Erin Tolley
Gender and Politics; Race and Politics; Canadian Politics; Electoral Politics
| Degrees: | BA (Saskatchewan), MA (Western), PhD (Queen’s) |
| Email: | ErinTolley@cunet.carleton.ca |
| Office: | A627 Loeb Building |
| CV: | View |
| Website: | erintolley.ca |
Associate Professor
Dr. Erin Tolley is the Canada Research Chair in Gender, Race, and Inclusive Politics and Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University. She is an expert on the relationship between socio-demographic diversity and Canadian politics, with a specific interest in representation and gendered and racialized dynamics in political institutions. Her current projects include a multi-year project on the measurement of race in social science research, a community-partnered study of Black Canadians’ participation in politics, and ongoing work on the representation of diversity in municipal politics.
A methodological pluralist, Dr. Tolley is particularly committed to primary data collection that addresses questions about electoral politics using a diversity lens. Her book, Framed: Media and the Coverage of Race in Canadian Politics, was recognized with the 2017 Donald Smiley Prize as the best book published in Canadian government and politics. Her work has appeared in the Canadian Journal of Political Science, Electoral Studies, Politics & Gender, the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, among others. She is the co-editor of six books and frequently provides media commentary on issues related to diversity, representation, and politics.
Prior to coming to Carleton in 2021, Dr. Tolley was a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, and she previously worked as a researcher and policy analyst in the Canadian federal government. She is originally from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
Selected Publications
Daniel Stockemer, Kaitlin Gallant, and Erin Tolley. 2024. Limited Supply: Youth Underrepresentation in the Canadian House of Commons. Electoral Studies 88: 102747.
Erin Tolley. 2023. Gender is Not a Proxy: Race and Intersectionality in Legislative Recruitment. Politics & Gender 19(2): 373-400.
Erin Tolley, Andrea Lawlor, and Alexandre Fortier-Chouinard. 2023. ‘Whiny, Fake, and I Don’t Like Her Hair’: Gendered Assessments of Mayoral Candidates. Urban Affairs Review 59(4): 977-1012.
Erin Tolley, Randy Besco and Semra Sevi. 2022. Who Controls the Purse Strings: A Longitudinal Study of Gender and Donations in Canadian Politics, Politics & Gender 18(1): 244-272.
Roosmarijn de Geus, Erin Tolley, Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, and Peter Loewen, eds. 2021. Women, Power, and Political Representation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Erin Tolley. 2020. Hidden in Plain Sight: The Representation of Immigrants and Minorities in Political Science Textbooks, International Journal of Canadian Studies 57: 47-70.
Erin Tolley. 2019. Who You Know: Local Party Presidents and Minority Candidate Emergence. Electoral Studies 58: 70-79.