An Intersectional Analysis of Latina and Latino Substantive Representation

• In Event: Race and Representation

Abstract

The number of women, people of color and immigrants running for office today is remarkable. This project examines if and how this newfound descriptive representation in the statehouse influences policy outcomes. We focus in particular on the representation activities of Latina/o legislators across 18 states.

First, we examine authorship of legislative bills between 2014-2017, and the impact of ethnicity, gender and nativity on effective substantive representation. Do nativity and immigrant generation—of either the legislator or their constituents—shape the legislative agenda? How do these factors intersect with gender?

Next, we utilize matching techniques and weighted regression analyses to explicitly compare the legislative activities of legislators whose identities are situated along distinct intersectional axes. This approach allows us to account for the racial and partisan context in analyzing how, and if, the representational work of Latina and Latino legislators differs from that of their race and gender counterparts. Thus, we will be able to compare Latina and Latino legislators to each other, as well as to other groups of women and men serving in similar districts.

Finally, we draw on 50 interviews with Latina/o legislators collected during national conferences in order to interpret the findings of our bill sponsorship analyses. These data reveal the underlying strategic processes that shape sponsorship data, and how those considerations vary by gender and nativity. Additionally, our initial read of this data suggests that Latina and Latino legislators navigate local institutional constraints on their legislative activities in distinct ways.

Using a new database that includes the race, gender, and nativity of state legislators, their legislative actions, and the demographic composition of their constituents, our analysis draws distinctions between the representative efforts of women and men within, and across, racial groups, and immigrant generations. The intersectional framework of this project facilitates new understandings of the role that multiple group memberships play in the legislative process, particularly among Latina/o legislators. As a result, this study contributes to the literatures on intersectionality and representation, immigrant political incorporation, and substantive representation.

Authors

• Christian Dyogi Phillips, University of Southern California

• Paru Shah