When the State Acts Like a Woman: A Policy Feedback Model of Women's Political Representation.

This research uses a policy feedback model to explain the laggard status of the United States when it comes to electing women to positions of political leadership. Based on data compiled for this project, analyses show how democratic state performance of maternalistic public policies has interpretative and instrumental effects on public attitudes about the suitability of women as political leaders and their election to national legislatures. When analyzing the impact of state maternalism on women's political participation, this project develops an umbrella concept inclusive of welfare provision, gender quotas, and hereditary monarchies. Controlling for a wide range of variables, this research concludes that the laggard status of the American state derives from its failure to "act like a woman" by performing even one maternalist public policies in contrast to most other comparable democracies that characteristically perform several. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]