Book review: women’s policy issues in American politics: how women represent women

Though the number of women elected to the U.S. state legislatures has increased substantially in the last forty years, researchers still struggle to connect the presence of women in the legislature to public policy outcomes that affect women. One reason for this struggle is that we lack a complete understanding of how political parties modify the relationship between women legislators’ interests in representing women and the creation of public policies that concern them. In How Women Represent Women, Tracy L. Osborn argues that political parties fundamentally shape the pursuit of women’s policy issues in American politics. When women represent women, they do so as partisans. Reviewed by Elizabeth Evans. How Women Represent Women: Political Parties, Gender and Representation in the State Legislatures. Tracy L. Osborn. Oxford University Press USA. March 2012.