http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/political-representation Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Sun, 19 Apr 2026 06:57:13 -0400 Sun, 19 Apr 2026 06:57:13 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1811/the-gender-gap-in-american-politics-how-money-in-politics-affects-female-representation By Lauren E. Rothschild - In the 116th United States Congress, women hold 23.2% of House seats and 25% of Senate seats. Down the ballot, across state and local elected offices, women are underrepresented in their communities. This continual disparity presents a fundamental contradiction with America’s founding principle of representative democracy. This paper examines the roots of economic inequality in America, with a focus on the gender wage gap and gender wealth gap as they relate to the political donating tendencies of women. Next, this paper examines the experiences of female candidates as they seek campaign... Tue, 06 Oct 2020 07:42 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1811/the-gender-gap-in-american-politics-how-money-in-politics-affects-female-representation http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1594/partisan-pork-how-house-delegation-cohesion-affects-earmark-spending By Matthew Waskiewicz - The federal earmark is a topic often lamented by the general public as corrupt and wasteful. Until recently, this "pork" was a mainstay of politics in Washington. Because distributive spending is often used to advance partisan goals such as reelection, previous scholarship suggested that legislators of the same party would work together to secure this money, resulting in higher federal earmark spending per person. Using a dummy variable for party majority within a House delegation, state-level data was analyzed through a regression analysis of House delegation cohesion and federal earmark spending... Sat, 31 May 2014 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1594/partisan-pork-how-house-delegation-cohesion-affects-earmark-spending http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1595/the-effects-of-electoral-systems-and-gender-quotas-on-female-representation-in-national-legislatures By Amy Manning - Women make up anywhere from 0% to 56% of the national legislatures around the world. Research has attributed this wide spectrum to political, socioeconomic, and cultural or ideological factors. After testing these existing theories on a sample of 188 countries, this study offers a more comprehensive explanation for this wide variation in female representation. A quantitative analysis of the cases yields four statistically significant factors: type of electoral system, presence or absence of quotas, socioeconomic status, and predominant religion. These factors all affect the proportion of women... Sat, 31 May 2014 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1595/the-effects-of-electoral-systems-and-gender-quotas-on-female-representation-in-national-legislatures http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1615/a-vote-of-no-self-confidence-gender-socialization-and-political-ambition By Allison Dunatchik - In light of women's underrepresentation in student government, this paper investigates to what extent levels of political ambition differ between male and female students and why at American University. Current literature regarding women's underrepresentation in elected office suggests that gender differences in levels of political ambition in political pipeline careers explain much of women's lower likelihood to run for and serve in elected office. This body of scholarship finds that women's political ambition is significantly diminished by traditional sex-role socialization and traditional views... Mon, 31 Dec 2012 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1615/a-vote-of-no-self-confidence-gender-socialization-and-political-ambition