Political Women’s Organizations and the Importance of Party Culture

Political women’s organizations play a vital role in recruiting, training, and funding women candidates. Using an original survey of 161 state women’s organizations and interviews with national leaders, I examine these organizations’ values, strategies and relationships with their party. I find that Democratic and Republican women’s organizations express a similar commitment to women’s representation but differ dramatically in their perceptions of electoral challenges and their willingness to conflict with party leadership. Republican women’s organizations perceive no identity-based electoral barriers and demonstrate strong party loyalty, while Democratic women’s organizations recognize gender and identity-based disadvantages and show greater independence from party hierarchy. These findings suggest that partisan culture impacts organizational constraints and help explain the partisan gap in women’s representation.