@inbook{14451, author = {Tali Mendelberg and Christopher Karpowitz and Lauren Mattioli}, title = {Gender and Women{\textquoteright}s Influence in Public Settings}, abstract = {
Does gender equality in public meetings improve as women{\textquoteright}s numbers grow? Research applying critical mass theory to the exercise of influence in public discussion and decision making reveals a complicated story. Women have made significant progress in education, employment, and the attainment of elected office; yet, they continue to lag behind their male counterparts in substantive, symbolic, and authoritative representation. Across political, nonpolitical, and experimental settings, women{\textquoteright}s participation and influence does not follow necessarily from their numerical proportion. We review previous studies of how women{\textquoteright}s lower status is manifested in group interaction, and we argue that research can better identify when and how numbers matter by attending to the group{\textquoteright}s context, institutional features, and informal norms. We describe cutting-edge research designed to explore the effects of institutional rules and norms on women{\textquoteright}s authority. Women{\textquoteright}s increasing numbers in positions of potential influence constitutes a timely, promising, and challenging agenda for further scholarship.
}, year = {2015}, journal = {Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences}, month = {05/2015}, isbn = {9781118900772}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0139}, doi = {10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0139}, }