Description:

Please join the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Workshop as they host Andrene Wright-Johnson, Assistant Professor of African-American Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, for a presentation titled, "Gender Ties and Racial Divides: The Case of Maternal Health Policy".

This talk builds on my earlier work about how Black women draw on personal experience and social justice–centered messages to shape political conversations and leadership. I shift the focus this time to the other side of that exchange: how voters—especially those who may be hesitant to support Black women candidates—respond to that kind of messaging. My research explores whether emphasizing shared experiences, such as motherhood or caregiving, can make a difference in how voters perceive and support these candidates. I argue that if there’s any issue that could connect women voters across different backgrounds and idealogues, maternal health might be it. The findings show that racial attitudes play the biggest role in shaping voter support, but there are moments when highlighting shared gendered experiences helps to soften that divide. Whether this connection can lead to meaningful political gains for candidates who campaign on these issues remains an open and important question for ongoing discussion.

Andrene Wright-Johnson's is a social scientist interested in Black political behavior and urban politics at the intersection of race, gender, and class. Wright’s work seeks to advance our understanding of identity politics, explore the internal dynamics of Black politics more precisely, and situate a Black feminist consciousness in political decision-making. She continues to champion techniques that best account for intra-group differences within marginalized communities and is working on a book project that’s committed to the workings of Black racial groups within an urban context. Her work has been supported by the [American Political Science Association](https://www.apsanet.org/About/About-APSA), the [Center for American Women and Politics](https://cawp.rutgers.edu/), the [Association for the Study of Black Women and Politics](https://www.asbwp.org/index.html) and the [Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy](https://csdd.northwestern.edu/).