Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Political Glass Cliff: Potential Causes Of Female Underrepresentation In The U.S. House Of Representatives, Erica Browning

Scholar Week 2016 - present

The "glass cliff’ effect has been studied widely within the business sphere, but there is limited research in how the effect applies to political bodies. This effect suggests that women are elected into positions of leadership during times of crisis or upheaval. This research will be an archival study of the 2006, 2008, and 2010 congressional elections, and to determine if female candidates are disproportionately represented in hard to win districts by their parties. Results show that while the underrepresentation of women can be partially mediated by winnability as determined by the parties previous success, there is still a significant …