Feminist Ideology and the Political Attitudes and Participation of White and Minority Women

• Author: Claire Knoche Fulenwider
• Published date: 01 March 1981
• Date: 01 March 1981
• DOI: 10.1177/106591298103400103
• Subject Matter: Articles

FEMINIST

IDEOLOGY

AND

THE

POLITICAL

ATTITUDES

AND

PARTICIPATION

OF

WHITE

AND

MINORITY

WOMEN

CLAIRE

KNOCHE

FULENWIDER

University

of

Wisconsin-Madison

OES

THE

FEMINISM

of

the

contemporary

women’s

movement

make

any

real

difference

in

how

American

women

relate

to

the

body

-~-~~

politic?

Historically,

women’s

political

behavior

has

differed

all

too

clearly

from

that

of

men.

Leadership

by

women

in

the

political

arena

has

been

neither

common

nor

obviously

desired

by

society.

Participation

by

women

has

been

consistently

lower

than

that

of

men,

although

differences

have

become

increasingly

small

in

recent

years,

in

some

cases

even

nonexis-

tent

or

slightly

reversed.

As

an

illustration,

in

1979

there

was

one

elected

woman

senator

at

the

national

level,

only

two

state

governors

and

eighteen

congressional

representatives.

Yet,

men

virtually

monopolize

the

U.S.

politi-

cal

decision-making

arena

-

whether

we

look

to

the

past

or

to

the

present.

Thus,

women’s

role

in

politics

offers

but

another

example

of

how

gender

stereotypes

get

translated

into

sex-role

stereotypes

which

relate

directly

to

both

self-concept

and

behavior.2

Women

persistently

are

taught

not

only

to

feel

a

certain

way

toward

the

political

system

(i.e.,

passive,

nurturant,

depen-

dent,

etc.),

but

also,

and

perhaps

more

importantly,

to

act

in

that

way.

If

women’s

political

behavior

is

undergoing

change,

previous

research

would

lead

us

to

find

change

occurring

first

in

women’s

political

attitudes.

Political

action

on

the

part

of

individuals

has

been

seen

to

flow

both

from

beliefs

that

personal

political

activity

ought

to

be

engaged

in

and

can

be

effective,

and

from

notions

that

the

system

can

and

will

respond

to

such

actions.

Attitudes

both about

the

individual’s

relation

to

the

political

system

and

about

that

system

itself

influence

political

behavior,3

and

both

types

of

political

attitudes

-

the

personal

and

the

system-focused

-

have

clear

link-

ages

to

feminist

ideology.

1

Zeungnam

Bien

and

G.

R.

Boynton,

"Personal

Problems

and

Public

Support

for

the

Political

System:

A

Formalization,"

paper

presented

at

the

Conference

for

Support

of

Political

Institutions,

Palo

Alto,

California,

May

1976;

Richard

Brody

and

Paul

Sniderman,

"Per-

sonal

Problems

and

Public

Support

for

the

Political

System,"

paper

presented

at

the

Conference

on

Political

Alienation,

Iowa

City,

Iowa,

January

1975;

Kristen

Amundsen, A

New

Look

at

the

Silenced

Majority

(Englewood

Cliffs:

Prentice-Hall,

1977);

Cornelia

B.

Flora

and

Naomi

B.

Lynn,

"Women

in

Political

Socialization:

Considerations

of

the

Impact

of

Motherhood,"

in

Jane

Jaquette,

ed.,

Women

in

Politics

(New

York:

Wiley,

1974);

Susan

Welch,

"Women

as

Political

Animals?

A

Test

of

Some

Explanations

for

Male-Female

Participation

Differences,"

American

Journal

of

Political

Science

21

(November

1977):

711-31;

Kristi

Andersen,

"Working

Women

and

Political

Participation,

1952-1972,"

American

Journal

of Political

Science

19

(August

1975):

439-54;

Gerald

Pomper,

Voters’

Choice

(New

York:

Harper

and

Row,

1975);

Marjorie

Lansing,

"The

American

Woman,

Voter

and

Activist,"

in

Jane

Jaquette,

ed.,

Women

in

Politics

(New

York:

Wiley,

1974).

2 Judith

Bardwick

and

Elizabeth

Douvan,

"Ambivalence:

The

Socialization

of

Women,"

in

Gor-

nic

and

Moran,

eds.,

Women

in

Sexist

Society

(New

York:

Basic

Books,

1971).

3

Joel

D.

Aberbach

and

Jack

L.

Walker,

Race

in the

City

(New

York:

Little,

Brown,

1973);

Pomper,

Voters’

Choice;

Sidney

Verba

and

Norman

Nie,

Participation

in

America

(New

York:

Harper

and

Row,

1972);

Jack

Dennis

and

Steven

H.

Chaffee,

"Presidential

Debates:

An

Empirical

Assessment,"

in

Austin

Ranney,

ed.,

The

Future

of

Presidential

Debates

(Washington,

D.C.:

The

American

Enterprise

Institute

for Public

Policy

Research,

1978);

Flora

and

Lynn,

"Women

and

Political

Socialization";

David

O.

Sears

and

John

B.

McConahay,

The

Politics

of

Violence

(New

York:

Houghton-Mifflin,

1973);

David

Schwartz,

Political

Alienation

and

Political

Behavior

(New

York:

Aldine,

1973).