Shauna Shames | Rutgers at Camden (original) (raw)
Papers by Shauna Shames
Our paper will build on the existing research and break new ground by identifying the conditions ... more Our paper will build on the existing research and break new ground by identifying the conditions under which descriptive representation of race and gender might stimulate greater political interest, efficacy, and participation among constituents. We will explore the possible effects in these domains of individuals being descriptively represented by race, gender, and both race and gender together, through multiple methods and in the context of the run-up to the 2008 presidential race. Few works compare the effects on individuals of seeing descriptive representatives of their groups across the domains of race and gender, and fewer explicitly take into account the connections between these domains. Following the lead of feminist theorists and empiricists, we do not simply treat race and gender as separate, but as intersectional. We hypothesize that descriptive representation of both race and gender matters to individuals, and expect to find that people are most participatory, feel most...
ABSTRACT. Much has been written on whether female candidates "run as women" in their ca... more ABSTRACT. Much has been written on whether female candidates "run as women" in their campaigns. This study explores the role of gender in political advertising through a systematic analysis of campaign commercials from U.S. House, Senate, and Governor races from 1964 to 1998. I hypothesize that candidates will use "femininity" in the commercials as a marker of "outsider" status. This theory considers image differentiation and branding as they relate to gender in political advertising. Advertisers typically use branding for two reasons: (1) to manufacture illusory differences to differentiate nearly identical products (such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi); and (2) to emphasize and expand real differences (7-UP, for instance, tries to differentiate itself from both Coca-Cola and Pepsi by branding itself the "Un-Cola"). Female candidates who correlate feminine character traits and women's issues with an outsider presentation in their campaigns are t...
University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, 2004
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, pro-choice and anti-abortion activists battled over the sacred... more In the late 1980s and early 1990s, pro-choice and anti-abortion activists battled over the sacred ground of motherhood. Signs wielded by protestors outside clinics often read, “Choose life—your mother did,” while bumper-stickers on the pro-choice side struggled to fight fire with fire with the slogan, “Pro-Child, Pro-Family, Pro-Choice.” Yet, in recent years, the mother-oriented pro-choice slogan seems in short supply. Choice rhetoric of the past decade has returned to focus more on women’s individual rights to privacy, autonomous control of sexuality, and bodily integrity/avoidance of forced pregnancy. In response to the increasingly gruesome photographs of fetuses from the anti-abortion side, pro-choice activists produced posters depicting the often terrible conditions for women needing abortions in the pre-Roe era, such as the striking set of ads by the New York Citybased Pro-Choice Public Education Project. In the face of the most systematic attacks of the past thirty years on w...
This paper offers new theory and data to the ongoing debate over the effects of controversial Sup... more This paper offers new theory and data to the ongoing debate over the effects of controversial Supreme Court decisions. Previous literature has examined multiple possible effects from Court decisions (direct, indirect, radiating, and centrifugal, among others), but not specifically backlash effects and the resulting interaction effects between the interest groups affected by the decision. The study presented here examines and tests two sets of interest group reactions following the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade (1973): reactions from both pro-choice and pro-life interest groups to the decision itself, and interaction effects between the groups as they reacted to their opposition's mobilization efforts. Overall, the qualitative and quantitative evidence strongly suggest that Roe in particular and the Supreme Court more generally have a major impact on the ways in which interest groups recruit money, members, and support.
Journal of Gender Studies
American Political Science Review
Women’s underrepresentation in American politics is often attributed to relatively low levels of ... more Women’s underrepresentation in American politics is often attributed to relatively low levels of political ambition. Yet scholarship still grapples with a major leak in the pipeline to power: that many qualified and politically ambitious women decide against candidacy. Focusing on women with political ambition, we theorize that at the final stage of candidate emergence, household income, breadwinning responsibilities, and household composition are interlocking obstacles to women’s candidacies. We examine these dynamics through a multimethod design that includes an original survey of women most likely to run for office: alumnae of the largest Democratic campaign training organization in the United States. Although we do not find income effects, we provide evidence that breadwinning—responsibility for a majority of household income—negatively affects women’s ambition, especially for mothers. These findings have important implications for understanding how the political economy of the ...
