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A Gendered Pipeline? The Advancement of State Legislators to Congress in Five States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2008

Mack D. Mariani
Mack D. Mariani
Affiliation:
Xavier University
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Abstract

The pipeline theory predicts that women serving in lower levels of political office will leverage political resources and experience gained at those levels to advance to higher office. On the basis of this theory, several prominent scholars have predicted that the election of increasing numbers of women to state legislatures will result in proportionate increases in women's representation in Congress. This study analyzes patterns of congressional advancement among state legislators in five states and finds that female state legislators are less likely to advance to Congress than their male colleagues. There are gender-related differences in the occupational backgrounds and family situations that hinder the advancement of female state legislators to Congress. In addition, female legislators are older and less likely to have a background in the “springboard” professions of business or law. Given these findings, the pipeline theory should be refined to better account for the impact of gender-based differences on congressional advancement.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , June 2008 , pp. 285 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2008

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