Speaking as Women: Women and Floor Speeches in the Senate

Research on women as legislators contends that through their unique status as both women and legislators, women representatives have distinct policy interests that help them to substantively represent women as a group with their actions in the legislative chamber. We test this assertion using the floor speeches of women and men in the US Senate to determine if women senators as a group express different policy preferences in this aspect of Senate participation. Through content analysis of floor speeches in the 106th Senate (1999–2000), we find women do speak more about policy concerns with direct relevance to women, such as women's health and family issues. These findings indicate that women senators, previously understudied, do represent women's interests in this chamber.