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy
Feminist scholars and activists alike have asked for decades whether a democracy that excludes wo... more Feminist scholars and activists alike have asked for decades whether a democracy that excludes women from participating equally in democratic decision-making structures can be considered legitimate. One key argument states that equal representation is a question of justice: Women make up half the population and should thus be included as elected representatives . Others have argued that equal representation allows women's lived experiences, expertise, and ideas to be heard and included in the decision-making process, improving the lives of women, men, and children (Carroll and Sanbonmatsu 2013; Dahlerup 2017; Dittmar, Carroll, and Sanbonmatsu 2019).
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
Politics, Groups, and Identities
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy
PS: Political Science & Politics
At a recent major political science conference, Tamara (not her real name) presented an in-depth ... more At a recent major political science conference, Tamara (not her real name) presented an in-depth qualitative study several years in the making, only to have the panelist speaking after her begin his remarks by saying, “And now back to the hard-core data.” By this, he meant quantitative, large-n data, which his work utilized. This moment highlights a series of tensions in our field relating to gender and methodology, and their effects, which this article explores and elucidates.
Our paper will build on the existing research and break new ground by identifying the conditions ... more Our paper will build on the existing research and break new ground by identifying the conditions under which descriptive representation of race and gender might stimulate greater political interest, efficacy, and participation among constituents. We will explore the possible effects in these domains of individuals being descriptively represented by race, gender, and both race and gender together, through multiple methods and in the context of the run-up to the 2008 presidential race. Few works compare the effects on individuals of seeing descriptive representatives of their groups across the domains of race and gender, and fewer explicitly take into account the connections between these domains. Following the lead of feminist theorists and empiricists, we do not simply treat race and gender as separate, but as intersectional. We hypothesize that descriptive representation of both race and gender matters to individuals, and expect to find that people are most participatory, feel most...
ABSTRACT. Much has been written on whether female candidates "run as women" in their ca... more ABSTRACT. Much has been written on whether female candidates "run as women" in their campaigns. This study explores the role of gender in political advertising through a systematic analysis of campaign commercials from U.S. House, Senate, and Governor races from 1964 to 1998. I hypothesize that candidates will use "femininity" in the commercials as a marker of "outsider" status. This theory considers image differentiation and branding as they relate to gender in political advertising. Advertisers typically use branding for two reasons: (1) to manufacture illusory differences to differentiate nearly identical products (such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi); and (2) to emphasize and expand real differences (7-UP, for instance, tries to differentiate itself from both Coca-Cola and Pepsi by branding itself the "Un-Cola"). Female candidates who correlate feminine character traits and women's issues with an outsider presentation in their campaigns are t...
University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, 2004
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, pro-choice and anti-abortion activists battled over the sacred... more In the late 1980s and early 1990s, pro-choice and anti-abortion activists battled over the sacred ground of motherhood. Signs wielded by protestors outside clinics often read, “Choose life—your mother did,” while bumper-stickers on the pro-choice side struggled to fight fire with fire with the slogan, “Pro-Child, Pro-Family, Pro-Choice.” Yet, in recent years, the mother-oriented pro-choice slogan seems in short supply. Choice rhetoric of the past decade has returned to focus more on women’s individual rights to privacy, autonomous control of sexuality, and bodily integrity/avoidance of forced pregnancy. In response to the increasingly gruesome photographs of fetuses from the anti-abortion side, pro-choice activists produced posters depicting the often terrible conditions for women needing abortions in the pre-Roe era, such as the striking set of ads by the New York Citybased Pro-Choice Public Education Project. In the face of the most systematic attacks of the past thirty years on w...
