of Women: Empowerment, Decision-making, and Public Policy” examines how changes in the proportion of female legislators and differences in institutional contexts shape women’s legislative behavior. The dissertation examines women’s representation at the subnational level in Argentina (34 legislative chambers) from 1992 to 2009. With the support of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant and the Ora N. Arnold Fellowship I conducted extensive field work in Argentina, visiting 27 different legislative chambers in 19 of the country’s 24 provinces. I conducted elite interviews and carried out archival research to create an original dataset on women’s legislative involvement and activities. In addition to a successful dissertation, the data has resulted in peer-reviewed publications in the Journal of Politics, Politics & Gender, International Area Studies Review, and in a special edition on women's representation in the Uruguayan Journal of Political Science [Revista Uruguaya de Ciencia Política] and an edited volume. I also used this data in my Cambridge University Press book, Gendering Legislative Behavior. Visit my Fieldwork page to read more about my work in Argentina.
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- Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, SES-0921374, National Science Foundation. $11,995
- Ora N. Arnold Fellowship for Latin American Studies, Rice University. $8,000.
- Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, Rice University. $5,000.
- John W. Gardner Award for Best Dissertation in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Rice University. $1,000.