Book Review: Nadia E Brown and Sarah Allen Gershon, Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S. Politics
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929918801281 |
| Author | Morgan C Matthews |
| Published date | 01 August 2019 |
| Date | 01 August 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Commissioned Book Review |
book-review2019
Commissioned Book Review
Political Studies Review
2019, Vol. 17(3) NP3 –NP4
Book Review
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
Distinct Identities: Minority Women in
intersectionality to develop mainstream theo-
U.S. Politics by Nadia E Brown and Sarah Allen
ries of political participation. Contributions by
Gershon. New York: Routledge, 2016. 326 pp.,
Mirya Holman and by Tonya Williams are
$57.95 (p/b), ISBN 9781138958845
exemplars of this. Drawing on American
National Election Study (ANES) data, Holman
The subfield of women and politics challenged
challenges resource models for participation,
mainstream political science scholarship to take
which do not adequately explain Black and
up gender as a central category of analysis. In
Hispanic women’s political activity. In the
the same vein, Nadia Brown and Sarah Gershon,
arena of legislative politics, Williams chal-
in Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S.
lenges the notion that gender predicts legisla-
Politics, have compiled a set of essays that
tive behavior by comparing roll-call votes and
center minority women in electoral and repre-
bill co-sponsorships of Black men and women
sentational politics. This ambitious edited vol-
lawmakers on abortion policy. In each of these
ume presents a strong case to extend the practice
essays, analyzing political participation and
of intersectionality in the gender and politics
behavior along multiple axes of identity chal-
literature, as well as in political science more
lenges long-standing assumptions of political
broadly. As a collection, these essays complicate
theories.
the experiences of women in politics—a group
Methodologically, this collection of essays
that is not homogeneous—and present a more
displays the range of quantitative and qualitative
complete picture of political participation and
approaches employed by intersectional...
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