Writing classes

Last week I was able to participate in a writing classes, taught by Tiffany Debicka. I have to say it was quite an experience. I learned many useful techniques, which will be invaluable when it comes to writing my BA paper. I really liked the discussions we had, especially when it came to talking about films and its content. I have never really known, that so much rhetoric strategies can be found in a film, while analysing it. Let’s take Batman Begins for instance, I knew that the movie had some hidden messages and allusions, but I never would have thought that even the smallest details were so important for the content analysis and how they could affect my paper.

Also the articles provided by our guest were very educational. We were able to read and analyse many well written text, which will certainly prove to be useful while writing our own paper. There were so many references, techniques, new structures and vocabulary that I definitely will use for my own writing.

I have to say, that those classes were extremely useful and educational for me, and will prove to be a great help, when it comes to writing my own BA paper.  

Take care,

K

Bibliography - part 3

Today I once again will present you some of my findings. I came across some really interesting books (hope they will be useful for my BA Thesis) and decided to share them with you.

So here it goes:

The first one is Gender Dynamics in Congressional Elections by Richard Logan Fox , here is a short description “What happens in an electoral environment involving female candidates? Do women face different challenges during the electoral process? Do male candidates pay more attention to women's issues, or make other strategic and behavioural changes, when opposed by a female candidate?

Richard Logan Fox asks these and other questions with compelling evidence which suggests that women candidates are having a profound impact on the electoral process. The author studies the congressional races of 1992 and 1994 in California, in which a record nineteen women were candidates for House seats. He contrasts the experiences of both the male and female candidates, and sheds light on the different challenges women face during political campaign.”

The second one is Gender and American Politics: Women, Men, and the Political Process by Sue Tolleson-Rinehart, Jyl J. Josephson. Here is a description “Gender matters in American politics, sometimes in obvious ways and sometimes in ways rarely noticed. As manifested in the gender gap, it inflects political attitudes and behaviours, resulting in distinctive patterns of difference and similarity in the opinions and voting behaviours of men and women. It plays a role in public policy decision-making on a wide variety of issues, not only those related to reproduction. Finally, and sometimes very subtly, gender and gendered assumptions influence the operation of government institutions from the Congress to the cabinet to the courtroom, and the ways these institutions are changing over time.

This path-breaking collection systematically explores the role of gender in American political life. Now updated and expanded for more complete coverage, paralleling the organization of a U.S. politics course, the book presents a full complement of empirical studies of real and imagined gender gaps. New to this edition are chapters on the media, legislative behaviour, foreign policy, and the future of the gender dimension in American politics.”

The third one is The Difference Women Make: The Policy Impact of Women in Congress by Michele L. Swers. It says “What if there were more women in Congress? Providing the first comprehensive study of the policy activity of male and female legislators at the federal level, Michele L. Swers persuasively demonstrates that, even though representatives often vote a party line, their gender is politically significant and does indeed influence policy making.

Swers combines quantitative analyses of bills with interviews with legislators and their staff to compare legislative activity on women's issues by male and female members of the House of Representatives during the 103rd (1993-94) and 104th (1995-96) Congresses. Tracking representatives' commitment to women's issues throughout the legislative process, from the introduction of bills through committee consideration to final floor votes, Swers examines how the prevailing political context and members' positions within Congress affect whether and how aggressively they pursue women's issues.”

And the last one is Women as Candidates in American Politics by Susan J. Carroll (second edition). “In this second edition, Susan Carroll updates her pioneering study of women candidates and their campaigns in the aftermath of the "Year of the Woman." Although in many regards the political climate has become vastly more favourable for female candidates, opportunities are still limited by the political structure. Carroll examines a number of possible reforms and actual developments which may eventually mean larger numbers of women being elected to public office.”

So that is all from me today, hope it will prove to be useful for you all as it probably will be for me, during writing by BA.

Take care,

K.

In search of more books...

So this week I am running out of my inspiration and honestly had no idea what to write, but I decided to search for more book about women in government. 

The first position is It Takes a Candidate Why Women Don't Run for Office by Jennifer L. Lawless, Richard Logan Fox. Obviously I haven’t read it yet, so I found a description of the book and in proves to be quite promising. So here it is “This important work constitutes a systematic, nationwide empirical account of the effects of gender on political ambition. Based on data from the Citizen Political Ambition Study, a national survey of 3,800 "potential candidates" conducted by the authors, it relates these findings: --Women, even at the highest levels of professional accomplishment, are significantly less likely than men to demonstrate ambition to run for elective office. --Women are less likely than men to be recruited to run for office. --Women are less likely than men to consider themselves "qualified" to run for office. --Women are less likely than men to express a willingness to run for a future office. According to the authors, this gender gap in political ambition persists across generations, despite contemporary society's changing attitudes towards female candidates. While other treatments of gender in the electoral process focus on candidates and office holders, It Takes a Candidate makes a unique contribution to political studies by focusing on the earlier stages of the candidate emergence process and on how gender affects the decision to seek elective office.”

The second one is It Still Takes A Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office by Jennifer L. Lawless, Richard L. Fox.  “It Still Takes A Candidate serves as the only systematic, nationwide empirical account of the manner in which gender affects political ambition. Based on data from the Citizen Political Ambition Panel Study, a national survey conducted of almost 3,800 “potential candidates” in 2001 and a second survey of more than 2,000 of these same individuals in 2008, Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox find that women, even in the highest tiers of professional accomplishment, are substantially less likely than men to demonstrate ambition to seek elective office. Women are less likely than men to be recruited to run for office. They are less likely than men to think they are qualified to run for office. And they are less likely than men to express a willingness to run for office in the future. This gender gap in political ambition persists across generations and over time. Despite cultural evolution and society’s changing attitudes toward women in politics, running for public office remains a much less attractive and feasible endeavor for women than men.”

The third one is Sex as a Political Variable: Women as Candidates and Voters in U.S. Elections by Richard Seltzer, Jody Newman, Melissa Voorhees Leighton. “Though women constitute 52 percent of US voters, only 10 percent of the members of Congress and one of the 50 state governors are women. This book presents research and analysis on women as both candidates and voters in US politics, using numerous empirical sources of data.”

 I guess that’s it for today. I’m really hoping to get inspired and start working on the first chapter of my BA Thesis. Wish me luck.

K.