Political Science Commons^™

A Woman’S Choice At The State Legislative District Level: A Comparative Case Study Of The Northwest, Timothy Hibbard

McNair Scholars Research Journal

A major concern in the United States is the underrepresentation of women in State Legislatures. Based on data from CAWP at Rutgers University, the growth of female representation has stagnated since the mid-90s. In an attempt to study this trend, I asked the question, are women’s preferences for legislative districts different than their male counterparts? I looked specifically at open-seat districts, hypothesizing that women are more likely than men to choose an open-seat district. I compiled a comparative case study of the States in the Northwest, due to its high diversity among various factors including partisanship, urbanization, and population. Due …