Opportunity Structure For Women Research Articles

It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office and Women and Elective Office: Past, Present, and Future

It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office. By Jennifer Lawless and Richard L. Fox. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 220p. 22.99 paper.Women and Elective Office: Past, Present, and Future. Edited by Sue Thomas and Clyde Wilcox. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 344p. $21.95.In comparative perspective, the United States ranks fifty-seventh among the world's nations in terms of female legislative representation. Even elections to state positions, where women have gained over 20% of seats, have lagged in recent years, reflecting a kind of stagnation in the opportunity structure for women at all levels of the political system. However, when women run for office, they win in the same proportions as their male counterparts.

Transnational women’s activism in Japan and Korea:the unresolved issue of military sexual slavery

This article is about the transnational links formed between the Korean and Japanese women‘s movements in their campaign on behalf of the victims of ‘military sexual slavery’ during the Second World War. There is a growing literature that examines such networks. Yet, a deeper understanding of the emergence and activities of transnational advocacy networks is needed, particularly in the context of political opportunity structures. Social scientists who have developed the concept of political opportunity structures have, however, not provided a gender‐specific analysis of these. Of particular interest is the exploration of the role played by gender in an international human rights discourse as a political opportunity structure for women’s groups in Korea and Japan. This article, thus, explores the ways in which the feminist movements in Korea and Japan have made use of transnational legal means in politicizing and popularizing the issue of ‘military sexual slavery’ at both regional and global scales.

Gender and the Electoral Opportunity Structure in the Canadian Provinces

We use multivariate analyses to test hypotheses concerning the elec toral opportunity structure for women across a twenty-year period of Canadian provincial elections. We find that party, political context, and social variables affect the likelihood that a woman is elected to a provin cial parliament. While similarities between U.S. state legislative elections and Canadian provincial elections are found, there are distinct differences across the two polities, especially concerning where women first made inroads in winning representation. While women first gained a beach- head in small amateur legislatures in rural states in the United States, in Canada they first won significant numbers of seats in metropolitan areas. We find there continues to be great differences across riding types with women doing much worse in rural ridings than either urban or metro politan ridings. The implications of these differences for redistricting are considered. Canadian courts have generally been sympathetic to plans that insure representation of geographic "communities of interest," even when this has meant overrepresentation of rural areas and under- representation of urban areas. We argue that a consequence of this policy is that Canadian provinces risk underrepresenting women, a nonterritorial "community of interest."

The Opportunity Structure for Women's Candidacies and Electability in Britain and the United States

The influence of the social and political environment on candidacies and electability is an important element of political recruitment structures. We investigate several contextual factors that may affect the likelihood of women becoming candidates to, and members of, the British House of Commons and the U.S. House of Representatives. Using data from the 1992 British General Election and the 1992 U.S. congressional elections, we find both similarities and differences in the contexts promoting women's candidacies in the two countries. Overall, there is not an especially distinctive pattern in either country to women's candidacies or electability. Women have moved beyond "sacrificial lamb" status, but incumbency remains the most formi dable electoral barrier in both countries.

The Opportunity Structure for Women's Candidacies and Electability in Britain and the United States

The Opportunity Structure for Women's Candidacies and Electability in Britain and the United States

Women's career choices: Focus on science, math, and technology careers.

This study was part of a longitudinal study of factors related to persistence in a science-related career. Participants (N = 173; 97 women and 76 men) were a subsample of matched participants from the 1980 and 1990 phases of data collection in the midwestern United States who in 1980, while in high school, aspired to a science, math, or technology career. By 1990, 36% of women and 46% of men had persisted in a science-related career. Structural equation model testing indicated that for women persistence was related to the number of elective high school science courses taken and that women who had higher career commitment were more likely to have switched aspirations to another career field. For men, persistence was related to their 1980 and 1990 career aspiration level and needing and obtaining financial support for college. For men these relationships also incorporated the largely indirect effects of high school science grade point average. Implications for counseling include encouraging interested adolescent girls to take elective science courses and nurturing aspiration level in adolescent boys who have science ability and are interested in a science career. In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States witnessed several changes in the opportunity structure for women that positively affected their career opportunities. Although women have increased their participation in science, math, and technology careers in the 20 or more years since educational equity legislation was passed, that participation is still well below parity (Brush, 1991; Dix, 1987; National Science Foundation, 1990). A priority for government agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education is to increase the parity (i.e., equal participation) of women in science and technical occupations. A major purpose of the longitudinal study reported here was to identify factors related to persistence and nonpersistence in science, math, and technology careers for a group of students who aspired to a science-related career when they were originally studied in 1980 when they were 9th or 12th graders in high school. A particular focus was to identify factors related to women's persistence in these career fields. Knowledge of the factors found to relate to persistence in a science-related career should be useful to counselors in high schools and colleges in designing interventions that will lead to greater persistence of women and

Keepers of the Culture:

The women's movement in Canada has affected gender roles and opportunity structures for women and men. In spite of these changes, many women lead their daily lives within the context of traditional cultures that make up the Canadian mosaic. Using data from interviews conducted with women in several distinct cultural communities (Scottish, Mennonite, and Iroquois), I explore ways in which women are selectively incorporating the impact of the women's movement into everyday life. Acceptance of role equality rather than pervasive role change, and women's rights rather than full-scale women'sliberation, reflects resistance to feminism and a women's movement that often appears not to include women of color, immigrant women, Native women, and women who live in rural isolation.