Politics of Presence? Congresswomen and Symbolic Representation

Gender politics literature stresses the symbolic importance of electing more women to high-level political office. Despite references to the heightened legitimacy that women in politics bring to the political process, and the manner in which they affect constituents’ political attitudes and behavior, little empirical evidence exists regarding the actual benefits of symbolic representation. Using pooled National Election Study data from 1980 to 1998, I attempt to fill a void in the literature, exploring whether the presence of women officeholders affects constituents’ evaluations of their members of Congress, levels of political efficacy and trust in government, and propensity to participate politically. After controlling for party congruence between the representative and his/her constituent, I uncover little evidence of the independent symbolic effects scholars typically ascribe to women’s presence in Congress. Women represented by women tend to offer more positive evaluations of their members of Congress, but this difference does not consistently translate into political attitudes or behavior. The findings represent an initial attempt to use available survey data to explore the extent to which symbolic representation independently affects citizens’ political attitudes and engagement.