ABSTRACT
In the pilot study on which the following work is based, Kathlene proposed an instrumental-contextual typology to describe the public policy orientations of state legislators. This typology, which is outlined in Appendix A of her chapter, is a development of and provides empirical evidence for the psychoanalytically based hypothesis that women are more "connected" and men more "autonomous" in their basic relations to others and to the external world. Formulated by Chodorow and others, this widely cited theory is also used by Keller in her explanation of the masculine nature of science in Chapter 1 of this text.
This chapter features discourse analysis of legislative committee discussions and debates about specific legislative bills at each stage of the lawmaking process. The approach is multimethodological, including both qualitative and quantitative data and analysis at both the micro- and macropolitical levels, and it is multidisciplinary, representing political science, linguistics, and feminist theory. The focus is on "voice" and feminist interpretation.
239Too often, focusing on women in a discipline like political science amounts to Adding sex/gender as one of many quantitative variables, focusing only on women's issues, or being concerned solely with the sex ratio of a decisionmaking body. Kathlene's project examines gender as a meaningful and integral part of the political process itself.
