ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book highlights the complex role gender played in presidential campaigns. Women presidential candidates utilize targeted gendered strategies that highlight their femininity but also masculinity. It addresses whether women presidents used their powers to enhance women's descriptive representation. The book also highlights the complexities involved in analyzing leadership styles, policy successes and challenges. It demonstrated wide-ranging leadership tendencies among the presidentas. The book focuses on symbolic representation, specifically whether women leaders positively shaped the public's level of political engagement and participation, more general political orientations, and support for women in politics. In analyzing data from representative surveys and from interviews, the chapter confirms important differences between the presidentas. The book examines whether the presidentas acted on behalf of women's interests and policy issues. Given women's experiences, we might expect them to promote policies positively affecting women's status.
