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The Public Consequences of Private Inequality: Family Life and Citizen Participation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Nancy Burns ,
Kay Lehman Schlozman  and
Sidney Verba
Nancy Burns
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Kay Lehman Schlozman
Affiliation:
Boston College
Sidney Verba
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Abstract

This study uses regression analysis of data from a telephone survey of 380 married couples to subject to rare empirical test the contention that, because women are unequal at home, they cannot be equal in the polity. The argument is often made that wives' disadvantage in comparison to their husbands with respect to control over family income, availability of free time, power over decisions, or mutual respect dampens their ability to participate fully in politics. In fact, domestic inequalities do have implications for political activity, but these effects differ from what is usually posited by being stronger for husbands than for wives. For husbands, control over major financial decisions and autonomy in using small amounts of time enhance their ability to participate in politics beyond what would be expected on the basis of their other characteristics. In short, being boss at home is politically empowering to husbands.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 91 , Issue 2 , June 1997 , pp. 373 - 389
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1997

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