Gendering the GOP Intraparty Politics and Republican Women's Representation in Congress

In Gendering the GOP, Catherine N. Wineinger argues that to truly understand the evolution of women's congressional representation, it is necessary to move beyond an analysis of legislative behavior and toward an analysis of intraparty gender dynamics. Unlike previous research on women in Congress, Wineinger focuses exclusively on the experiences of Republican congresswomen to uncover some of the gendered implications of congressional polarization.

Developing a novel theory of "partisan-gender identity," defined as a categorical identity that sits at the intersection of one's partisan affiliation and gender identity, Gendering the GOP argues that Republican women in Congress are not merely gender-blind partisans. In fact, polarization and party competition have incentivized Republican women to organize around their partisan-gender identity and distinguish themselves from both Democratic women and Republican men. In so doing, Republican congresswomen have increased their visibility as party messengers, while simultaneously upholding a party culture that limits women's presence and power in the institution. Through extensive interviews with women members of Congress and in-depth analyses of House floor speeches, Wineinger details how women have both navigated and shaped existing gender dynamics within the House GOP conference.

Catherine N. Wineinger is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Western Washington University. She has also worked on Capitol Hill as a 2019-2020 American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellow. Her research focuses on gender and representation in American political
institutions. She is the recipient of the 2016 Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics and the 2016 WPSA Betty Nesvold Women and Politics Best Paper Award. Her dissertation, on which her book is based, was selected as a co-winner of the 2020 Best Dissertation Award by APSA's
Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section. Wineinger earned her BA from the University of San Diego and her PhD from Rutgers University.