Political Participation of Puerto Rican Women: Mapping a Research Agenda

Abstract

This article reviews the theoretical approaches used to study Hispanic women in politics and highlights their inadequacies forstudying the political behavior of low-income Puerto Rican women, who are used as a case in point. It is not an in-depth study but an effort to develop appropriate research questions and to suggest strategies for the systematic collection of data. In general, community groups are the basic arena for the political activity of Puerto Rican women in New York City. Thus, new theoretical approaches are necessary to capture Hispanic women's modes of influencing public policy.