BOSTON COLLEGE
POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

Po 312 - Women and Politics

Professor Kay Schlozman	Spring, 2006

	In this course we probe the role of women in American politics and the efforts that have been made in the past -- and are being made today -- on behalf of the collective political interests of women.   We begin by considering women and men in their roles as citizens and as political elites.  Then, we investigate the different, and often contradictory, ways in which feminist and New Right women define what is in their best interests as women and analyze the processes by which they organize to act in concert in pursuit of public policies that serve those interests.  Finally, in the second half of the course we consider the politics of a number of public policies having a special impact on women--among them, employment discrimination and other workplace issues, equal opportunity in education, and sexual assault.

Office Hours - 225 McGuinn

	Tuesday	10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
	Thursday	10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

If these times are inconvenient, please send me an e-mail at kschloz@bc.edu.  You can also leave a message on my voice mail (617-552-4174) or at home (617-566-1101).  In addition, I am ordinarily in my office by 8:15 AM before class.

Grading

	Class Participation	  20%
	First Paper		  25
	Second Paper		  25
	Final Examination	  30
					 100%

Class Participation

	This course relies heavily on class participation.  Students are expected to come to class having read the assigned materials and to take part in class discussion.

Academic Integrity

	Students in this class, and all classes at Boston College, are expected to have the highest standards of integrity and to be honest in all matters relating to academic life.  While I encourage students to discuss the material covered in class among themselves, all work submitted for assignments and examinations must be each student’s own.

Papers

The course requires two research papers, each approximately 10 to 15 pages in length.  Although these papers do not require primary source research, they do demand library research, not just visits to the Web.  The papers should use standard forms of scholarly attribution.  If you do not know how to do footnotes and bibliography, the department recommends the following reference book, which is available at the B.C. Bookstore:  Lynn Quitman Troyka, Simon and Schuster Handbook for Writers, (7th ed.; Englewood Cliffs, NJ:  Prentice Hall, 2004).  You may use either of the reference styles that political scientists use -- APA or CMS, but not MLA.  I have no preference.  Choose one and use it consistently and correctly.  By the way, it is wise to print out your paper a day in advance in order to avoid any last minute glitches.  In addition, please keep both your notes and a hard copy of your paper until I have graded it and returned it to you.

First Paper

Choose one of the following:

A.	Using the perspectives we have developed in class to understand the political mobilization of disadvantaged groups, write an essay in which you compare the contemporary women's movement with another American social movement in terms of its ideology, organization, goals and impact.  You may choose a historical social movement (for example, labor organizations in the nineteenth century or the temperance movement) or a contemporary one (for example, gay rights).  (Because we will be making extensive comparisons between movements for equality on behalf of women and blacks, please do not choose the American civil rights movement.)

B.	Using the perspectives we have developed in class, compare the condition of women and movement for women in the United States with another polity.

C.	Using the perspectives we have developed in class, compare the United States with another polity with respect to the process by which women acquired the vote.

Second Paper

Choose a public policy issue having special relevance to women -- for example, domestic violence, child support, breast cancer, or contraception and family planning.  Using the tools developed in class to analyze the politics of public policy, write a paper in which you analyze the politics of this issue area.  Depending upon the issue you choose, you may need to focus on state and local as well as national politics.  Be sure to focus on the political controversies surrounding these policies as well as upon their content.  

Note:  Do not choose one of issue areas covered in the readings on the syllabus.  If you have a question, see me.

Due Dates:

					Draft due to			Final Paper
					study partner			    Due    

	First paper		 February 23			 March 2
	Second paper		 April 4			 	 April 11

Books Ordered at the BC Bookstore

Augustus B. Cochran, III, Sexual Harassment and the Law (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2004).
M. Margaret Conway, David W. Ahern, and Gertrude A. Steuernagel, Women and Public Policy (3rd ed; Washington: CQ Press, 2005).
Mary C. King, Squaring Up: Policy Strategies to Raise Women’s Incomes in the United States (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001).
Rebecca Klatch, Women of the New Right (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987.)
Bernard Lefkowitz, Our Guys (New York: Random House, 1997).
Kristin Luker, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984).
Jane J. Mansbridge, Why We Lost the ERA (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986).
Susan Gluck Mezey, Elusive Equality (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2003).
Sheila Tobias, Faces of Feminism (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997).

Readings

1/17	 I.	Introduction:  The Nature of Politics - The Nature of Inequality

	II.	Women in Political Life

1/19-1/26	A.	Gender and Citizenship

M. Margaret Conway, Gertrude A. Steuernagel, and David W. Ahern, Women and Political Participation (3rd ed.; Washington: CQ Press, 2005), chaps. 3-4.
Nancy Burns, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Sidney Verba, The Private Roots of Public Action (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), chaps. 1, 3-4, 13-14.

