The Silent Sex: Gender, Deliberation and Institutions with Tali Mendelberg

Many public settings involve discussions – committees, town meetings, conflict resolution groups, hearings, voluntary associations (clubs, residential associations, churches), etc. Do women exercise their voices to the same extent, and as influentially, as men do? Do women succeed as well as men at speaking, mentioning the topics of distinctive concern to their gender, articulating their own pre-discussion preferences, affecting the group decision, and gaining influence in the eyes of others? Our answer is no. We find a pervasive gender gap in women’s substantive and symbolic representation. But this gender gap shrinks and even closes entirely under the right institutional designs. Speaker: Tali Mendelberg, Professor, Department of Politics, Princeton University