Under what conditions are radical parties more likely to promote women as compared to mainstream parties? Radical parties have grown in popularity over the past decade, winning seats across European domestic parliaments, and over-performing in European Union elections. While many of these parties are characterized by significant gender gaps in their electoral coalitions, notable women have risen within the elite ranks of these parties, holding important positions of power. Despite these parties’ vocal commitment to traditional gender roles, and masculine rhetoric, women do hold prominent leadership positions. Using data from European Parliament elections from 2019 and 2024, I explore how radical parties differ from their mainstream counterparts in placing women on party lists. I find that radical parties, potentially through their newer, and more open party structure, promote women just as much, if not more so, than their mainstream counterparts. This finding has the potential to further enhance our understanding of how these parties operate, and the continued importance of the role of gender in these parties’ structures and source of support.

How has the post-Roe era influenced women legislators’ abortion agendas? Previous research has found that Republican women tend to sponsor more abortion legislation than their male colleagues, but will often pursue less-extreme policies that can be framed as pertaining to women’s health. However, much of the existing research analyzes women during Roe-era protections. A deeper analysis of who is sponsoring specific types of restrictive and expansive abortion legislation in the post-Roe era could reveal new patterns, as previous guardrails on reproductive policy cease to exist. Here, I present an analysis of state level abortion legislation in the Dobbs-era landscape. Using an originally constructed dataset based off the Guttmacher Institute’s data, I find that Republican women are just as likely as their male colleagues to pursue the most restrictive policies. Further, I find that both Republican men and women seem to be emboldened to pursue more extreme policies, while Democratic members are sponsoring subtler expansions to abortion protections. These results stand to expand our understanding of the post-Roe reality, allowing us to further recognize the variation among women state legislators, and highlights the nuances in state-level abortion policy.

with Selin Ciltas. How do women legislators vary in their behavior, and specifically, what explains Republican women’s distinctiveness? Existing research offers mixed findings on women’s legislative activity, effectiveness, and priorities. However, because most women in U.S. legislatures are Democrats, current scholarship often reflects patterns drawn from a Democratic majority, leaving Republican women comparatively understudied. Here, we add to the body of research on women’s legislative behavior through an exploration of women in the Florida Legislature, which represents a populous southern state with a variety of competing interests, high levels of polarization, and a trifecta of Republican control. Additionally, the body contains a relatively high proportion of women, including conservative women, providing a unique context in which to observe an understudied group of legislators: Republican women. Using an original dataset of Florida bills from 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023, we demonstrate important differences between Republican and Democratic women in activity and effectiveness as they relate to polarization. This work contributes to our understanding of the politics of gender and legislative behavior, and furthers our knowledge of a key actor in contemporary American politics, the Florida Legislature.