The Impact of Women Legislators on Introduction of Social Legislation into a Southern State House

Authors

Marjorie A. Baney, North Carolina Chapter of the NASW

Abstract

The study investigated the interest of male and female legislators in social legislation as measured by the number of bills each group introduced. Legislators included in the study were the entire female population of the North Carolina General Assembly House of Representatives serving between January and July 1981, and an equal number of their male colleagues randomly selected. Comparisons of the female and male legislators in the study criteria such as number of legislative terms served, relative power of committees on which they served, number of committee chairpersonships and independent rankings and effectiveness by colleagues, lobbyists and the media revealed that the male legislators lead by significant margins on all criteria. Results of the study were that the women introduced more bills and more social legislation. Of the 159 bills introduced by the women, 64 percent were identified as social legislation, while of the 111 bills introduced by the men, only 37 percent were identified as social legislation. The designations of social legislation or non-social legislation were submitted to a jury of experts for validation. Recommendations were made for further study of the interests of male and female legislators in more specific content areas.

Recommended Citation

Baney, Marjorie A. (1983) "The Impact of Women Legislators on Introduction of Social Legislation into a Southern State House," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 10: Iss. 2, Article 10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.1602
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol10/iss2/10