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Gender and Political Activity in Canada, 1965–1984*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Barry J. Kay ,
Ronald D. Lambert ,
Steven D. Brown  and
James E. Curtis
Barry J. Kay
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University
Ronald D. Lambert
Affiliation:
University of Waterloo
Steven D. Brown
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University
James E. Curtis
Affiliation:
University of Waterloo
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Abstract

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This note addresses questions relating to the level of women's political activity and specific obstacles that restrict it. The work of Black and McGlen, showing a decrease in the traditional participation differences between Canadian men and women, is replicated over an expanded series of six national election studies. The results challenge the suggestion that there has been a decline in difference over time, and there is an attempt to account for this lingering distinction between the genders. Data are presented which indicate that the presence of children in the home has a much more constraining impact upon women's political activity than upon that of men.

Résumé

Cette note traite de questions liées a l'activité politique des femmes et aux obstacles qui la restreignent. On a repris, dans une série élargie de six études portant sur les élections nationales, les travaux de Black et McGlen qui indiquent que les écarts traditionnels entre la participation politique des hommes et des femmes au Canada tendent à s'amenuiser. Or les résultats de ces études remettent en question l'idée que la différence entre les sexes diminue avec le temps et les auteurs essaient d'expliquer pourquoi l'écart tend à se perpétuer. Les données indiquent aussi que la présence d'enfants au foyer a des conséquences beaucoup plus contraignantes pour l'activité politique des femmes que pour celle des hommes.

Type
Note
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , December 1987 , pp. 851 - 863
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1987

References

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19 The 1965 National Election Study was co-ordinated by John Meisel, Maurice Pinard, Peter Regenstreif and Mildred Schwartz. The 1968 study was conducted by John Meisel, and the 1974, 1979 and 1980 studies were undertaken by Harold Clarke, Jane Jenson, Lawrence LeDuc and Jon Pammett.

20 This table uses the 1965 questionnaire as a base, and replicates only those items from other surveys that are similarly worded.

21 One possible interpretation which can probably be put aside is that the discrepancies were due to differences in question wording, since that would not explain the largest deviations.

22 Even where there is similarity in content, the 1965 questions tend to be worded differently from those in subsequent years. Given this and the small number of participation items used in 1968, the most useful comparisons to be made occur in the 1974–1984 period, except for 1980 when the scope of the study was scaled down substantially. It should also be noted that in the 1974 study the battery of participation items was half-sampled.

23 Black and McGlen, “Male-Female Political Involvement Differentials in Canada, 1965–1974,” 494.

24 Andersen, “Working Women and Political Participation, 1952–1972,” 442–43; Welch, “Women as Political Animals? A Test of Some Explanations for Male-Female Political Participation Differences,” 720–21.

25 Ibid., 722-23.

26 Ibid., 724-25.

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35 This expanded category comprised 32 per cent of the sample, as compared to only 18 per cent when it was limited to the parents of preschoolers. As one might expect, the presence of secondary school-aged children had much less impact upon distinctive behaviour by their parents.

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38 A multivariate technique, Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA), was also applied to the data to permit an assessment of the impact of children and employment upon political activity while simultaneously taking into account the effects of education, income, age, marital status and gender. This analysis indicated the presence of children still tended to have stronger relationships with the participation variables than did employment, but only in limited situations did parenthood stand independently as a significant political constraint. In summary, the effect of other factors, notably education, age and gender, is evident in the crosstabular data relating the parental and employment roles to political participation, and further multivariate analysis is warranted.