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Gender Gap in Early Congressional Retirement
Author(s) -
Herrick Rebekah
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
politics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.259
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 1555-5623
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.2004.tb00189.x
Subject(s) - gender gap , economic shortage , demographic economics , political science , politics , population , labour economics , psychology , economics , sociology , demography , law , linguistics , philosophy , government (linguistics)
It is well known that the percentage of women in Congress is much lower than that in the general population. While most research examining the shortage of congresswomen focuses on the recruitment and election of women, this research examines another potential cause: early retirement. There is a gender gap in congressional career length caused by women's early retirements. When congresswomen are not replaced by other women, their retirement decreases their numbers. The primary finding of this study is that while many of the common explanations for this gender gap, such as family responsibilities and entering politics late in life, were not supported, the main influence on this gender gap is the widow effect.