Women and Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence

Julie Dolan is Associate 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.