Why has the integration of women into Congress been so slow? Is there a "political glass ceiling" for women? Although women use the same strategic calculations as men to decide when to run, the decision regarding where to run is something else. While redistricting has increasingly protected incumbents, it also has the unintended consequence of shaping the opportunities for female candidates. The political geography and socio-economic profile of districts that elect women differ substantially from districts that elect men. With data on over 10,000 elections and 30,000 candidates from 1916 to the present, Palmer and Simon explore how strategy and the power of incumbency affect women’s decisions to run for office. Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling is the most comprehensive analysis of women in congressional elections available. The Second Edition is fully updated to reflect the pivotal 2006 mid-term elections, including Nancy Pelosi’s rise to Speaker of the House, Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency, and a record number of women serving as committee chairs. Additionally, the authors have created a website, found at politicsandwomen.com, to highlight key features of the book and provide updates throughout the election cycle.

Why has the integration of women into Congress been so slow? Is there a "political glass ceiling" for women? Although women use the same strategic calculations as men to decide when to run, the decision regarding where to run is something else. While redistricting has increasingly protected incumbents, it also has the unintended consequence of shaping the opportunities for female candidates. The political geography and socio-economic profile of districts that elect women differ substantially from districts that elect men. With data on over 10,000 elections and 30,000 candidates from 1916 to the present, Palmer and Simon explore how strategy and the power of incumbency affect women’s decisions to run for office. Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling is the most comprehensive analysis of women in congressional elections available. The Second Edition is fully updated to reflect the pivotal 2006 mid-term elections, including Nancy Pelosi’s rise to Speaker of the House, Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency, and a record number of women serving as committee chairs. Additionally, the authors have created a website, found at politicsandwomen.com, to highlight key features of the book and provide updates throughout the election cycle.

More than fifty years of civil rights legislation and movements have not ended employment discrimination. This book reframes the discourse about the “glass ceiling” that women face with respect to workplace inequality. It explores the unspoken, societally held beliefs that underlie and engender workplace behaviour and failures of the law, policy, and human nature that contribute “panes” and (“pains”) to the “glass ceiling.” Each chapter identifies an “unspoken belief” and connects it with failures of law, policy, and human nature. It then describes the resulting harm and shows how this belief is not imagined or operating in a vacuum, but is pervasive throughout popular culture and society. By giving voice to previously unvoiced – even taboo – beliefs, we can better address and confront them and the problems they cause.

While some women have cracked the glass ceilings of state legislatures, in most states they are still getting stuck in the rafters of the ornately decorated chambers in which they serve when it comes to ascending to top leadership posts. Less than one-third (29%) of the states' legislative bodies have been headed by women since 1997. Just 40 women in all have served as presiding officers during this period. For the most part, women have been limited to tertiary or secondary committee leadership positions while the increase in women policy leaders have been largely confined to the Executive Branch. This dissertation examined the antecedents to legislative leadership in the states' lawmaking chambers and examined whether the antecedents varied by gender. This research also investigated whether institutional, electoral and egalitarian factors influenced who became a leader and examined if factors impeded access to top leadership for women as compared to men. Finally, this research compared the individual styles and behaviors of men and women leaders and examined the influence gender purports to play in the policy preferences, proposals and products of leaders. This research found that leaders shared many common traits including higher levels of education, professional, financial and management careers, as well as chamber seniority. Women do not have equal access to top leadership as compared to men; in part, because women start their legislative careers later in life and take-on different family responsibilities. As for structural barriers, factors such as term limits, constitutionally vested powers and chamber size as well as electoral composition appeared to influence who led in the states. The lack of proportional representation by women at both the tertiary and secondary leadership levels had the greatest implications. Overall, the styles and behaviors of women and men leaders were quite similar. Furthermore, women did not attempt to make wholesale changes in the chambers in which they led. The policy preferences of leaders fused along the policy proposals and products priorities of the caucus. The job of top leadership was shaped by the policy and political interests of the caucus, not by the leader.

These proceedings are from a hearing that addressed the so-called "glass ceiling"--the dearth of women in mid- and upper-management level positions in corporations and other organizations. Statements of the following persons are included: Senator Paul Simon; Elsie Vartanian, Director of the Women's Bureau; Senator Robert Dole; Lynn Martin, Secretary, Department of Labor; Representative Susan Molinari; Eleanor Hinton Hoytt, National Council of Negro Women, Inc.; Pat Taylor, National President, National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs; Judith L. Lichtman, President, Women's Legal Defense Fund; Marica D. Greenberger, Co-president, National Women's Law Center; and Eleanor Cutrie Smeal, President, The Feminist Majority Foundation; and Ellen W. Ober. (DB)

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- INTRODUCTION: A New Understanding of Racial Subordination -- ONE: The Spirit of Brown -- TWO: Juridical Subordination -- THREE: Race and Culture -- FOUR: Cultural Subordination Through Cultural Diversity -- EPILOGUE: Unrelenting Racial Progress -- Appendix A: Diagram of Main Arguments -- Appendix B: Post-Civil Rights Cases That Impede Racial Progress -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z