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Objective: In this article, we reexamine how the entry and success of women state legislative candidates is affected by local political context. Methods: We use evidence from state legislative elections from 2001 to 2010 to test our hypotheses. Results: We find that female candidates' emergence and success are affected by the district's context relative to both all districts nationally and all districts within that state. Intrastate comparisons are particularly influential in districts that are less women friendly using a national comparison. Conclusions: Our findings underscore the importance of considering multiple dimensions of political context as scholars attempt to understand the variation in political representation of women state legislators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Palmer and Simon's (2008) 'women-friendly' district index has proven a useful theoretical and empirical construct for researchers studying congressional elections. In one parsimonious measure, the authors capture 12 factors predicting women's election to the House of Representatives. The construct's utility in other political contexts, however, has not yet been tested. Methods We test the women-friendliness index using a new data set on state legislative elections. Results We find that the women-friendly district index is useful for predicting the election of women in state legislatures. The index's predictive power is robust to institutional variations and surpasses other contextual indicators, such as political culture. Conclusions Our analysis suggests that 'women friendliness' is a useful empirical concept with application in multiple political contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Palmer and Simon's (2008) 'women-friendly' district index has proven a useful theoretical and empirical construct for researchers studying congressional elections. In one parsimonious measure, the authors capture 12 factors predicting women's election to the House of Representatives. The construct's utility in other political contexts, however, has not yet been tested. Methods We test the women-friendliness index using a new data set on state legislative elections. Results We find that the women-friendly district index is useful for predicting the election of women in state legislatures. The index's predictive power is robust to institutional variations and surpasses other contextual indicators, such as political culture. Conclusions Our analysis suggests that 'women friendliness' is a useful empirical concept with application in multiple political contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]