Transforming Congressional Studies: The Role of Gender

Cindy Simon Rosenthal, ed. Women Transforming Congress. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. pp. vii-448. $44.95, cloth; $29.95, paper.); Michele L. Swers. The Difference Women Make: The Policy Impact of Women in Congress. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. pp. viii-194. $45.00, cloth; $16.00, paper.).

The revolution in scholarship on women and gender that has spanned all disciplines in the social sciences and the liberal arts has now induced a reconsideration of the literature on Congress. Several significant new works in political science have been published recently and others are in the offing. Two of the most important new books in print include Swers's monograph and Rosenthal's anthology. The former is a tightly constructed analytical piece that disputes "one of the more well-established tenets of congressional research . . . that the personal identity of the member is largely irrelevant to the nature of policy outcomes" (Swers, 2). The latter, consisting of seventeen tantalizing essays, agrees: "At the heart of this book is the simple point that being at the table matters" (Rosenthal, xxiv). This volume draws together some of the most significant questions scholars have posed about the intersection of gender politics and Congressional studies. After reading these two books in tandem one cannot help but conclude that congressional scholars are just beginning to discover the riches that await a gendered explication of national legislative politics.

Spanning the 103d and 104th Congresses, four very significant years in congressional history divided by the 1994 congressional elections and the Contract With America, Swers "moves beyond the conventional wisdom concerning the political behavior of women to evaluate whether politically significant social identities such as gender influence the legislative priorities of representatives and under what circumstances these effects occur" (2). She draws on the psychological theories of gender role socialization, employment patterns, and shared experiences to argue that class and race divides do not eliminate the political commonalities among American women.

The book is divided into chapters exploring the gender gap in Congress, bill sponsorship and co-sponsorship, the committee amendment process, the use of the floor to foreground women's issues, and roll-call voting. At each juncture, the presence of women makes a significant difference in the construction of legislation. Swers notes the problem of comparatively short tenures in office for achieving leadership positions within Congress, but she correctly evaluates the alternative approaches women lawmakers have employed to maximize their clout on the Hill. Her analysis of the bill sponsorship and co-sponsorship process found that female members of Congress were more likely to introduce and co-sponsor legislation in the interest of women. Regarding this trend, Swers asserts, the differences between male and female lawmakers was most apparent at least in part because supporters of feminist policy "capitalize[d] on female representatives' perceived expertise and moral authority" (72).

Within committees and on the floor, Swers contends, the impact of gender on public policy formation was mixed. While women were more likely to advance feminist amendments, the dearth of congresswomen on key committees limited the reach of female lawmakers. Equally important, the committee process revealed that factors other than gender—typically partisan, district, and committee considerations—often shaped legislative behavior. With regard to roll-call voting, though, "ideology is the main force guiding legislators' voting decisions" (124). The Republican victory in 1994 and subsequent control of Congress in 1995 highlights that point as moderate congresswomen from the GOP were much less likely to cast liberal votes on women's issues. In concluding her very fine work, Swers argues that numbers alone do not tell the story of women's legislative influence: "Electing women has important consequences for the quality of our representational system, thus making the call for more diversity in Congress more than a mere platitude. Presence, however, is only a first step. Power in Congress also depends on access to influential positions within the institution that allow members to exercise strategic...