"This wide-ranging new study grapples with the increasingly complex array of opportunities and challenges that face women today as both legislative candidates and elected officials." "Offering cutting-edge, original research, Legislative Women expands our knowledge on an array of critical topics. The contributors address everything from campaign finance to the significance of race and ethnicity, from media relations to how women advance within the ranks of the elite, and more. As they examine exactly how and in what circumstances gender matters, they bring new depth to the study of women and politics."--Jacket.