Papers by Carol Hardy-Fanta
A goal is to generate the kind of information and analysis necessary to develop sound public poli... more A goal is to generate the kind of information and analysis necessary to develop sound public policy, and to improve Latino participation in the policy-making process. The Gastón Institute has produced this series of fact sheets in an effort to present up-to-date information about the issues affecting Latinos in a number of key areas: Education, Health, Housing, Immigration, and Political Representation.
Mark Chesler began by talking about white male privilege and how white men can engage in and bene... more Mark Chesler began by talking about white male privilege and how white men can engage in and benefit from multicultural coalitions. He discussed the "Rules of Engagement" for white men both inside and out of coalitions. Throughout, Chesler explored the dilemmas facing white males in multicultural coalitions and suggested possible guidelines for forming successful coalitions.
This essay addresses a serious deficiency in the literature on women and politics in the United S... more This essay addresses a serious deficiency in the literature on women and politics in the United States today: the lack of attention to regional variation and, more specifically, the absence of research on women's representation in New England. This deficiency is particularly troubling since political analysts of all stripes typically portray New England as imbued with ideological, individual, and structural characteristics likely to lead to rates of political representation higher than the nation as a whole. This essay provides a brief history of women in politics for New England as a whole; describes the current status of women at congressional, statewide, state legislative, and municipal levels of government in each of the states (with a comparison to other regions and the nation as a whole); and analyzes the prospects for increasing women's political representation in the region. This essay concludes that it is unlikely that the New England states will achieve anything close to parity in the higher-level offices if the numbers do not increase substantially in the city or town councils, boards of selectmen, boards of aldermen, and other local governing bodies.
Journal of Women Politics & Policy, 2005
How cohesive are the nation's female and male minority elected officials in their group identitie... more How cohesive are the nation's female and male minority elected officials in their group identities, political networks, and public policy outlooks? This paper empirically evaluates the coalition-building potentials of these elected officials in their sense of minority group linked fate, sources of policy support, and policy stands on key issues of pressing importance to women and minorities: immigrant rights, contested new rights, welfare and work, minority rights, among others. We assess the statistical significance of the intersecting identities of race and gender in their ability to structure the elected officials' potentials to form political coalitions based on common identity, political allies, and issue concerns. We explore possible confounding factors in this process such as experiences of socialization, social networks, perceived structural barriers, and personal political orientations and other resources.
The dramatic diversification and continuing expansion of the nation's nonwhite population in the ... more The dramatic diversification and continuing expansion of the nation's nonwhite population in the post-1965 era require a reconsideration of the power structure and electoral leadership in governing the American nation as a multicultural democracy. To empirically address the conference's theme of interracial connections, we propose to systematically examine the experiences and views of political elites of Asian descent as compared to those of African, Hispanic, American Indian descents in the United States. Specifically, we analyze the attitudes and opinions of elected officials holding offices at state and local levels of office to identify the potential for coalition and/or conflict between elected officials (and communities) of color. Our main research question is: To what extent and on what basis do Asian, Black, Latino, and American Indian elected leaders converge and diverge in their experiences of political socialization, trajectories to office, political orientation and sense of linked fate, views on constituency and representation, and policy stance regarding important issues to nonwhite communities such as affirmative action, voting rights, and immigration? Our data come from the 2006-7 Gender and Multicultural Leadership (GMCL) Survey, which is the nation's first multiracial and multi-office survey of female and male elected officials of color. We hope the results can contribute to the building of a stronger multicultural democracy and a more racially harmonious society in the United States.
This study focuses on women of color and their paths to elected office. A central question we pos... more This study focuses on women of color and their paths to elected office. A central question we pose in this paper is whether there may be distinctive paths to political office for black, Latina and Asian women in comparison to their male counterparts. We explore the paths to political office for women of color elected officials using new data from the Gender and Multicultural Leadership (GMCL) Survey of elected officials of color. The GMCL Survey is a national telephone survey of black, Latino, Asian American female and male officials who serve as state legislators, county commissioners/ supervisors, mayors, members of local governing councils (i.e., city/town councils, boards of selectmen/aldermen), and local school boards.
Journal of Women Politics & Policy, 2007
This research draws on the nation's first comprehensive database of elected leadership of color t... more This research draws on the nation's first comprehensive database of elected leadership of color to provide a unique multi-cultural, multi-office, and multi-state look at the contours and context of descriptive representation by race and gender and with women of color at the center of analysis. We find that, key to the persistent trend of growth in elective office holding of the nation's Black, Latino, and Asian American communities in recent decades, is the expanding size of women of color elected officials. Compared to whites, gender gaps in descriptive representation are smaller among nonwhite groups. Although the proportion of nonwhite population may impact the degree of electoral success, we find parity ratios to vary by race, gender, level of office, and state. For example, states that have the highest share of the black population did not produce the highest level of representation of Black women. Finally, we find that gender differences within each race are generally significant, but far greater racial differences are found among men and women of color elected officials-especially at the municipal and school board levels of offices. We conclude that women of color have played a significant role in advancing descriptive political representation of people of color and of women in the United States as a whole.
Ps-political Science & Politics, 2007
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 1995
This article adds to the growing but still limited literature on the role of gender relations in ... more This article adds to the growing but still limited literature on the role of gender relations in women's addiction and recovery. In-depth interviews were conducted with 35 women randomly drawn from a large study of drug-abusing pregnant women who were recruited into an HIV/AIDS prevention program. These interviews explored conditions surrounding initiation and continuation of drug use. past and current sexual/love relationships, and experiences in the HIV/AIDS prevention program. Throughout the interviews, the women participants consistently voiced feelings stressing the importance of relationships in their lives. At the same time, they expressed a sense of disconnection and deprivation in those relationships. Four areas in which relationships with male partners ran counter to women's needs for connection are discussed in this article: initiation into drug use and supply of drugs, disappointment in men for failure to be providers, experience of violence, and opposition to treatment. The implications of these findings for substance abuse treatment are discussed.
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Papers by Carol Hardy-Fanta