This paper offers new theory and data to the ongoing debate over the effects of controversial Sup... more This paper offers new theory and data to the ongoing debate over the effects of controversial Supreme Court decisions. Previous literature has examined multiple possible effects from Court decisions (direct, indirect, radiating, and centrifugal, among others), but not specifically backlash effects and the resulting interaction effects between the interest groups affected by the decision. The study presented here examines and tests two sets of interest group reactions following the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade (1973): reactions from both pro-choice and pro-life interest groups to the decision itself, and interaction effects between the groups as they reacted to their opposition's mobilization efforts. Overall, the qualitative and quantitative evidence strongly suggest that Roe in particular and the Supreme Court more generally have a major impact on the ways in which interest groups recruit money, members, and support.
Journal of Gender Studies
American Political Science Review
Women’s underrepresentation in American politics is often attributed to relatively low levels of ... more Women’s underrepresentation in American politics is often attributed to relatively low levels of political ambition. Yet scholarship still grapples with a major leak in the pipeline to power: that many qualified and politically ambitious women decide against candidacy. Focusing on women with political ambition, we theorize that at the final stage of candidate emergence, household income, breadwinning responsibilities, and household composition are interlocking obstacles to women’s candidacies. We examine these dynamics through a multimethod design that includes an original survey of women most likely to run for office: alumnae of the largest Democratic campaign training organization in the United States. Although we do not find income effects, we provide evidence that breadwinning—responsibility for a majority of household income—negatively affects women’s ambition, especially for mothers. These findings have important implications for understanding how the political economy of the ...
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy
Feminist scholars and activists alike have asked for decades whether a democracy that excludes wo... more Feminist scholars and activists alike have asked for decades whether a democracy that excludes women from participating equally in democratic decision-making structures can be considered legitimate. One key argument states that equal representation is a question of justice: Women make up half the population and should thus be included as elected representatives . Others have argued that equal representation allows women's lived experiences, expertise, and ideas to be heard and included in the decision-making process, improving the lives of women, men, and children (Carroll and Sanbonmatsu 2013; Dahlerup 2017; Dittmar, Carroll, and Sanbonmatsu 2019).
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
Politics, Groups, and Identities
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy
PS: Political Science & Politics
At a recent major political science conference, Tamara (not her real name) presented an in-depth ... more At a recent major political science conference, Tamara (not her real name) presented an in-depth qualitative study several years in the making, only to have the panelist speaking after her begin his remarks by saying, “And now back to the hard-core data.” By this, he meant quantitative, large-n data, which his work utilized. This moment highlights a series of tensions in our field relating to gender and methodology, and their effects, which this article explores and elucidates.
A powerful exploration of the role of women in the Republican Party that enhances readers’ unders... more A powerful exploration of the role of women in the Republican Party that enhances readers’ understanding of gender representation in the GOP and suggests solutions to address the partisan gender gap. Why is the Republican Party dominated by men to a far greater extent than its primary rival? With literature on conservative women in the United States still in its infancy, this book fills an important gap. It does so by examining Republican women as distinct from their male Republican and Democratic female counterparts and also by exploring the shifting role of Republican women in their party and in politics overall. The book brings those subjects together in one volume that will provide fascinating reading to students, scholars, and anyone else interested in U.S. politics.The analysis is presented in four parts, beginning with a look at the role of women as voters and activists in the GOP. The second section explores the process of candidate emergence, tackling the question as to why so few women run as Republicans and why those who do are less successful than their Democratic female and Republican male counterparts. In the third part, the contributors shed light on Republican women in Congress and state legislatures and their behavior as lawmakers. The final section assesses the outcome of the 2016 election for Republican women in general and, specifically, for Carly Fiorina, the only female candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Each section of the book concludes with a short “guide to action” that takes the insights set forth and applies them to suggest ways to promote a greater involvement of women in the Republican Party.