Women's and men's campaigns for the US House of Representatives

Widely proclaimed as the "Year of the Woman," 1992 resulted in the election of more women members of Congress than any other election in U.S. history. Using campaign data collected from a survey of 1992 House candidates and campaign aides and campaign finance data, this study applies theories of campaign convergence and divergence to the study of women's and men's bids for public office. It demonstrates that there are more similarities than differences in the campaigns of female and male candidates. Women and men give similar reasons for running for Congress, assemble comparable campaign resources, and employ similar strategies and communications techniques. Men and women also give similar assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of their own and their opponent's campaigns and hold similar perceptions of how the electoral process works. Where they disagree is on substantive issues. Women are more likely than men to campaign on social issues. This study shows that both the convergence in campaign styles and the divergence in issues help to explain the success rates achieved by female candidates in recent elections.