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Intersectional Advocacy and Policymaking Across US States

  • Kathleen MarchettiEmail author
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the The Politics of Intersectionality book series (POLI)

Abstract

How are intersectional identities represented in politics? Using an original survey of 204 advocacy groups in 14 US states, this research considers how state legislative and lobbying conditions shape interest groups’ inclusion of intersectional issues on their policy agendas. Several aspects of state legislative environments, including the proportion of women in the state legislature and levels of legislative professionalism, affect the diversity of groups’ policy agendas, whereas aggregate measures of lobbying context have surprisingly little effect. A case study of Colorado’s 2011–2012 legislative agenda supplements these findings by considering the extent to which advocacy groups were able to promote intersectional policies within state government. This descriptive analysis shows that intersectionality was represented within Colorado’s legislative agenda but that many intersectional bills died over the course of the policymaking process. Though advocacy groups seem to play a key agenda-setting role within state legislative spaces, their work may not immediately produce laws that employ an intersectional framework in their purpose and implementation.

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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Political ScienceDickinson CollegeCarlisleUSA

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