Table Of ContentA Seat at the Table
A Seat at the Table
Congresswomen’s Perspectives
on Why Their Presence Matters
KELLY DITTMAR
KIRA SANBONMATSU
AND
SUSAN J. CARROLL
1
1
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
1. Introduction 1
2. Representation 25
3. Obstacles and Opportunities 59
4. Navigating Partisan Polarization 97
5. Congresswomen’s Work across Party Lines 118
6. Altering Policy Agendas and Debates 142
7. Changing the Institution, Image, and Exercise of Power 187
8. Conclusion: Representation Matters 206
Appendix A: Methodology 223
Appendix B: List of Congresswomen Interviewed 225
Bibliography 229
Index 247
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the assistance of nu-
merous people and organizations.
We are very grateful to the Political Parity Project at the Hunt
Alternatives Fund for its generous financial support. We greatly appre-
ciate the support of the staff there, as well as their confidence in our ability
as members of the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP)
to interview a large number of women members of Congress given the
difficulties researchers often encounter in trying to conduct interviews on
Capitol Hill. We extend special thanks to Swanee Hunt for her leadership
and vision, and her long- standing support of work to promote women’s
political empowerment.
We are deeply indebted to Debbie Walsh, director of CAWP, who
contributed to this project in so many ways. Debbie believed in the impor-
tance of the project and worked hard to secure funding. As a co- principal
investigator on the grant with the three of us, Debbie contributed sig-
nificantly to the conceptualization and design of the research. She will-
ingly called upon her wide network of political contacts to help us
secure interviews with congresswomen, and she agreed to be part of our
interviewing team. She traveled to Washington on several occasions alone
or with one of us to talk to congresswomen.
We are grateful to Cathy Wineinger, our graduate research assistant on
this project, who conducted more than her fair share of interviews with
women members. Cathy also provided willing and critical help with a
viii ACKNOWLEDgMENt S
variety of less glamourous tasks related to the project. Kathleen Rogers’s
assistance was also invaluable, from her meticulous reviews of the manu-
script to her substantive input on early drafts.
Several colleagues at CAWP lent their valuable expertise to this proj-
ect, including Ruth B. Mandel, gilda Morales, Chelsea Hill, and Linda
Phillips. We are especially grateful to Audra Lubiak, who so adeptly han-
dled the scheduling of interviews and made our travel arrangements. The
high participation rate among congresswomen can be largely credited to
Audra’s tenacity and persistence. We also are indebted to Kathy Kleeman,
whose superb editing skills improved the quality of both our interview
transcripts and the book manuscript.
Several current and former members of Congress, congressional staffers,
organizational leaders, and other friends assisted us with outreach, en-
couraging women members to speak with us. We are incredibly grateful for
their efforts. Our thanks go to former senators Olympia Snowe and Mary
Landrieu for their willingness to make a joint appeal to congresswomen
to participate in our project. The co- chairs of the Congressional Caucus
for Women’s Issues in the 114th Congress, Representatives Kristi Noem
and Doris Matsui, as well as their staffs, also took time to advocate for
our project to their colleagues. Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and her
deputy chief of staff, Diane Dewhirst, lent their time and influence to our
outreach efforts and no doubt bolstered our participation rate. Outside of
Congress, we extend our thanks to organizational leaders and friends who
tapped their own networks and vouched for our work. These women in-
clude Dianne Bystrom, Julie Conway, Cindy Hall, Susan McCue, Stephanie
Schriock, and Candy Straight, among others. We are especially grateful to
Rutgers’s vice president for federal relations, Francine Newsome Pfeiffer,
who was an essential resource to us in Washington.
We received valuable criticism and feedback from several scholars
who read all or part of this manuscript. In particular we would like to
thank tiffany Barnes, Janet Martin, Michele Swers, and two anonymous
reviewers, who provided detailed feedback. Additional thanks to members
of the Brigham Young University Political Science Department for
comments and recommendations provided at a research workshop where
ACKNOWLEDgMENt S ix
part of this work was presented. The eleven students in Sue Carroll’s grad-
uate seminar on gender, race, and representation also provided thoughtful
reviews. Additionally, we thank Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman for their
early feedback on this project. The manuscript has been strengthened as
a result of the comments and suggestions we received from all of these
scholars.
We have been very fortunate to have Angela Chnapko as our editor at
Oxford University Press. We are grateful for her enthusiasm, support, and
efficiency.
Kelly extends her thanks to her own support system—f amily, friends,
and colleagues— whose understanding, encouragement, and welcome
distractions from work were key to her sanity and the project’s success.
Kelly’s time as an American Political Science Association Congressional
Fellow also provided her invaluable insights that informed this work,
as well as regular reminders—o ften thanks to her boss at the time,
Representative Rosa DeLauro— of why women’s representation matters
in Congress. Finally, sincere thanks is offered to Sue Carroll and Kira
Sanbonmatsu for the confidence they have placed in their former graduate
student; it is an honor to call them colleagues and co- authors.
Kira thanks tim and Vanya for their patience while she traveled to
Washington and for their good company— both of which contributed to
the book’s completion. She also thanks her family and friends for their
support and their interest in this work.
Sue is grateful to her canine companion, Sadie, whose demands for
walks and attention keep her from spending too much time in front of her
computer, and to her tai chi and qigong instructor, who has taught her to
maintain better balance in her life.
Finally, we are ever so grateful to the women serving in the 114th
Congress who generously shared their time and their insights with us. We
hope that their words as reflected in this book will inspire others to follow
in their footsteps.
