By Gail Hairston and Lydia Moore
Women Also Know Stuff with Emily Beaulieu, University of Kentucky associate professor of political science, as well as other initiators were awarded the 2016 Mansbridge Award. Dedicated to promoting the work of women political scientists, Women Also Know Stuff was honored for holding the public accountable for gender equality and inclusion in the political science profession and beyond.
This year’s theme of the Jane Mansbridge Awards Committee of the National Women’s Caucus for Political Science honors those who work for public accountability for gender equality and inclusion in the profession and beyond.
In its award announcement, the 2016 Mansbridge Awards Committee stated, “These brilliant women have devised a social media strategy to hold accountable those who construct expertise in our society without appropriately including women political scientists. They have both prompted greater discussion of the importance of including greater expertise, and they have provided a resource that enables those so inclined to identify appropriate speakers and experts."
Women Also Know Stuff consists of 10 women professors from universities across the country. The organization dedicates time to showing that women in the political science field are experts also. They do so by providing a database of women for those who are looking for diversity in interviews, on panels and as commentators.
“I firmly believe that the discipline of political science is improved when we advocate for women and other under-represented groups,” said Beaulieu.
Women Also Know Stuff has been credited for implementing a social media strategy to hold the public accountable. When asked about the social media success, Beaulieu said that social media has gained the most attention from journalists in need of political science experts. In the future, the organization hopes to reach out to the academic community to further enhance diversity.
At UK, Beaulieu founded the Women in Political Science group, which focuses on advocacy and networking opportunities for the university’s female political scientists. She is also involved with the Visions in Methodology program through the Society for Political Methodology.
Beaulieu’s research focuses on questions of democracy, protest, violence and political participation. Her first book "Electoral Protest and Democracy in the Developing World" (Cambridge University Press) examines how political elites work with and around electoral institutions to try to gain an advantage in the electoral arena. Her other work has looked at how political elites might use electoral manipulation strategically and how they make strategic decisions to pursue credit ratings. Beaulieu has used survey experiments to examine citizen perceptions of elites’ strategic decisions in the electoral arena. She is currently looking at the ways that political parties, gender and available voting technologies shape citizens’ perceptions of election fraud, as well as examining how political polarization might further shape perceptions of electoral integrity and support for particular election laws.
To search the database or to contribute to Women Also Know stuff, visit
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