The Opportunity Structure for Women's Candidacies and Electability in Britain and the United States

Abstract

The influence of the social and political environment on candidacies and electability is an important element of political recruitment structures. We investigate several contextual factors that may affect the likelihood of women becoming candidates to, and members of, the British House of Commons and the U.S. House of Representatives. Using data from the 1992 British General Election and the 1992 U.S. congressional elections, we find both similarities and differences in the contexts promoting women's candidacies in the two countries. Overall, there is not an especially distinctive pattern in either country to women's candidacies or electability. Women have moved beyond "sacrificial lamb" status, but incumbency remains the most formi dable electoral barrier in both countries.