In this project I studied why women are underrepresented in state legislatures. I conducted a data set ranging from 2000 to 2018 for forty-three US states, analyzing the percentage of women who won and the number of women who ran in the elections. Using this data, I found evidence that personal life choices have the most effect on rather women want to run for political office and successfully pursue political careers. Having this specific quantitative dataset, the study provides a better understanding to why women are still widely underrepresented on the state level. I also find that my independent variables effect my dependent variables differently with different significances; thus, women’s influences in running for office and winning elections are different. However, fertility rates negatively affect both dependent variables, women running and women winning elections. Women tend to separate their private choices of having a family before or after having political careers, resulting in a lack of female candidates and winners. Essentially, underrepresentation in female political contenders is due to their personal choice of opting out of a political career.
","abstract_html":"<p>In this project I studied why women are underrepresented in state legislatures. I conducted a data set ranging from 2000 to 2018 for forty-three US states, analyzing the percentage of women who won and the number of women who ran in the elections. Using this data, I found evidence that personal life choices have the most effect on rather women want to run for political office and successfully pursue political careers. Having this specific quantitative dataset, the study provides a better understanding to why women are still widely underrepresented on the state level. I also find that my independent variables effect my dependent variables differently with different significances; thus, women’s influences in running for office and winning elections are different. However, fertility rates negatively affect both dependent variables, women running and women winning elections. Women tend to separate their private choices of having a family before or after having political careers, resulting in a lack of female candidates and winners. Essentially, underrepresentation in female political contenders is due to their personal choice of opting out of a political career.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Crane, Lindsey"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Kate Greene","Troy Gibson","Iliyan Iliev"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2021-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:19Z","subjects":["Underrepresentation","women","politics","women in politics","southern politics","women in American politics","American Politics","Other Political Science","Political Science","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/801","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Kate Greene","Troy Gibson","Iliyan Iliev"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Crane, Lindsey"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-03-23T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Underrepresentation","women","politics","women in politics","southern politics","women in American politics","American Politics","Other Political Science","Political Science","Social and Behavioral Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/801"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In this project I studied why women are underrepresented in state legislatures. I conducted a data set ranging from 2000 to 2018 for forty-three US states, analyzing the percentage of women who won and the number of women who ran in the elections. Using this data, I found evidence that personal life choices have the most effect on rather women want to run for political office and successfully pursue political careers. Having this specific quantitative dataset, the study provides a better understanding to why women are still widely underrepresented on the state level. I also find that my independent variables effect my dependent variables differently with different significances; thus, women’s influences in running for office and winning elections are different. However, fertility rates negatively affect both dependent variables, women running and women winning elections. Women tend to separate their private choices of having a family before or after having political careers, resulting in a lack of female candidates and winners. Essentially, underrepresentation in female political contenders is due to their personal choice of opting out of a political career.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Underrepresentation of Women in American Politics"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Kate Greene","Troy Gibson","Iliyan Iliev"],"dc:creator":["Crane, Lindsey"],"dc:date.available":["2021-03-23T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In this project I studied why women are underrepresented in state legislatures. I conducted a data set ranging from 2000 to 2018 for forty-three US states, analyzing the percentage of women who won and the number of women who ran in the elections. Using this data, I found evidence that personal life choices have the most effect on rather women want to run for political office and successfully pursue political careers. Having this specific quantitative dataset, the study provides a better understanding to why women are still widely underrepresented on the state level. I also find that my independent variables effect my dependent variables differently with different significances; thus, women’s influences in running for office and winning elections are different. However, fertility rates negatively affect both dependent variables, women running and women winning elections. Women tend to separate their private choices of having a family before or after having political careers, resulting in a lack of female candidates and winners. Essentially, underrepresentation in female political contenders is due to their personal choice of opting out of a political career.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/801"],"dc:subject":["Underrepresentation","women","politics","women in politics","southern politics","women in American politics","American Politics","Other Political Science","Political Science","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"dc:title":["Underrepresentation of Women in American Politics"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:19Z"}