Picturing Political Power

"For as long as American women have battled for equitable political representation, those battles have been defined by images--whether drawn, etched, photographed, or filmed. Some of these have been flattering, many of them have been condescending, and some have been scabrous. They have drawn upon prevailing cultural tropes about the perceived nature of women's roles and abilities, and they have circulated both with and without conscious political objectives. Allison K. Lange takes a systematic look at American women's efforts to control the production and dissemination of images of them in the long battle for representation, from the mid-nineteenth-century onward"--

Delving into the pressing topic of gender and politics, this volume provides fresh comparative perspectives on "what works" to promote women in politics today. Inspiring and informative, Women, Power, and Political Representation offers a comprehensive overview of the role women play in contemporary politics, and pinpoints the reasons behind their underrepresentation. Discussing the challenges and opportunities women face when running for office, as well as their experiences as political leaders, this book offers a broad and thoughtful overview of the pitfalls encountered by women, from gender biases to sexual harassment, in the notoriously male dominated political arena. Featuring a range of voices that articulate a path towards women’s political advancement and equality, Women, Power, and Political Representation is an important and timely resource for scholars, students, and women working professionally in Canadian and international politics.

""As women continue to gain more prominence as active participants in the American political and electoral process as voters, candidates, and officeholders, it becomes even more important to understand how gender shapes political power and the distribution of resources within our society. There are many areas of research in a variety of disciplines focusing on women, gender, and feminism, and many of them intersect with a discussion of women in American politics. Our goal in writing this book is to present these topics in an interesting, lively, and timely way through an analysis of contemporary political gender-related issues. We hope to have provided just enough of an historical context to get students interested in the evolution of women in American political life, and enough theory and analysis to inspire them to seek more information and knowledge about gender justice today. The study of women and U.S. politics, as well as the role gender plays in the broader political context, has emerged as a powerful voice within the discipline of Political Science in the last few decades. As such, we hope that readers find this text a useful addition to the ongoing dialogue while instructors find it to be a useful pedagogical tool for their courses on women/gender and politics"--

Why policymaking in the United States privileges the rich over the poor Can a country be a democracy if its government only responds to the preferences of the rich? In an ideal democracy, all citizens should have equal influence on government policy—but as this book demonstrates, America's policymakers respond almost exclusively to the preferences of the economically advantaged. Affluence and Influence definitively explores how political inequality in the United States has evolved over the last several decades and how this growing disparity has been shaped by interest groups, parties, and elections. With sharp analysis and an impressive range of data, Martin Gilens looks at thousands of proposed policy changes, and the degree of support for each among poor, middle-class, and affluent Americans. His findings are staggering: when preferences of low- or middle-income Americans diverge from those of the affluent, there is virtually no relationship between policy outcomes and the desires of less advantaged groups. In contrast, affluent Americans' preferences exhibit a substantial relationship with policy outcomes whether their preferences are shared by lower-income groups or not. Gilens shows that representational inequality is spread widely across different policy domains and time periods. Yet Gilens also shows that under specific circumstances the preferences of the middle class and, to a lesser extent, the poor, do seem to matter. In particular, impending elections—especially presidential elections—and an even partisan division in Congress mitigate representational inequality and boost responsiveness to the preferences of the broader public. At a time when economic and political inequality in the United States only continues to rise, Affluence and Influence raises important questions about whether American democracy is truly responding to the needs of all its citizens.

Traces the simultaneous crafting of political power, the codification of a historical record, and the unfolding of cultural change

This exciting collaboration with the New York Times will reveal the untold stories of the diverse heroines who fought for the 19th amendment. On the 100th anniversary of the historic win for women's rights, it's time to celebrate the names and stories of the women whose courage helped change the fabric of America.

The British engagement with India was an intensely visual one. Images of the subcontinent, produced by artists and travelers in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century heyday of the East India Company, reflect the increasingly important role played by the Company in Indian life. And they mirror significant shifts in British policy and attitudes toward India. The Company’s story is one of wealth, power, and the pursuit of profit. It changed what people in Europe ate, what they drank, and how they dressed. Ultimately, it laid the foundations of the British Raj. Few historians have considered the visual sources that survive and what they tell us about the link between images and empire, pictures and power. This book draws on the unrivalled riches of the British Library—both visual and textual—to tell that history. It weaves together the story of individual images, their creators, and the people and events they depict. And, in doing so, it presents a detailed picture of the Company and its complex relationship with India, its people and cultures.

An interdisciplinary study of visual representations of British colonial power in the eighteenth century.