“With Women in the Club, Michele L. Swers offers the first book-length analysis of the role of gender in the US Senate. Gender differences, she shows, are deeply and pervasively shaped by party politics, with gender affecting senators’ activism across a range of policy issues, including women’s rights, social welfare, and defense.”

Frances E. Lee, University of Maryland

“The US Senate is no longer an ‘old boys’ club,’ and Michele L. Swers marshals diverse, rich, and nuanced data and engaging analyses of interviews, floor speeches, amendments, and bill sponsorship to show how gender exerts a significant influence—especially in this increasingly partisan environment—on legislative behavior. Women in the Club is a welcome addition to the scholarship.”

Cindy Simon Rosenthal, University of Oklahoma

"Impressive. . . . Anyone who follows the news will know that some women senators have gone on the attack on issues of particular importance to their sex. . . . Swers’s fine book helps us understand how and why the transition from silence to advocacy has taken place, as well as the constraints under which women senators still operate."

Women's Review of Books

“Swers’s painstaking analysis of the influence of gender on policymaking and the informal relationships and codes governing the Senate, makes for an important and interesting book. . . . Although it confirms much of what we might have suspected vis-à-vis the competing tensions that Republican women politicians have to address, the thorough empirical analysis presented in this book allows us to more confidently think through the gendered claims frequently made by parties and politicians.”

LSE Review of Books

“Swers offers the first extensive account of women in the ultimate ‘old boy club,’ the U.S. Senate. . . . Using congressional data and staff and legislator interviews, [she] demonstrates a mastery of the intricacies of Senate deliberation and illuminates a number of new avenues through which we see the influence of gender on lawmaking. . . . [A] strong and interesting book, Women in the Club is highly recommended reading for women and politics and for legislative scholars.”

Perspectives on Politics

“Women in the Club substantially advances our knowledge of the ways in which gender matters in the legislative process. Thanks to Swers’s expertly written and researched book, we now have evidence that, without the increasing presence of female senators, much less attention would have been given to public policy issues that especially affect women. Moreover, the gender impact on other proposed legislation would not have been part of the deliberation process in the US Senate in the absence of these female members.”

Congress and the Presidency

“Over the last twenty years, women’s membership in the Senate has increased from two to twenty percent. Swers’s research affirms that women senators will play an increasingly important role within their respective parties in voter outreach and party messaging.”

Political Science Quarterly