Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective

Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective provides a clear, detailed introduction to women’s political participation and representation across a wide range of countries and regions. Through broad statistical overviews and detailed case-study accounts, the authors document both historical trends and the contemporary state of women’s political strength. Readers see the cultural, structural, political, and international influences on women’s access to political power, and the difference women make once in political office.

The fourth edition includes the latest information available on women in politics around the world, including current events as they have unfolded across the globe. The newest thinking in the field is presented, including on violence against women in politics.

Approach and Features

• Nine thematic chapters explain women’s access to office in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and why it matters.
• Six chapters cover women’s political power in specific geographic regions with recent research and events.
• The book’s intersectional perspective attends to the ways gender interacts with other forms of difference, both throughout the volume and in a dedicated chapter.
• A bounty of figures, maps, and tables provide visual accounts of the variations in women’s access to political power around the world, the growth in women’s political power over time, and persistent obstacles to gender equality in politics.

Pamela Paxton is the Linda K. George and John Wilson Professor of Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin. PhD in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has consulted for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Academies. She has intersecting research interests in prosocial behavior, politics, gender, and methodology. She is the author of articles and books on women in politics, nonprofits, and quantitative methodology. Melanie M. Hughes is Professor of Sociology, has a secondary appointment in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and is Co-Director of the Gender Inequality Research Lab (GIRL) at the University of Pittsburgh. PhD in Sociology from The Ohio State University. Her research considers how gender intersects with other forces of marginalization to influence women’s political power. She has published numerous articles on women’s legislative representation cross-nationally in journals such as American Political Science Review, American Sociological Review, European Journal of Political Research, and Politics & Gender. Currently, she is consulting the United Nations Development Programme to increase the availability of data on women in decision-making positions in public administration. She is also writing a book on the political dominance of men from majority racial, ethnic, and religious groups worldwide. Tiffany D. Barnes is an Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Kentucky and affiliated faculty with Gender and Women’s Studies and Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies. PhD in political science from Rice University. Her research focuses on Latin America, gender and politics, and comparative political institutions. Her book, Gendering Legislative Behavior, (Cambridge University Press 2016) won the Alan Rosenthal Prize from the Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in 2017. Her other research appears in journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Political Research Quarterly, Politics & Gender, and Politics, Groups, and Identities. She was awarded the Emerging Scholar Award from the Legislative Studies Section of the APSA and the Early Career Award from the Midwest Women’s Caucus for Political Science. She formerly served as the president for the Midwest Women’s’ Caucus. She is an associate editor at Research & Politics, the editor of The Legislative Scholar, the newsletter for the Legislative Studies Section of the APSA, and on the editorial boards of The Journal of Politics, and Political Research Quarterly.