Let’s Work Together: Bill Success via Women’s Cosponsorship in U.S. State Legislatures

• Author: Mirya R. Holman,Anna Mahoney,Emma Hurler
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10659129211020123
• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Date: 01 September 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/10659129211020123

Political Research Quarterly

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DOI: 10.1177/10659129211020123

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Introduction

Most pieces of legislation introduced in state legislatures

fail: they rarely reach the stage of a floor vote and even

fewer are signed into law (Krutz 2005). One important

marker of bill success is the characteristics of the legisla-

tion’s cosponsors (Bratton and Rouse 2011; Hibbing

1991; Kirkland 2011; Swers 2002). Not all legislators are

equally likely or able to sponsor “winning” legislation

(Atkinson and Windett 2019; O’Brien 2015; Schiller

1995; Senk 2020). Representatives with access to politi-

cal power within the institution, those with connections to

other legislators, and those in political party leadership all

increase the likelihood that a representative’s cosponsor-

ship of legislation will be associated with bill success.

Despite their marginalization and exclusion from

many of the sources of power that might lead to bill suc-

cess (Mahoney 2018; Osborn 2012; Thomsen and King

2020), women in legislative office are effective lawmak-

ers (Homola 2021). Women in the U.S. Congress intro-

duce and pass bills, serve constituent interests, and bring

incentives to their home districts all at higher rates than

their male counterparts (Anzia and Berry 2011; Lazarus

and Steigerwalt 2018; Lowande, Ritchie, and Lauterbach

2019; Thomsen and Sanders 2020; Volden, Wiseman, and

Wittmer 2013). Women’s overperformance results from

the disadvantages they face when seeking election and

reelection (Bauer 2020a, 2020b). For example, women

must be generally higher quality candidates to be elected

in the first place (Anzia and Berry 2011; Fulton and

Dhima 2020) and constituents hold women incumbents

to higher standards for reelection, motivating women

to overperform when seeking reelection (Costa 2020;

Lazarus and Steigerwalt 2018).

We argue that one mechanism by which women over-

come marginalization and gendered expectations of over-

performance is bill success from cosponsoring legislation

with other women. We argue that cosponsorship, which is

generally associated with higher bill quality and increased

bill success (Barnes 2016; Eatough, Preece, and Barber

2020; Gutmann and Thompson 2012; Kirkland 2011),

represents a key measure of women’s collaboration with

each other. Because of their exclusion from traditional

forms of power in political bodies (Barnes 2016; Jenkins

2007; Senk 2020) and gendered socialization patterns

(Schneider and Bos 2019), women legislators’ rate of col-

laboration is often higher than men’s rate of collaboration

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20123PRQXXX10.1177/10659129211020123Political Research QuarterlyHolman et al.

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1Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

2Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

Corresponding Author:

Mirya R. Holman, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA.

Email: mholman@tulane.edu

Let’s Work Together: Bill Success via

Women’s Cosponsorship in U.S.

State Legislatures

Mirya R. Holman1, Anna Mahoney1, and Emma Hurler2

Abstract

Not all pieces of legislation introduced for consideration are equally likely to be successful. The characteristics

of legislation’s cosponsors can influence bill passage rates. Despite facing marginalization in legislative bodies and

more electoral vulnerability, women are effective lawmakers. We argue that one way by which women overcome

marginalization and gendered expectations of performance is bill success from legislation cosponsored with other

women. Testing this expectation on bills (140,000+) introduced in U.S. state legislatures in forty states in 2015, we

find increased bill success from women’s cosponsorship with each other and women from the other party. Using

variation in the share of women in legislative chambers and in legislative leadership, we find evidence to suggest that

women’s success emerges both from marginalization and gendered opportunities.

Keywords

legislatures, bill success, collaboration, cosponsorship, women in politics, marginalization

2022, Vol. 75(3) 676–690

Article