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Congressional Enactments of Race–Gender: Toward a Theory of Raced–Gendered Institutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2003

MARY HAWKESWORTH
MARY HAWKESWORTH
Affiliation:
Rutgers University
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Abstract

Investigating reports of marginalization from Congresswomen of color, I examine legislative practices in the 103rd and 104th Congresses to illuminate dynamics that structure hierarchies on the basis of race and gender. I advance an account of racing–gendering as a political process that silences, stereotypes, enforces invisibility, excludes, and challenges the epistemic authority of Congresswomen of color. Racing–gendering constitutes a form of interested bias operating in Congress, which has important implications for understandings of the internal operations of political institutions, the policy priorities of Congresswomen of color, the substantive representation of historically underrepresented groups, and the practice of democracy in the United States.

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ARTICLES
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American Political Science Review , Volume 97 , Issue 4 , November 2003 , pp. 529 - 550
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© 2003 by the American Political Science Association

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