1/31-2/7	B.	Women Political Elites

Linda Witt, Karen M. Paget, and Glenna Matthews, Running as a Woman (New York: Free Press, 1994), chaps. 3-4.
Heather L. Ondercin and Susan Welch, “Women Candidates for Congress,” in Women and Elective Office, edited by Sue Thomas and Clyde Wilcox (2nd ed.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), chap. 3.
Irwin Gertzog, Congressional Women (2nd ed.; Westport, CT: Praeger, 1995), chap. 6.  
Cindy Simon Rosenthal, ed., Women Transforming Congress (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002):
Susan Carroll, “Representing Women,” chap. 3;
Michele Swers, “Transforming the Agenda,” chap. 10;
Sue Thomas, Rebekah Herrick, and Matthew Braunstein, “Legislative Careers,” chap. 15.

	III.	The Political Mobilization of Women in America

2/9 		A.	The Nineteenth Century Women's Movement

Anne Firor Scott and Andrew MacKay Scott, One Half the People    (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982), Part I and Part II (Documents 2, 3, 5b, 6b, 7b, 7d, 9e, and 10).

2/14-2/16	B.	The Contemporary Women's Movement

Sheila Tobias, Faces of Feminism (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997).

2/21		C.	The Anti-Feminist Opposition

Rebecca E. Klatch, Women of the New Right (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987), chaps. 1-2, 5-7.

	IV.	Women's Issues and Public Policy

2/23		A.	Gender, Law, and Public Policy:  Introduction

Susan Gluck Mezey, Elusive Equality (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2003), chap. 1.
M. Margaret Conway, David W. Ahern, and Gertrude A. Steuernagel, Women and Public Policy (3rd ed.; Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2005), chap. 1.
Kay Lehman Schlozman, "Representing Women in Washington", in Women, Politics, and Change, Louise A. Tilly and Patricia Gurin, eds. (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1990), chap. 15.

2/28-3/2	B.	The Equal Rights Amendment

Jane J. Mansbridge, Why We Lost the ERA (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986).

3/14		C.	Equal Educational Opportunity

Lynne E. Ford, Women and Politics: The Pursuit of Equality (2nd ed.; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006), chap. 6.
Conway, Ahern and Steuernagel, Women and Public Policy, chap. 2.

3/16-3/28	D.	Economic and Workplace Issues

Barbara P. Bergmann, The Economic Emergence of Women (New York: Basic Books, 1986), chaps. 4-5.
Conway, Ahern and Steuernagel, Women and Public Policy, chap. 5-6.
		Ford, Women and Politics, pp. 254-256, 264-274.
Mezey, Elusive Equality, chaps. 3,4,and 6.
Mary C. King, Squaring Up: Policy Strategies to Raise Women’s Incomes in the United States (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001):
Randy Albelda and Chris Tilly, “Moving beyond ‘Get a Job,’” chap. 2;
Deborah M. Figart, “Raising the Minimum Wage and Living Wage Campaigns,” chap. 6;
			Margaret Hallock, “Pay Equity: Did It Work?,” chap. 7.

3/30-4/4	E.	Sexual Harassment

Augustus B. Cochran, III, Sexual Harassment and the Law (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2004).
Stephen J. Schulhofer, Unwanted Sex: The Culture of Intimidation and the Failure of Law (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998), pp. 189-205.

4/6-4/11	F.	Family Matters

Conway, Ahern, and Steuernagel, Women and Public Policy, chaps. 7-8.
		Mezey, Elusive Equality, chap. 7.
Mary Frances Berry, The Politics of Parenthood (NY: Penguin, 1993), chaps. 1, 7, 8.

4/18-4/20	E.	Sexual Violence

Bernard Lefkowitz, Our Guys (New York: Random House, 1997).
Schulhofer, Unwanted Sex, chap. 12.

4/25-5/2	G.	Reproductive Issues

Jean Reith Schroedel and Paul Peretz, “A Gender Analysis of Policy Formation: The Case of Fetal Abuse” in Patricia Boling, ed., Expecting Trouble (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995), chap. 5.
Deborah L.Rhode, “Adolescent Pregnancy and Public Policy,” in Annette Lawson and Deborah L. Rhode, The Politics of Pregnancy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), chap. 15.
Kristin Luker, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984).
Barbara Hinkson Craig and David O’Brien, Abortion and American Politics (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1993), chap. 7.
Mezey, Elusive Equality, chaps. 8-9.

5/4	V.	Conclusion:  Where Are We Now:  Where Are We Going?

Sarah M. Evans, “American Women in a New Millenium,” In The American Woman 1999-2000, Cynthia Costello, Shari E. Miles, and Anne J. Stone, eds. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1998), chap. 1.