A Reappraisal of the Quality of Women Candidates

Research on female candidates needs to redirect its attention from aggregate to contest specific comparisons. Previous research compared women's resources and characteristics to men's resources and characteristics. While this improved our understanding of women's competitiveness, it does not answer the most important question: How do women compare to men against whom they actually run? My examination of women running in open seat races in 1992 suggests that the comparison made affects the findings. I find that women fare less well when compared to their opponents than when all women are compared to all men candidates.