Women and Politics class Second exam Flashcards
(38 cards)
Ways of defining political engagement
Knowledge, Interest, and Participation.
How does knowledge impact political engagement?
The less important factors include: resource and socialization
More important factors include: lower self-reported interest and surveys
1) the average women have less time and money
2) young girls are socialized from a young age to talk less of politics
3) surveys are designed to elicit certain responses
How does interest impact poltical engagement?
Interest is essential to gathering political knowledge
- women are more likely to avoid conflict
- there are gender-based differences in impact of educational attainment
How does participation impact Political Engagement?
While women vote more, men engage in other types of political engagement at a higher rate since the 1980’s
Reasons why women demonstrate lower levels of political engagement than men
- women are socialized from a young age to not be interested in politics
- other reasons are included in the explanation of defining poltical engagement
Differences in political participation/engagement based on Bem Sex Role inventory personality type
Depending on where you score on the scale, your political engagement varies.
- Masculine - high masc, low fem
- Androgynous - high masc, high fem
- Undifferentiaed - low masc, low fem
- Feminine - high fem, low masc
-the order listed correlates with political engagement
Partisan Gender Gap
-Is the preference of women for the democratic party
- size of the gender gap varies from 4-11 points
- first apparent in 1980
- apparent in all levels of American Elections
Why did the Partisan Gender Gap come when it did?
- First established due to the election of Ronald Reagan/Republican Electoral Success
- Increased partisan polarization + changes in how the parties position themselves on certain issues
- Southern Realignment that began with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 + Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- Conflict extension
- Non-partisan issues becoming partisan
(2 parties dont take a stance on an issue examples include abortion or LGBTQIA+ rights)
What are issues that drive the gender gap?
- Social Welfare Spending
- Military/use of force
- Gun Control
- Death Penalty
-Abortion does not drive gender gap because men and women have similar views
- attitudes about gender and gender roles impact abortion attitudes; not gender but how you view gender roles
Gender stereotypes that voters have about male issues
- Guns
- national security
- military
- crime
- the economy
Gender stereotypes that voters have about female issues
- Education
- health care
- child care
- abortion
Gender stereotypes of male politcians personality traits
- intelligence
- decisiveness
- experience
- good leadership qualities
Gender stereotypes of female politicians personality traits
- honesty
- compassion
- ability to build consensus (community)
- ability to bring change/new ways of thinking
The politics of legislative branch positions
Legislative branch is seen as specialist/small picture thinking where members of congress specialize in specific areas. ex. committees within the houses.
The politics of the executive branch positions
- Executive branch has a higher level of responsibility, higher level of visibility, unambigous head of a hiearchical power structure, and expected to be generalist/big picture thinking.
Factors that limit the impact of gender stereotypes in House elections
- the high incumbency advantage
- status quo bias
- have significant financial advantage/personal connections
- low congressional approval ratings
- Weak challengers
- Running for office is time-consuming and expensive
- Thermostatic model of public opinion
- Gender stereotypes dont matter in House Elections
Representation of women in Congress
- In the House 28-29% are female politicians
- 25% for the Senate^
- female republican legislators not viewed as “conservative enough”
- Women in congress far more likely to be democrats than republicans compared to men
- Women sponsor & co-sponsor more bills
Reasons for the high incumbent re-election rate in Congress and other factors that shape congressional elections?
- Congressional approval ratings are not good (lower than the president)
- Status quo bias
- Voter apathy
- Incumbent rate has been high for decades (not rare)
- Weak Challengers (running for office is time-consuming and expensive and it is very difficult to get quality challengers to run in elections
- Incumbents have a significant financial advantage/personal connections
- More media coverage
- Most house districts are lopsidely Democratic or Republican
What differences, if any, exist in the behavior of male and female legislators
- Female politicians are legislatively more productive
- sponsor and co-sponsor more bills
- more constituent services
- slightly less successful when they are in the majority than their male counterparts
- slightly more successful in the minority
- are less likely to hold prestige committee seats
Descriptive Representation
- Is demographic matching (are you like the people you represent) ex. Race
- how much or how little do you match constituents?
Symbolic Representation
- Relates to the gut feeling of how well or poorly you feel represented.
Substantive Representation
- Relates/is tied to idelogy/policy
Ambivalent Sexism Inventory
Refers two different types of sexism.
How do we measure ambivalent sexism?
1- Women are too easily offended (measures hostile sexism)
2- Many women have a quality of purity that few men possess (measures benevolent sexism)
3- Men should be willing to sacrifice their own wellbeing in order to provide financially for the women in their lives (measures benevolent sexism)
4- Most women fail to appreciate all that men do for them (measures hostile sexism)
5- Women exaggerate their problems (measures hostile sexism)
6- In a disaster, women should be rescued before men (measures benevolent sexism)
