B.A. (Lethbridge), M.A. (Calgary), Ph.D. (McGill) 
SKELTON-CLARK POST-DOCTORAL FELLOW

 

Research Interests

Political behaviour, gender and politics, Canadian politics, and methodology

Brief Biography

Melanee Thomas is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at McGill University. She has held a Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) at both the Master's and doctoral level. Melanee is interested in political behaviour, gender and politics, Canadian politics, and methodology. Her doctoral research examines why women in post-industrial democracies consistently report lower levels of subjective political competence and political interest than their male peers, despite the tremendous changes in women’s lives since the mid-20th century. This project ambitiously examines these gender differences across post-industrial democracies, as well as across time in selected cases. Her postdoctoral research examines how the gender composition of groups affects political decision-making processes.

Selected Publications

Peer Reviewed

Elisabeth Gidengil, Janine Marshall, and Melanee Thomas. 2008. “The Gender Gap in Self-perceived Understanding of Politics in Canada and the United States.” Politics & Gender 4(4): 535-561.

Works in Progress

Melanee Thomas. “The Complexity Conundrum: Why Hasn’t the Gender Gap in Subjective Political Competence Closed?” Revise and resubmit, Canadian Journal of Political Science.

Conference Presentations

Melanee Thomas. “Feminist Socialization and Gender Gaps in Political Interest.” Paper to be presented at the 2011 meeting of the American Political Science Association.

Melanee Thomas and Marc André Bodet. “Sacrificial Lambs No More? Women Candidates and Party Competitiveness in Canada.” Paper presented at the 2011 meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association.

Melanee Thomas. “Gender, Generation, and Political Engagement in Canada.” Paper presented at the 2010 meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association. (This paper was awarded the 2011 Jill Vickers Prize as the best paper presented on gender and politics at the 2010 meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association.)

Course Syllabi

POLS 211 - Canadian Government (Draft Syllabus, July, 2011) (PDF*, 67KB)

*PDF files can be viewed using Adobe Reader.