Civic Building Blocks for an Ambitious Future: Gender and School Boards

• In Event: 40420 - Section on Political Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 13: The Politics of Education

Abstract

Civic engagement can form the scaffolding for political ambition. However, not all organizational ties are equally powerful in encouraging ambition. Here we examine an entry-level political position: school board trustee. This is an elected position, but the campaigning demands tend to be lower than for statewide or national office. Consequently, these are elected officials who might also consider advancing to higher office, allowing us to examine political ambition. Additionally, school board representatives tend to have more gender parity than other elected positions, making it an ideal case study for investigating any gendered effects of civic activity on political ambition. Specifically, we analyzed survey data from 380 elected school board trustees in Texas. We find that some types of organizations more strongly affect ambition (fraternal groups; service clubs; political groups; hobby and garden clubs; fraternities and sororities; nationality groups; farm groups; and literary groups) than others (veterans’ groups; labor unions; sports groups; youth groups; school-related groups; professional or academic societies; and church-affiliated groups). We also find gender differences. For women, the greatest political effects came from hobby and garden groups and nationality groups, while for men the most influential groups were political groups and farm groups. This suggests some civic groups may cultivate political ambition better than others. It also suggests that for groups specifically interested in increasing the number of women who run for higher office, it may make sense to target or send resources to the groups already fostering ambition effectively for women.

Authors

• Kelly Bergstrand, University of Texas-Arlington

• Beth Anne Shelton, University of Texas-Arlington

• Rebecca E. Deen, University of Texas at Arlington