ROLES OF WOMEN

Many Roles of a woman

Many Roles of a woman

Discussion & Anayses

In the last few decades, women in the United States have made great strides in politics. Although women have historically voted in lower numbers than men, a higher percentage of women have registered and voted in presidential elections than men since 1984. Women now also win election at rates comparable to their male counterparts. In Congress, women have made substantive policy changes that positively influence women (Harris, 2009). Beyond Congress, women have achieved other political successes. Hillary Clinton almost gained the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, Sarah Palin was the second woman to be a major party vice-presidential nominee, and Condoleeza Rice recently served as the first black woman secretary of state.

The successes of women in politics raise a few important questions. First, is the political glass ceiling broken? Do women still face barriers in participating in politics based on their gender? If there are barriers, what are they and how can they best be minimized? And second, when women engage in politics—whether as participants in local city council meetings, as voters, or as members of congress—does their behavior make a difference? Do women have distinct political preferences from men? And if so, what explains this? Finally, what potential value lies in more women engaging in politics? This chapter proceeds by first introducing the most important questions and then reviewing relevant work addressing each question in the areas of women as political actors, women as political candidates, and women in political institutions (Garrison, 2006).

When considering the role of gender in U.S. politics, it is first important to consider how gender influences citizens' perception of politics and their role in it. Whether men and women have distinct political preferences and, if so, why these differences exist has been a primary research focus (Hanson-Harding, 2001). Women report some policy preferences distinct from men. Women are less supportive of the use of military force in areas of foreign policy and are more liberal in their desire for the government to provide services, jobs, and health care to citizens. The most prevalent and studied attitude difference between men and women is the gender gap: differences between men and women in both party ideology and vote choice, with women being more likely than men to identify with the Democratic party and to support liberal, Democratic candidates (Hartmann, 2002). The gender gap has existed at least since 1964, but disappeared briefly post-September 11, 2001, only to reemerge in 2004.

Scholars' investigation of the causes for these differences offers several possibilities on the origins of the gender gap (Hartmann, 2002). The first attitudes theory adopts the view that underlying issue preferences, particularly on social issues, explain the gap. This is supported by work that suggests feminism has contributed to the gender gap by promoting a so-called women's perspective that influences policy and promotes an ideology of equality and sympathy for the dis-advantaged (Joseph, 2005). This theory also comports with the idea that since women are more likely ...