Mujeres en la Politica: Latinas as a Unique Political Subgroup

• In Event: Contemporary Latina/é Politics, Participation, and Representation

Abstract

Studies on the gender gaps in political attitudes and vote choice have faced criticism for treating women as a homogeneous group. Attempts to address this have led scholars to disaggregate data on women based on race and ethnicity which has given us more accurate insights on how differences between women impact their political beliefs, participation, and vote choice. Yet, non-white women continue to be homogenized in a catchall category, “women of color.” The use of this category serves an important purpose (Matos 2021, Montoya 2021), but presumes a shared experience among non-white women and obscures a deeper understanding of the factors that intersect in the lives of women who are not white (Junn and Brown 2008). We address this oversight, by using the 2008 ANES and 2020 CMPS in order to explore the political profile of Latinas in the U.S. relative to Black and white women during two pivotal electoral cycles – the 2008 and 2020 presidential elections. Current scholarship is missing specifics about how Latinas compare as political actors to Black and white women. In this project we present preliminary results evaluating the differences in views between Latinas, Black, and white women in order to demonstrate any significant differences between the groups.

Authors

• Lisa Pringle, Claremont Graduate University

• Ivy A.M. Cargile, California State University, Bakersfield

• Linda Alvarez, California State University, Northridge