Book Description

Ladies' Day at the Capitol integrates for the first time the history of New York's women lawmakers with the larger story of New York State politics. Through extensive research and interviews, Lauren Kozakiewicz documents New York women's actions as elected officials between 1919 and 1992 and explores how gendered ideas affected their careers and ability to represent women's voices in government. Ladies' Day at the Capitol offers a general framework for understanding the women's legislative careers over time while also providing a deeper look at key lawmakers' specific histories. The study broadens out to include chapters on creating representative organizations of women legislators and women's efforts to champion specific issues. It builds off earlier studies of state legislators that treated women in the aggregate. It complements other, more recent work that takes a state-centered approach to the history of the woman politician. It is unique in the degree to which chapters on New York's political history and women's efforts to win the vote in New York give the reader essential context for the historical analysis.