Tiffany Barnes, an associate professor in the University of Kentucky's Department of Political Science, will be honored with the American Political Science Association's (APSA) Alan Rosenthal Prize for her book "Gendering Legislative Behavior." She will be presented with the award at the APSA national meeting in September in California. 

This award encourages young scholars to study questions of importance to legislators and legislative staff. These scholars are also expected to conduct research that has potential application to strengthen the practice of democracy. 

"I am excited to see research about the important role women play in politics receiving national recognition," Barnes said.

Barnes' book examines collaboration among lawmakers who must first compete as politicians to win elections. She also looks at why women lawmakers are more likely to collaborate than men. The book asks three main questions:

• Can democracy be collaborative?
• Why are female legislators more inclined to collaborate than their male colleagues?
• When do women collaborate?

"Gendering Legislative Behavior" is the result of Barnes conducting more than 200 interviews with male and female legislators in Argentina from 2007 to 2013.    

Barnes said her inspiration for this book came from looking at our democracy and all the fights in Congress and thinking there must be a better way to create effective public policy. She also wanted to investigate how or if women in government operate differently from their male counterparts.

"As women are gaining office in record numbers in legislatures across the globe we have started to see a rise in collaboration," she said.

With interests in gender and politics and comparative and Latin American politics, Barnes has received over $100,000 in grants for her research. Her work has garnered other awards including the Sophonisba Breckinridge Award from the Midwest Political Science Association; the Marian Irish Award from the Southern Political Science Association; and the Early Career Award from the Midwest Women's Caucus for Political Science. 

For more information about Barnes' book visit http://tiffanydbarnes.weebly.com.

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