The Role of a Gendered Policy Agenda in Closing the Mayoral Ambition Gap: The Case of Texas Female City Council Members
Date
2015-06
Authors
Budd, Darlene M.
Myers, Angelique
Longoria, Thomas
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Texas State University, Center for Diversity and Gender Studies
Abstract
This study explores female city council member political ambition to run for mayor. Women
who hold mayoral office are potentially more competitive for higher elected office at the state
and federal level. This study is based on a survey sent to Texas city council members in cities
over 30,000. Forty-one percent of respondents said they would most likely run for mayor at
some point, and we do find a gender gap in ambition (50% of men and 36% of women).
However, we find that women who advocated a gendered local government political agenda
exhibited higher levels of political ambition compared women who do not, and the ambition
gap is reduced significantly. This finding holds up, controlling for other factors suggested by
the literature that are predictors of political ambition. Two of these other factors—age and
personal support—also increase city council member mayoral ambition. The findings are discussed in terms of strategies to increase female mayoral ambition.
Description
Keywords
political science, women's studies, sociology, political ambition, gender, local government
Citation
Budd, D., Myers, A., & Longoria, T. (2015). The role of a gendered policy agenda in closing the mayoral ambition gap: The case of Texas female city council members. <i>Journal of Research on Women and Gender, 6</i>(1), pp. 81-93.