Gender as a Category of Analysis in American Political Development

TL;DRAbstract

According to President George W. Bush, a nation's commitment to liberty and democracy should be gauged by its willingness to extend rights and political recognition to women. As the world's first modern democracy, one might expect that the United States has led the way in granting equal rights to women. Furthermore, champions of political liberalism contend that our government's commitment to legal, individual rights and nondiscrimination has created equal opportunity for all, regardless of race or sex. Yet an examination of American political history reveals the persistence of gender hierarchy in U.S. politics, a stubborn resistance to the idea that gender should not matter to one's political standing, and, at best, an incomplete realization of the liberal ideal of equal rights for all. From a comparative perspective today, the United States is far behind other Western democracies in extending social rights that particularly benefit women and in the proportion of women who hold office

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