J. Donahue, IT DOESNT MATTER - SOME CAUTIONARY FINDINGS ABOUT SEX AND REPRESENTATION FROM SCHOOL COMMITTEE CONVERSATIONS, Policy studies journal, 25(4), 1997, pp. 630-647
One of the most important findings in the field of gender and politics
is that women elected officials at the state and national levels do a
better job than men of representing the interests of women, children,
and families. This paper uses school committees to ask the same quest
ion about women elected officials at the local level. Thus the questio
n that guides the paper is: Does it matter for women if women are elec
ted to this local political institution? If it does matter, then we sh
ould ''hear'' women's distinct ways of participating through their dis
cussions at committee meetings. The study finds, in contrast, that in
this political institution women and men behave in remarkably similar
ways when separated by committee roles, and that women elected officia
ls in this political institution spend very little time addressing iss
ues affecting girls in public education.