Male and Female Differences in Elite Political Participation: An Examination of the Effects of Socioeconomic and Familial Variables

• Author: Clifford W. Brown,Lynda Watts Powell
• Published date: 01 March 1981
• Date: 01 March 1981
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591298103400104
• Subject Matter: Articles

MALE

AND

FEMALE

DIFFERENCES

IN

ELITE

POLITICAL

PARTICIPATION:

AN

EXAMINATION

OF

THE

EFFECTS

OF

SOCIOECONOMIC

AND

FAMILIAL

VARIABLES

LYNDA

WATTS

POWELL,

SUNY,

Albany

with

CLIFFORD

W.

BROWN,

Union

College

and

ROMAN

B.

HEDGES,

SUNY,

Albany

NE

OF

THE

MOST

consistent

cross-national

research

findings

is

the

0

underrepresentation

of

women

in

political

elites.

Yet,

little

schol-

~-~

arship

based

on

survey

research

exists

analyzing

this

phenomenon.

This

is

due

both

to

the

scarcity

of

women

in

political

elites,

and

to

the

difficulties

of

elite

research

generally.

American

scholars

interested

in

this

issue

have

primarily

studied

political

party

elites,

especially

delegates

to

the

national

conventions

of

the

two

major

parties.

These

delegations

have

con-

tained

sufficient

numbers

of

women

to

analyze,

and

their

members

are

rela-

tively

easy

to

locate

for

survey

purposes.

Our

analysis

utilizes

a

different

data

base.

The

financial

disclosure

laws

that

went

into

effect

in

1972

created

the

opportunity

for

a

systematic

study

of

contributors

of

more

than

$100

to

presidential

candidates.

We

have

com-

pleted

a

national

survey

of

these

contributors;

our

findings

are

based

upon

1696

respondents

of

whom

17.5

percent,

or

296,

are

women.’

Sufficient

absolute

numbers

of

women

as

well

as

men

have

thus

been

obtained

for

statistical

analysis,

despite

the

relative

underrepresentation

of

women.

These

campaign

contributors

are

a

political

elite;

they

are

not

simply

wealthy

(27

percent

declare

a

family

income

of

at

least

$100,000),

but

politi-

cally

very

interested,

knowledgeable,

and

active.

For

example,

61

percent

of

the

men

and

66

percent

of

the

women

have

taken

part

in

forming

a

new

group

or

organization

to

try

to

solve

some

community

problem;

92

percent

of

both

the

men

and

the

women

have

done

something

to

try

to

influence

an

act

of

Congress,

such

as

talking

to

a

congressman.

Further,

65

percent

of

the

men

and

53

percent

of

the

women

have

been

asked

by

someone

for

their

help

in

dealing

with

the

national

government.3

3

This

paper

will

examine

the

impacts

of

socioeconomic

and

familial

vari-

ables

upon

participating

in

politics

by

making

presidential

campaign

con-

NOTE:

We

would

like

to

thank

all

of

our

respondents

for

their

assistance;

Peter

H.

Lemieux,

Warren

E.

Miller,

G.

Bingham

Powell,

Jr.,

and Kenneth

Prewitt

for

criticisms

of

an

earlier

draft;

and

L.

Gray

Cowan,

the

Tickner

Fund

and

the

Graduate

School

of

Public

Affairs,

SUNY-Albany

for

supporting

this

research.

1

M.

Kent Jennings

and

Norman

Thomas,

"Men

and

Women

in

Party

Elites:

Social

Roles

and

Political

Resources,"

Midwest

Journal

of

Political

Science

12

(November

1968):

469-92;

Ed-

mond

Costantini

and

Kenneth

H.

Craik,

"Women

as

Politicians:

The

Social

Background,

Personality

and

Political

Careers

of

Female

Party

Leaders,"

Journal

of

Social

Issues

28

(1972):

217-35;

Jeane

Kirkpatrick,

The

New

Presidential

Elite:

Men

and

Women

in

National

Politics

(New

York:

The

Russell

Sage

Foundation

and

the

Twentieth

Century

Fund,

1976).

2 For

a

more

complete

description

of

our

survey

procedure,

see

Clifford

W.

Brown, Jr.,

Roman

B.

Hedges

and

Lynda

W.

Powell,

"Modes

of

Political

Participation:

Contributors

to

the

1972

Presidential

Candidates,"

American Journal

of Political

Science

24

(May

1980).

The

response

rate

was

48.3%

of

those

who

received

a

questionnaire.

There

were

no

substantial

variations

in

the

response

rate

attributable

to

the

effects

of

candidate,

region

or

size

of

contribution.

Familial

variables

were

asked

of only

half the

respondents

(chosen

randomly):

tables

based

on

these

will

contain

approximately

half

the

numbers

of

individuals

as

other

tables.

3 For

more

descriptive

information

see,

ibid;

Clifford

W.

Brown,

Jr.,

Roman

B.

Hedges

and

Lynda

W.

Powell,

"Belief

Structure

in

a

Political

Elite:

Contributors

to

the

1972

Presiden-

tial

Candidates,"

Polity

13

(Fall

1980):

134-46.