The Female Future of Politics
Electoral expert analyzes opportunities and challenges for women in government
The Female Future of Politics
Electoral expert analyzes opportunities and challenges for women in government
By Christina Lynn
On the surface, the data on women serving in American politics looks better than ever. Women’s political representation has surged within all levels of government. Women make up 28 percent of the 118th United States Congress, the highest percentage in history. The 2022 elections led to a history-making 12 women now serving as governors. A full third of the 100 largest U.S. cities in the United States (33) had female mayors in 2023, an increase from 27 in 2019. But behind these numbers is a sobering reality.
“Women continue to be underrepresented at every level of office, despite recent gains,” said Kelly Dittmar, associate professor of political science for Rutgers University in Camden and director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP).
Dittmar will also tell you there is far more to representation in politics than gender — she has written about it in two books, emphasized it when teaching her students on the Rutgers–Camden campus, and informed the public about it as a recognizable face in the media, where she lends her expert commentary to discussions of women in politics in such outlets as the BBC, CNN, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among others.
Kelly Dittmar, associate professor of political science for Rutgers University in Camden and director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP)
Kelly Dittmar, associate professor of political science for Rutgers University in Camden and director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP)
Much of Dittmar’s scholarship identifies the challenges to achieving gender parity in political institutions. “Representation is not simply about numbers,” Dittmar said. “The reason ‘representation matters’ is that those numbers represent distinct perspectives that women contribute to policymaking and democratic deliberation.”
As an undergraduate at Aquinas College with a triple major in political science, sociology, and Spanish, Dittmar discovered that the intersection between women and politics piqued her interest. Later, it would serve as the foundation of her academic work and her professional career. Dittmar credits her professors for sparking a passion for politics and giving her the space to discover the political field of study that most interested her. After a few semesters conducting course-based research, she narrowed her path to the role of women in governing bodies domestically and abroad.
Two opportunities to work in government brought her even closer to her field of research. As an undergraduate, she was an intern for former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, now the U.S. Secretary of Energy, in the Office of the First Gentleman, Dan Mulhern. “Dan is someone who was, and is, very aware of the gender dynamics of being a male spouse to a woman executive,” Dittmar said. “So, working for him and having the opportunity to meet Governor Granholm offered me important insights into gender and politics that I later tapped into in my own research on gender and the presidency, masculinity and politics, and experiences of women executives.”
While finishing her Ph.D. at Rutgers, she joined the office of the U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow; the highly selective fellowship program offers firsthand opportunities to understand the legislative process through full-time staff appointments. “Working in a congressional office motivated me to pursue a new line of research on gender, race, and congressional staff,” Dittmar said. “I knew that political science needed to better account for these factors, especially in understanding concepts of diversity and representation in government institutions.”
When applying for doctoral programs, Dittmar had been drawn to Rutgers and its Center for American Women and Politics, which, for more than 50 years, has been a national resource for nonpartisan scholarly research on women’s participation in the U.S. political system. “I even included my desire to eventually work full-time at CAWP in my statement of purpose,” Dittmar recalled. “As far back as when I was an undergraduate student, I understood that CAWP was the central hub for all things women and U.S. politics, and I was eager to be a part of it.”
Dittmar joined CAWP soon after her acceptance into the Rutgers Ph.D. program as a part-time graduate research assistant. After completing her degree and congressional fellowship, she returned to CAWP in a full-time capacity as a research faculty member. She then joined the political science faculty at Rutgers–Camden, where she splits her time as an associate professor within the College of Arts and Sciences and her role as CAWP’s director of research.
Dittmar’s work as a researcher and author has paralleled history-making moments in politics. Her second book, A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Representation Matters, was published by Oxford University Press in 2018, dubbed the “Year of the Woman,” when a record number of women ran for and won congressional seats in midterm elections. The book is co-authored by Kira Sanbonmatsu, professor of political science, and Susan J. Carroll, professor emerita of political science, who are also on the Rutgers faculty.
Dittmar and her co-authors received substantial access to legislators, interviewing three-quarters of the women serving in the 114th Congress. A Seat at the Table, which followed Dittmar’s first book, Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns (Temple University Press), argued that “party and race/ethnicity are the two most complicating factors to a singular narrative of women’s congressional representation.” She reflected on her findings with present-day perspective.
“On the plus side, we are seeing more women — and more diverse women along racial/ethnic, age, and ideological lines — in office since we published our book,” Dittmar said. “However, in more recent work and engagement with elected women, we have found that the divisiveness has grown in ways that has made working across party lines — and along gendered lines — even more difficult.”
Dittmar has written about the possible implications of the Supreme Court’s recent landmark decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade but said it’s too soon to tell if it will drive more female candidates to run for office. Dittmar forecasts 2024 as the election cycle to watch to determine if women from both political parties will run, and “how many of them discuss Dobbs as motivating their candidacy or use the abortion issue as a primary plank for their political campaigns,” she said.
Dittmar’s latest research project analyzes women’s power and representation in five states, reviewing gains and setbacks with a focus on gender, race, and political party — what Dittmar calls “axes of both identity and positionality that are not fully separable in U.S. politics.” The report, titled “Rethinking Women’s Political Power,” was published this fall and continues to contextualize the definition of representation.
“In looking at the representation of women in U.S. politics, it's important to remember that women are not monolithic in their experiences, opportunities, or influence,” Dittmar said. “It’s essential that the full range of these experiences and voices be heard in government so that our political institutions can best serve the diverse communities they are meant to represent.”
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