Title
"Women in the House Y'all:" She Should Run, Post-Feminism, and Women's Representation in Politics
Date of Award
Spring 5-16-2014
Degree Type
Capstone Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Studies (BA)
Department
Cultural Studies
First Advisor
Carmelo Esterrich
Second Advisor
Robert Watkins
Third Advisor
Steven Corey
Abstract
This project investigates “She Should Run,” a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in public leadership by attempting to eliminate barriers to success. The project argues “She Should Run” addresses the lack of women’s representation in government, but does so by mobilizing problematic essentialist rhetoric and post-feminist constructions. Drawing on second wave feminist scholarship, this rhetorical analysis examines the cultural conditions that mediate women’s role in politics as well as their willingness to participate. This project claims that the organization ultimately reestablishes existing essentialist notions of women’s identities and uses post-feminist rhetoric to delegitimize the aims of the feminist movement.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Gooch, Amy, ""Women in the House Y'all:" She Should Run, Post-Feminism, and Women's Representation in Politics" (2014). Cultural Studies Capstone Papers. 8.
https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cultural_studies/8