2018 Hahn-Sigelman Prize

Date01 November 2019
DOI10.1177/1532673X19875253
Published date01 November 2019
Subject MatterAnnouncement
https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X19875253
American Politics Research
2019, Vol. 47(6) 1207 –1208
© The Author(s) 2019
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1532673X19875253
journals.sagepub.com/home/apr
Announcement
2018 Hahn-Sigelman
Prize
I am delighted to announce that the winner of the Hahn-Sigelman Prize for
best article published in American Politics Research in 2018 is “Tough
Enough for the Job? How Masculinity Predicts Recruitment of City Council
Members,” by Sarah Oliver (Towson University) and Meredith Conroy
(California State University, San Bernadino). The article appeared in the
November 2018 issue (Volume 46, Issue 6).
I am indebted to members of the prize selection committee whose dili-
gence and professionalism were exemplary. The committee, capably chaired
by Kelly Rader (Yale University), co-recipient of the 2017 Hahn-Sigelman
Prize, also included Katherine Krimmel (Barnard College), also co-recipient
of the 2017 Hahn-Sigelman Prize, and Joel Sievert (Texas Tech University).
In this article, Oliver and Conroy bring fresh insight into the enduring
problem of women’s underrepresentation in politics. Their analysis, based on
an original national survey of city council members, shows that members
who self-identify as more masculine were more likely to have been recruited
to run for political office. This is true for both male and female council mem-
bers and across multiple avenues of recruitment, including recruitment by
women’s organizations.
While candidate recruitment has been well studied, this work shows that
focusing solely on sex discrimination obscures an important source of gender
bias in the political pipeline. Additionally, Oliver and Conroy’s efforts to
study local-level elected positions constitutes an important advancement to
help us understand candidacy decisions and recruitment activities at a key
entry point for political careers.
At a time when a record number of women have run for and won positions
in elected office, Oliver and Conroy’s research is especially instructive. The
article, as a whole, has implications for our understanding of sex inequity
beyond the realm of candidate recruitment.
The best-article prize is named in honor of two now deceased former edi-
tors of this journal. Harlan Hahn (1939-2008) was the founding editor of
American Politics Quarterly (which shifted from a quarterly to a bi-monthly
journal in 2001). He served as editor from 1973 until 1981. His research
spanned many areas, including urban studies, health politics, and criminal
875253APRXXX10.1177/1532673X19875253American Politics Research
other2019

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