Gender, Power, and Colleague Aggression in U.S. State Senates

• DOI: 10.1177/1065912920985313
• Author: Rebekah Herrick,Kate Bartholomy,Sue Thomas
• Date: 01 March 2022
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

2022, Vol. 75(1) 134 –146

https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912920985313

Political Research Quarterly

© 2021 University of Utah

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DOI: 10.1177/1065912920985313

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Although women have made significant advancement in

descriptive representation in U.S. politics since the

1970s, they are still far from parity and far from equal

levels of political power. For example, at this writing,

women constitute 26 percent of state senates and only

seven serve as speakers of state houses (Center for

American Women in Politics [CAWP] 2020). Another

indicator of unequal status may be their treatment by col-

leagues. If, for example, women are subjected to differ-

ent levels of aggressive behavior than men, it may be

more difficult for them to perform their duties to the full-

est. Indeed, officeholders’ interactions with colleagues

have long been recognized as significantly affecting

officeholders’ abilities to build relationships, influence

policy, and gain leadership roles (Baker 1980; Blair and

Stanley 1991). Furthermore, when women’s status as

women is contested, their political power could be tenu-

ous both because those in office may choose to abbrevi-

ate their service and because such experiences could

depress the ambition of others (see Krook 2017, 2018;

Krook and Restrepo Sanín 2019).

Grounding our research in theoretical explorations of

status quo disruption, gender norm violations, and criti-

cal mass versus backlash effects, we present analysis of

an original dataset to report on levels of colleague

aggression among U.S. state senators, whether women

senators face more of these behaviors than men, and

whether numerical and positional gender inequality in

state senates affects these relationships. State senates

are appropriate arenas for study as senators are impor-

tant political actors, and senates can serve as stepping

stones to higher office. Our definition of colleague

aggression builds on existing research pertaining to

abuse against women officeholders on the local level.

Specifically, following Thomas et al. (2019) and Herrick

et al. (2019), we define colleague aggression as abusive,

harassing, offensive, threatening, or physically violent

behaviors.1

The results of our research indicate that, overall, col-

league aggression in U.S. state senates is relatively rare,

and, in general, women state senators do not face more

aggression than men. Under certain conditions, however,

subsets of women senators experience more aggressive

behaviors than their counterparts, male or female.

Specifically, when they serve in state senates that have

higher percentages of women or growing numbers of

women, they are disproportionally targeted. There is also

some evidence that women committee chairs are more

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PRQXXX10.1177/1065912920985313Political Research Quarterly XX(X)Herrick et al.

research-article2021

1Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, USA

2Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

3Oklahoma State University, Green Valley, AZ, USA

Corresponding Author:

Sue Thomas, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, P.O. Box

7042, Santa Cruz, CA 95061, USA.

Email: thomas@pire.org

Gender, Power, and Colleague

Aggression in U.S. State Senates

Rebekah Herrick1, Sue Thomas2,

and Kate Bartholomy3

Abstract

In this paper, we present analysis of an original dataset of levels of colleague aggression among U.S. state senators,

whether women senators face more of these behaviors than men, and whether numerical and positional gender

inequality in state senates affects these relationships. The results indicate that, overall, colleague aggression in U.S.

state senates is relatively rare, and, in general, women do not face more aggression than men. Under certain conditions,

however, subsets of women senators experience more aggressive behaviors than their counterparts, male or female.

Specifically, when they serve in senates with higher percentages of women or growing numbers of women, they are

disproportionally targeted. There is also some evidence that women committee chairs are more likely than rank-and-

file women to face this type of behavior.

Keywords

gender, power, colleague aggression, state senates, women in politics

Article