Available Formats
Women and Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence
By (Author) Julie Dolan
By (author) Melissa M. Deckman
By (author) Michele L. Swers
By (author) Paru Shah
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Bloomsbury Academic
7th August 2025
5th edition
United Kingdom
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Politics and government
Paperback
352
Width 152mm, Height 229mm
Women and Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence examines the role of women in politics from the early women's movement to the female politicians in power today. Focusing on women whose stories have not yet been told, this book includes new analysis and scholarship on the experiences and viewpoints of conservative women, women of color, LGBT women, and millennial women. Students will gain historical insight into how women have achieved political power and how they have influenced the American political system at the state, local, and national levels, in each branch of government. Engaging profiles of the key players who have shaped our political system are interwoven with an analysis of the most recent election data to provide a comprehensive and unbiased introduction to the study of women and politics.
Julie Dolan is Professor of Political Science at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. She earned her PhD from American University. Her scholarly interests include American government and politics, women and politics, and bureaucratic politics. She has received a number of prestigious awards for her scholarship and publishes in a variety of journals including Women & Politics, Public Administration Review, PS: Political Science and Politics, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. Her most recent research focuses on issues of political representation in the bureaucracy.
Melissa M. Deckman is the Louis L. Goldstein Professor of Public Affairs and Chair of the Political Science Department at Washington College. She earned her PhD from American University. Her areas of specialty include religion and politics, women and politics, and American political behavior, and she publishes in a variety of journals, including Journal of Women, Politics, and Public Policy, PS: Political Science and Politics, and American Politics Research, which most recently published her work (coauthored with John McTague) on the impact of the War on Women on the 2012 presidential election. Her forthcoming book, Mama Grizzlies and Politics, examines the role of women in the Tea Party in America.
Michele L. Swers is Professor of American Government in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. She earned her PhD from Harvard University. Her research and teaching interests encompass Congress, congressional elections, and women and politics. She has written two books on women and representation in Congress: The Difference Women Make: The Policy Impact of Women in Congress and Women in the Club: Gender and Policy Making in the Senate.
Paru Shah is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee.. Her research and teaching focus on race, ethnicity and politics, urban politics and public policy in an American context. Her recent work focuses on the political emergence, ambitions, and paths to office for candidates of color and women candidates in local and state elections.