Political institutions in the United States have become increasingly polarized. This paper asks how gender has been part of party polarization’s institutionalization and what consequences gender has on relations of power in increasingly divisive legislative work. Drawing on interviews with 21 New Hampshire state representatives and archival legislative and committee leadership records, I analyze the process and changing meanings of partisanship in the everyday work of the legislature. As this state’s moderate conservative caucus disbanded and the Republican Party lost its long-standing control, more divisive Republican alliances masculinized legislative politics as combative. Meanwhile, the newly competitive Democratic Party began to actively showcase women as party and committee leaders. State representatives’ accounts demonstrate the gendered meanings and consequences of party polarization in the legislative workplace beyond what is captured by traditional measures of ideological polarization. These findings show how gender polarization produces new forms of institutionalized political inequalities in the hierarchical legislative workplace.

中文翻译：

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州立法机构中性别两极分化的组织根源

美国的政治机构变得越来越两极分化。本文探讨性别如何成为政党两极分化制度化的一部分，以及性别对日益分裂的立法工作中的权力关系有何影响。通过对 21 名新罕布什尔州代表的采访以及立法和委员会的领导记录，我分析了立法机关日常工作中党派关系的过程和不断变化的含义。随着该州温和的保守派核心小组解散，共和党失去其长期控制权，更加分裂的共和党联盟将立法政治男性化为好斗。与此同时，新竞争的民主党开始积极展示女性作为党和委员会的领导人。国家代表的叙述证明了立法工作场所政党两极分化的性别含义和后果，超出了传统的意识形态两极分化衡量标准。这些发现表明性别两极分化如何在等级立法工作场所产生新形式的制度化政治不平等。