The Impact of Women's Organizations on Policy in the US States.

This study analyzes the relationship between women’s organizations, women’s interest policy and public opinion in the US states. In doing so, it uses the agenda of prominent national women’s organizations to define women’s interest policy and considers the effect of not just progressive or feminist women’s organizations but also conservative or anti-feminist women’s organizations on public policy in the states. It concludes that women’s organizations have not had, at the aggregate level, the expected impact on public policy in a progressive or conservative direction. Instead, public opinion is far more powerful an explanation for women’s interest policy as Erickson, Wright and McIver concluded about public policy in general. This suggests that women’s interest policy functions not as a unique type of policy, but as a subset of broader liberal/progressive and conservative policy arenas. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]