For this application assignment option, you must select a woman member of the US House of Representatives. You can access the official website of each member by clicking at the official House Links to an external site.website. The information included on the website will provide you with most of the information you will need for this paper. You may also want to view information on the legislator at the following websites:
https://www.congress.gov
https://justfacts.votesmart.org
https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page
https://www.govtrack.us
https://www.house.gov
Based on the information you find on the above websites, answer the following questions, making sure to draw on your course materials and readings.
In your introductory paragraph, develop a brief biographical sketch of the representative, including their background and the district they serve. Make sure to draw specific connections about what you have learned over the course of the semester about common backgrounds and paths to office for female elected officials, as well as the type of districts they are most likely to be elected in.
Identify the committees the legislator services on. In this section, make sure to outline the issues that fall within the committees’ jurisdictions. Connect those issues, if applicable, to your knowledge of women’s issues, glass walls, and other concepts that we’ve discussed this semester. Evaluate whether there is a gendered component to their service or if it is constituency based.
Investigate the types of issues the representative introduces and cosponsors bills and resolutions on. Make sure you draw connections between the women’s issues discussed in your textbook and module tasks. If they are involved in national security or military issues, categorize that legislation based upon the typology provided in the module.
Again, I cannot stress this enough, while you work through each of these steps, think back to our previous modules and the textbook. Was the legislator elected from a “woman-friendly” congressional district? Do they match the traditional demographics of a woman legislator? How do the committee assignments and policy interests of the legislator align with what you know about descriptive representation? Is your legislator active on women’s issues? What kinds? Are they involved with national security or defense issues? If so, are they introducing hard, soft, or homeland security legislation? The best responses will clearly apply what they have learned in the lessons and course materials to the questions at hand.
