Ain’t We Women? Assessing the Place of Women of Color in Campaign Training Programs

While descriptive representatives enhance democratic legitimacy and deliver substantive results to their constituents, women remain underrepresented in American politics. Recent literature regarding electoral politics has concluded that this is because women do not run for office. Scholars identify many reasons for this candidacy gap including the lack of an institutional support structure and barriers on the campaign trail. In this thesis, I argue that women of color face additional barriers not addressed by traditional literature. I use in-depth interviews with the founder of a campaign training program, and a review of their recruitment and training materials, to examine how the efforts of such organizations are influenced by the candidacies of women of color. I find that any attempts to increase the number of women in office must account for the unique, and intersectional, experiences of women of color. This research will guide other political organizations as they look to recruit and train a diverse group of candidates for office