Politico has the scoop on a new study coming out of Stanford and the University of Chicago showing that in general, women lawmakers are better legislators than their male counterparts. Effectiveness was judged by the number of bills introduced, the number of co-sponsors for those bills (probably an indication of the popularity of the bill) and the amount of money obtained for their home districts.
“You could easily make the argument that a politician who is on his way out, or someone who is sitting on a really powerful committee, is in a different position than someone just coming into office,” said Stanford researcher Sarah Anzia. “Not every example will cover every alternative explanation, but we control for all of those factors in the study.”
The researchers also found that women introduced more legislation than men who served in their same districts, often hitting the ground running in their first terms.
“We find that, on average, women sponsor about three bills more per Congress per term than their male counterparts,” said Anzia. “They co-sponsor more bills than other members, and they also obtain more co-sponsors for their own bills.”
The researchers mention that part of the reason could be that the lower number of women serving in office selects for more effective candidates. I know that women are much less likely to run for office, although they are just as likely to win as men are. Perhaps if we get more women in office, we’ll have more effective legislatures. This gives me an excuse to point you to this excellent organization called She Should Run. It’s an organization to help recruit and encourage women to run for office. If you know a woman who you think would be a great politician, put her name in to this organization and they will contact her.