ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the evidence and speculates on the policy impact of more women in government. It shows that the influence of increase in women officials might have on government policies and procedures. Women candidates fare better in the proportional representation systems used in many European democracies. Another explanation for women candidates' successes in the 1992 elections points to the growing distrust of politicians by the American public. The gender gap itself is due more to issues concerning the use of force or compassion than to women's issues. The gender gap in die 1992 presidential vote shrunk to only a 4-point advantage for Clinton, a 1-point disadvantage for Bush, and a 4-point disadvantage for Perot. President Clinton eventually had to boost the number of women in the executive branch through his appointments. The chapter details the effects of more women in Congress in the 1990s on the basis of distinctiveness in earlier Congresses and in state and local governments.
