Gender styles in state legislative committees: Raising their voices in resolving conflict

This research focuses on the gendered nature of legislative institutions by examining the conflict resolution styles of state legislative committee ch airs. Based on a survey of 285 state legislative committee chairs, focus gr oups and individual interviews, the study examines a sizeable cohort of men and women engaged in fundamentally similar leadership tasks but under vary ing institutional circumstances and in more than a single state. The resear ch finds that women committee chairs raise their voices to resolve conflict s in a different way from their male colleagues. More importantly, the stud y shows how gender composition of the membership, the distribution of gende r power, and the extent of professionalization influence conflict resolutio n style. These data challenge the predominant view of legislative leadershi p as transactional behavior and suggest the need to consider whether mascul ine behavior and institutional norms have been conflated.