Recruitment of Women To Public Office: A Discriminant Analysis

Abstract

M ANY differing explanations have been offered as to why women are underrepresented in the ranks of public officials. These explanations include the male conspiracy argument;1 the argument that females are physiologically not equipped to be leaders;2 the political socialization argument women are taught that politics is a man's game ;3 and the sex role argument that women are socialized into the wife and mother role, and that politics are incompatible with this role.4 In this paper we will test one aspect of the sex role explanation. We posit that an important reason for female exclusion from public office is their severe underrepresentation in the eligible pool of the population from which candidates for public office are drawn. This eligible pool is determined on the basis primarily of educational and occupational status. We will examine this underrepresentation explanation using as our data base the legislatures of twelve midwestern states.