Women's Poverty and Women's Citizenship: Some Political Consequences of Economic Marginality

Abstract

Much of women's political activity-especially their work in community, religious, and labor organizations and their participation in social movements-remains unchronicled and undervalued because it occurs outside the realm of governmental politics. Our attention is rarely drawn even to women's involvement in the more visible political activities that might be called "statist." In the United States during the last decade, three important changes have occurred in women's political interaction with the state. First, women now have substantial clout on election day. They vote in roughly the same proportions as men and thus have, for demographic reasons, a significant advantage in the number of votes cast. Second, women now differ noticeably from men in their opinions on issues, parties, and candidates-a difference the media have labeled the "gender gap." One expression of this gap has been the consistently poorer evaluations that women have given President Ronald Reagan, largely because of his militarism and his lack of commitment to social programs.l