Marvin McMoore Have you ever felt the weight of the patriarchal society that we live in, but you werent able to articulate it in an effective way? It doesnt require a degree in political theory or quantitative techniques to determine that we live in a world in which your gender largely defines how you are treated politically, socially, and economically. However, identifying a problem, finding a political solution, and organizing for a change in public policy, almost always dictates academic research. In the discipline of political science, scholarly ournals provide a forum for research to be presented and for scholars to interact, mostly through a collection of peer!reviewed articles. "ublic officials are able to pull ideas from these ournals and enact them in public policy. In this essay The Journal of Women, Politics & Policy will be analyzed to show how it has been figured to progress issues associated with liberal gender politics. #his is very different from its aim when the magazine was first founded. #he ournal has been published since $%&' and produced ( issues every year in print and online. )ll articles in the ournal undergo editorial screening and are peer!reviewed. )ccording tothe ournals mission, * #he Journal of Women, Politics and Policy e+plores women and their roles in the political process, covering voters, activists, and leaders in interest groups and political parties, as well as office holder in the legislative, e+ecutive and udicial branches of government. It e+amines the impact of public policies on womens lives in areas such as ta+ and budget issues, poverty reduction and income security, education and employment,caregiving, and reproductive rights, -)im . /cope0. 1irectly from the ournals mission one could already determine that the discourse community being presented is liberal. It is false to say that conservative women do not see2 office, they in fact do. However, if the policy areas that are outlined tend to be championed by 1emocrats. If the policy focuses were determined by conservative women,, it would more li2ely be a list that included traditional family roles, school choice, and certainly not reproductive rights. )nalyzing the composition of the editorial board also shows that the ournal represents a progressive discourse community. #he editor is Heidi Hartmann, who is also the founder "resident of the Institute for 3omens "olicy 4esearch that has the reputation of being a liberal thin2!tan2. #he ournals editorial board consists of 5' academics and public policy professionals, almost e+clusively women. However, it is notable that one of the men on the editorial board is 4obert 4eich, form /ecretary of 6abor under "resident 7ill 8linton -a 1emocrat0 and a 2nown voice in the leftist political community. )lthough the ournal now figures itself as as a bastion for progressive policy, this was notthe case during its inception. In fact, before 9'':, the title of the ournal was Women and Politics. #o determine how the ournal has refigured itself, Ive analyzed two issues from the ournals first year in publication, and the most recent issues. Ive found that originally, the ournal simply focused on strategies to get more women represented in elected office. )fter 9''(, the ournal focused on including fol2s from liberal discourse communities to broadcast policy ideas.#itles of articles from the first two issues of the publican in $%&' include; Institutionalization of Female Participation at the Local Level, Women in the American Political ystem, and e! "ifferences in Political Activity in #ritain. )s reflected in the article titles, this ournal was focusing on ways to get women engaged in the political process. #he first elected female senator, 7arbara Mi2uls2i, wouldnt be elected to the