University of Pennsylvania Professor Kerry Haynie explored the impact of black and women legislators on state policy in a paper he presented yesterday afternoon in Silsby Hall.
The presentation was the first in a series for the term, part of the government department's "faculty colloquium."
Fifteen members of the government department and two students attended the presentation titled, "Another Look at Gender, A New Look at Race: The Effects of Women and African Americans in State Legislatures."
Government Professor and Director of the Rockefeller Center Linda Fowler introduced Haynie and said the effects of women and black state legislators on policy is "exceptionally interesting" because there has not been much research done on the topic.
Haynie said his paper, entitled "Agenda-Setting and Legislative Success in State Legislatures: The Effects of Gender and Race" was the result of a collaborative research effort he did as part of his dissertation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Through data he collected on the bills introduced by state legislators the lower houses of Arkansas, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina in 1969, 1979 and 1989, Haynie sought to answer the following question, "Does the race and gender of a legislator influence what interests are brought to the agenda, and the success of those interests?"
He examined the assumption that the increased presence of blacks and women in state legislators will bring race and gender issues more to the forefront of state policy.
He then outlined the theoretical basis of this argument with three main points.
First, the unique life experiences of blacks and women is one factor that causes their presence to have an impact on state legislatures, he said.
"There are certain issues of special concern to women, whether because of biological differences, socialization, or socioeconomic status," Haynie said. These include education, child care, domestic violence and women's health issues.
Similarly, blacks are more likely than whites to experience poverty, discrimination in the workplace and household, and have their own health concerns as well.
Second, differences in race and gender often manifest themselves in political opinion and behavior, according to Haynie. Women are more liberal, more likely to vote Democratic, support social policies and oppose military use as compared to their male counterparts. Blacks are also more likely to vote Democratic, support affirmative action, and oppose the death penalty.
Finally, he said the assumption that race and gender will bring new issues to state government is, "rooted in theories of legislative behavior," meaning that female and black state legislators are likely to focus on issues in response to pressure by their constituents.
Since black and women legislators are more likely to be elected from black districts and urban areas, respectively, they will focus on issues pertinent to their districts and share similar views with their constituents in many instances.
"If African Americans and women representatives do indeed focus on different policy areas than do white men, the continued under representation of blacks and women in legislatures raises serious questions about the fairness of our current procedures to select representatives," he concluded.
Haynie's paper delves into three major concerns pertaining to race and gender in the state's political arena.
"First we examine whether blacks and women do indeed carve out distinct legislative agendas," he said. "Second we examine whether blacks show concern for issues of interest to women, and whether women are concerned with issues of interest to blacks."
"Third, we examine whether the bills that African-American and female representatives introduce are likely to pass as bills introduced by other representatives."
The data Haynie collected on state level legislatures in collaboration with his colleague, Kathleen Bratton from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill led him to the following conclusions.
"Our research tells us that black and women representatives do indeed pursue distinctive legislative policies, and we see some evidence that these two groups lend each other support," he said.
He added that it is uncertain whether specific issues concerning these two groups would be adequately addressed by their white male counterparts in the absence of blacks and women from state legislative bodies.
"To some degree, they [black and female legislators] represent blacks and women in ways that white men fail to do," Haynie said.
The findings also suggest that the increased presence of blacks and women in state legislatures does not necessarily correlate with increased legislation pertaining specifically to the specific interests of these two groups.
"The difference in agenda-setting we observe may in fact be due to the status of these two groups as legislative minorities," Haynie said. "Further growth in the numbers of blacks and women in legislatures may be accompanied by less discrimination in society, and less reason to pursue distinct policies."
The increased presence of women and blacks in state legislatures may detract from their ability to act cohesively.
"This paper answers some questions, but the answers raise even more," he said when receiving feedback from those present at the colloquium.
"What does appear clear," he said, "is the race or gender of the legislator leads to a different style of representation."
The faculty colloquium is an ongoing series created to encourage the sharing of research and facilitate intellectual exchange among the government department faculty, according to Government Professor Mlada Bukovansky.
Other speakers scheduled this coming term include William McGill University Professor James Booth, whose research concentrates on Moral Economy; Columbia University Professor Hendrik Spruyt, whose most recent book is "The Sovereign State and its Competitors;" and Shelley Burtt, a political theorist at Yale, Bukovansky wrote in an e-mail message.
