By Maegan Clearwood
News Editor
The names Hilary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, Sandra Day O’Connor, and Sonia Sotomayor have all become common household names. Although these women have made significant influences in American politics, political science professor Melissa Deckman is determined to change how they are represented in the classroom.
In the recently published, second edition of the textbook “Women in Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence,” Deckman and co-authors Julie Dowlan and Michele Swers give students a unique resource for political science studies.
“The idea we had for the original book began in 2004 when Julie and I both studied and taught women in politics, and we weren’t happy with the textbooks that were out there, so we decided to write our own book,” Deckman said. “Our approach is different from other textbooks because we look at some facets that others avoid, like women in local politics, and women in the media.”
The first edition of the book received positive reviews from students and editors, so Deckman, Dowlan, and Swers decided to revise the book with more current data and examples. In the second edition, the book examines and updates a number of ideas, including the 2008 presidential elections, recent information on women in congress and the judiciary system, and numerical data on women serving in politics.
“Between the first and the new edition, a lot of stuff has happened,” she said. “Our new text is substantially revised…There’s lots of new data and new stories. It’s important for students to be up-to-date on research that is out there. It’s a growing field.”
Deckman is not unfamiliar with the book publishing field. “Women in Politics” is Deckman’s third book, not counting its first edition, so she knew what to expect when she started work on the project.
“I knew the process from writing academic books,” she said. Deckman got “a sense of what to expect” in regards to “deadlines, working with editors, and copyediting. Having previous publications helped.”
Deckman specializes in religion and women in politics, so she was enthused about collaborating on this book.
“As a scholar, I’m a political behavioralist. I’m a political scientist who likes to look at what makes people behave in politics the way they do,” Deckman said. “The textbook is an extension of my research looking at women in politics.”
Writing a textbook was a new experience for her, but she enjoyed the process.
“You’re synthesizing, not just analyzing data sets, which is often what I do in my research. We have some of that in the book, but it’s in some ways more fun to write. You’re talking to students, as opposed to professionals,” she said.
The writing process offered many challenges, however.
“The most challenging part is there’s so much more information on women in politics so it comes down to narrowing down what you want to include,” she said. “You want it to be as timely as possibly, but you have deadlines.”
While it was impossible for Deckman and her coauthors to touch on every recent example of women in politics, they managed to cover a wide range of topics and information.
“For the second edition, we all spent a good year updating it,” she said. “It was a true collaboration. Each of us took primary responses for three chapters, but there was a lot of back and forth.”
This year-long effort resulted in a textbook that stands out from similar publications.
“We’ve had really positive responses from colleges that use the book,” Deckman said.
“[One] unique part of the book is that we try to bring some ideological balance to it,” she said. “A lot of people think, ‘oh, women are all democrats,’ but there is a lot of diversity in terms of ideology and backgrounds, so we try to ring lots of different stories to the table.”
So far, Deckman is pleased with the feedback.
“More people are using it, and the students like it, so that’s the best feedback we can have,” she said.
She intends to use the book in her women in politics class this spring. Although the book is in classrooms at last, Deckman’s work is far from over. She is currently editing a book about religion and politics in schools with fellow professor Joseph Perdonel, giving her the opportunity to approach book publishing from another angle.
“[Editors] secure people to write chapters, and they typically contribute their own chapters, which I’m doing, and then blending them into your own book.”
With this new project underway, Deckman is again balancing teaching with writing.
“I love to write,” she said. “I love to teach and be with students, but I’d be unsatisfied not having the time to do the scholarship. I also wouldn’t want to be cloistered in a room by myself. [By teaching], I get to l know what students like, what they like in books, so it’s a nice balance.”
Although Deckman’s newest book is still fresh off the press, she is considering future, updated editions.
“I hope so, if the publishers are happy with it,” she said. “The exciting thing is that the dynamics for women in politics is always changing.” If she and her coauthors decide to revise the book, it will be published in “probably another three to four years.”