Women Of Color Political Elites In The U S

This volume presents a detailed and in-depth examination of women of color political elites in the United States in varying levels of office and non-elected positions. Through innovative data, novel theoretical frameworks, and compelling arguments, the chapters in this book explore how women of color political elites are changing, challenging, or upending the status quo in American politics. Beyond an additive approach of either race or gender the authors in this volume employ an intersectional lens to explore the complexities of governing, running for office, and adjudicating in a diversifying America. This book will be of great value to upper-level students, researchers, and academics of political science interested in women’s and gender studies, political leadership as well as race and ethnic studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy.

This volume presents a detailed and in-depth examination of women of color political elites in the United States in varying levels of office and non-elected positions. Through innovative data, novel theoretical frameworks, and compelling arguments, the chapters in this book explore how women of color political elites are changing, challenging, or upending the status quo in American politics. Beyond an additive approach of either race or gender the authors in this volume employ an intersectional lens to explore the complexities of governing, running for office, andadjudicating in a diversifying America. This book will be of great value to upper-level students, researchers, and academics of political science interested in women's and gender studies, political leadership as well as race and ethnic studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy.

The second edition of Distinct Identities continues to provide a sophisticated yet accessible introduction to the complexities of the politics, social structures, and cultural contexts that animate how women of color engage in and shape U.S. politics. Keeping the structure of the original volume, this text represents the diverse and innovative scholarship being conducted in this field while covering the core topics in gender politics. What’s New: Chapters on queer women of color and the role of women of color and social movements. Chapters on the strategies that women of color use to run for office, where they run, political newcomers (Asian and Indigenous women). Chapters on the experiences of women of color office holders. Chapters on policy analysis and the media’s role in shaping the political agenda of women of color political elites. Distinct Identities pushes the boundaries of traditional intersectional scholarship and responds to America’s rapidly diversifying demographics and political culture. It reflects cutting-edge scholarship and provides readers with insight into where the field of women of color politics will head in the coming years.

"They don't think I'm viable, because I'm a Black woman with natural hair and no husband." This comment was made by Stacey Abrams shortly before the 2018 Democratic primary after she became the first Black woman to win a majory party's nomination for governor. Abrams' sentiment reflects the wider environment for Black women in politics, in which racist and sexist cultural ideas have long led Black women to be demeaned and fetishized for their physical appearance. In Sister Style, Nadia E. Brown and Danielle Casarez Lemi argue that Black women's political experience and the way that voters evaluate them is shaped overtly by their skin tone and hair texture, with hair being a particular point of scrutiny. They ask what the politics of appearance for Black women mean for Black women politicians and Black voters, and how expectations about self-presentation differ for Black women versus Black men, White men, and White women. Black women running for office face pressure, often from campaign consultants and even close colleagues, to change their style in order to look more like White women. However, as this book shows, Black women candidates and elected officials react differently to these pressures depending on factors like age and incumbency. Moreover, Brown and Lemi delve into the ways in which Black voters react to Black female candidates based on appearance. They base their argument, in part, on focus groups with Black women candidates and elected officials, and show that there are generational differences that determine what sorts of styles Black women choose to adopt and to what extent they change their physical appearance based on external expectations.

Contains 13 contributions, divided into four sections: theoretical and comparative perspectives on women as political executives; institutional perspectives on women as officeholders in the executive branch; institutional perspectives on the President, Congress, and the Courts; and policy and participations issues relating to women as executive activists and as citizens. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

“Identity politics” is everywhere, polarizing discourse from the campaign trail to the classroom and amplifying antagonisms in the media, both online and off. But the compulsively referenced phrase bears little resemblance to the concept as first introduced by the radical Black feminist Combahee River Collective. While the Collective articulated a political viewpoint grounded in their own position as Black lesbians with the explicit aim of building solidarity across lines of difference, identity politics is now frequently weaponized as a means of closing ranks around ever-narrower conceptions of group interests. But the trouble, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò deftly argues, is not with identity politics itself. Through a substantive engagement with the global Black radical tradition and a critical understanding of racial capitalism, Táíwò identifies the process by which a radical concept can be stripped of its political substance and liberatory potential by becoming the victim of elite capture—deployed by political, social, and economic elites in the service of their own interests. Táíwò’s crucial intervention both elucidates this complex process and helps us move beyond a binary of “class” vs. “race.” By rejecting elitist identity politics in favor of a constructive politics of radical solidarity, he advances the possibility of organizing across our differences in the urgent struggle for a better world.

Afro-textured hair and the CROWN Act -- What black women political elites look like matters -- Candid conversations, black women political elites, & appearances -- Sisterly discussions on black women candidates -- Is there a black woman candidate prototype? -- Voter responses to black women candidates -- Linked fate, black voters, and black women candidates -- Conclusion.

Bridging the fields of presidency studies and women and politics, The Other Elites examines the career paths, the policy preferences, and the leadership behavior of women in the executive branch of US government.