Lobbying Beyond the Legislature: Women’s Organizations’ and Rulemaking

• In Event: Interest Group Identity, Representation, and Coalition Building

Abstract

In recent years, record-high levels of partisan polarization and gridlock have frequently paralyzed the legislative process. Meanwhile, federal bureaucrats have implemented 16 times as many rules as Congress has passed laws since 2001 (US Congress 2017; US GAO 2017). Thus, the rulemaking process now frequently provides women’s organizations and policymakers with an opportunity to make reforms on pressing policy issues. Building on these insights, this paper uses original survey data to provide the first systematic analysis of how and why women’s organizations participate in the rulemaking process. Because monitoring rulemaking is costly and participation often requires policy expertise and insider access, it shows that women’s organizations with larger budgets and staffs, more policy expertise, and staff members from relatively advantaged groups participate in this process the most frequently. Therefore, the women’s organizations that tend to participate in this process may underrepresent the concerns of women of color, poor women, and LGBTQ-identified women. By identifying which women’s organizations participate in rulemaking, this paper broadens our knowledge of rulemaking participation and deepens our understandings of which citizens are and are not represented in this policymaking venue.

Author

• Ashley English, University of North Texas