Roles and Representations
Women and electoral politics: A new era?
Click here to watch the panel discussion on BUniverse.
This panel discussion Women and Electoral Politics: A New Era? kicked off a two-week series of events known as Genderfest ’08, a student-run festival that looks at women’s roles and representation in politics, religion, and the media and examines issues of race, safety, and sexuality.
Pippa Norris, the McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, starts the discussion by asking, “What are the challenges that women leaders worldwide face, and how can women shatter the marble ceiling?” Culture remains a significant barrier to gender equality in traditional societies, she says, adding that American attitudes are relatively egalitarian.
Virginia Sapiro, dean of Boston University’s College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, reflects on the theme of the lecture, saying, “Is this a new time for women in politics? It has been a new era for a very long time. I’d like this new era to stop, because I’d like the idea for women in politics to become normal.”
Douglas Kriner, a CAS assistant professor of politics, moderates the discussion, which is followed by a question-and-answer period.
March 18, 2008, 5 p.m.
Metcalf Trustees Ballroom
About the speakers:
Pippa Norris is the McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. A political scientist and public speaker, Norris conducts research focusing on elections and public opinion, political communications, and gender politics. She has written several books, including Driving Democracy: Do Power-Sharing Regimes Work?
Virginia Sapiro, a political scientist and women’s studies scholar, is the dean of Boston University’s College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Previously, she was the Sophonisba P. Breckinridge Professor of Political Science and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she also was the interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. Her research and teaching interests include political psychology and political behavior, gender politics, American political development, democratic theory, and the design and philosophy of social science research.
Douglas Kriner, a CAS assistant professor of political science, is director of undergraduate studies at CAS.
Comments & Discussion
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