From the suffrage period until the 1960s, the Democratic and Republican parties were split over women's issues. The Republican Party advocated equal rights for women, while the Democrats preferred protective legislation to shield women from social and economic competition. In the 1960s the parties began a process of convergence. By the close of the Johnson administration there was a virtual consensus that legal equality should be extended to women. Yet, in the early 1970s, the Republican Party began a historic role reversal, backing away from legal equality as well as acceptance of the Supreme Court's stance on abortion rights. Although these issues did not create a gender gap in the electorate, they, along with statements by party leaders, created the perception that Democrats were reaching out to women as constituents while Republicans were retreating. As a result, women's issues are strategically placed to be advanced or defeated in each partisan electoral contest.
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References
1.
1. Differences between men and women vis-à-vis both issue preferences and voting for candidates have routinely been noted over the years in elections where polling was done. Prior to the 1980s, however, these differences were not consistently linked to support of one political party. As a result, they were frequently either overlooked or incorrectly attributed to quirks in women's voting behavior; for example, it was thought that women voted for a candidate disproportionately because he was good-looking or because he was a father figure. What makes gender differences distinctive in the 1980s is that they are now tied to a consistent preference on the part of women for the Democratic Party and its candidates. See Carol Mueller, ed., The Politics of the Gender Gap (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1988).
2.
2. Nancy Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1987), pp. 117-142.
3.
Gilbert Y. Steiner , Constitutional Inequality (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1985), pp. 7-12.
4.
4. Other active groups included the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the National Association of Colored Women, the American Bar Association, Zonta, and the National Education Association. For a discussion of the split between professional and working-class women over the ERA, see Jo Freeman, “Equality versus Protection” (Typescript, 1987), p. 10.
5.
Lemons , Woman Citizen.
6.
6. Harrison, “Prelude to Feminism,” pp. 60-92.
7.
7. Steiner, Constitutional Inequality, pp. 7-8.
8.
For a further discussion of Alice Paul's conservatism, see Leila Rupp and Verta Taylor, Survival in the Doldrums (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), pp. 136, 143-144.
9.
9. Jo Freeman, “Party Platforms and the ERA” (Typescript, 1987), p. 8.
10.
10. Cynthia Harrison, On Account of Sex (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1988), pp. 52-65.
11.
11. Harrison, “Prelude to Feminism,” pp. 244-248.
12.
Jane Mansbridge , Why We Lost the ERA (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), pp. 9-10.
13.
13. Harrison, On Account of Sex, pp. 126-130.
14.
14. U.S. President's Commission on the Status of Women, American Women: Report of the President's Commission on the Status of Women (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1963), p. xx.
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15. 404 U.S. 71.
16.
16. J. Ralph Lindgren and Nadine Taub, The Law of Sex Discrimination (St. Paul, MN: West, 1988), pp. 109-168.
17.
17. Harrison, “Prelude to Feminism,” pp. 478-483.
18.
18. Lyndon Johnson, “The President's News Conference of March 7, 1964,”Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963-4 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1965), p. 242.
19.
See also Lyndon Johnson, “The President's News Conference of February 1, 1964,” Public Papers: 1963-4, p. 259.
20.
20. The final tallies for the ERA were 354 to 23 in the House and 84 to 8 in the Senate.
21.
21. Richard Nixon, “President's News Conference, June 1, 1971,”Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1971 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1972), p. 690.
22.
22. Richard Nixon, “Letter to the Senate Minority Leader about the Proposed Constitutional Amendment on Equal Rights for Men and Women,” 18 Mar. 1972, Public Papers of the Presidents: Richard M. Nixon, 1972 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1974), p. 444.
23.
23. Richard Nixon, “State of the Union Message to the Congress on Human Resources,” 1 Mar. 1973, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1973 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1975), p. 143 (italics in original).
24.
24. Gerald Ford, “Remarks at a Reception for Members of the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, 1975,” 14 Apr. 1975, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Gerald R. Ford, 1975 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1977), p. 479.
25.
25. Gerald Ford, “The President's News Conference of July 12, 1975,” Public Papers: 1975, p. 974.
26.
26. See Jimmy Carter, “League of Women Voters Q and A,” 5 May 1980, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1980-81 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1981), p. 833.
27.
27. Ibid, pp. 333, 833, 2969.
28.
For another example, see Ronald Reagan, “Remarks on Signing Executive Order 12336, Establishing the Task Force on Legal Equality for Women,” 21 Dec. 1981, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1981 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1982), p. 1175.
29.
29. 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
30.
30. Stuart Taylor, Jr.“Justice Aide Resigns, Denouncing Reagan Views on Women's Rights,”New York Times, 23 Aug. 1983.
31.
For a rebuttal of allegations of “litmus tests” see Henry Abrahamet al., Judicial Selection, Merit, Ideology and Politics (Washington, DC: National Legal Center for the Public Interest, 1990), pp. 38-41.
32.
idem , Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1987 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1989), pp. 42-44, 71, 167, 420, 895.
33.
33. Ronald Reagan, “Message to the Congress on America's Agenda for the Future,”6 Feb. 1986, Public Papers: 1986, p. 157.
34.
34. Ronald Reagan, “Address before a Joint Session of Congress on the State of the Union,”4 Feb. 1986, Public Papers: 1986, p. 128.
35.
35. Ronald Reagan, “Remarks at the Annual Convention of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs,” 3 Aug. 1983, Public Papers: 1983, p. 1121.
36.
36. Reagan, “Excerpt from an Interview with Ann Devroy,” p. 1197.
37.
idem, Public Papers: 1983, pp. 820, 1088, 1112.
38.
38. Mueller, Politics of the Gender Gap.
39.
39. Abortion is the obvious exception, where strong disagreement does still exist.
40.
James Barnes , “Politics after Webster,”National Journal, 12 Aug. 1989, pp. 2044-2048.
41.
41. For a provocative statement of this same point, see Denise Baer, “Political Parties: The Missing Variable in Women and Politics Research” (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, 1990).
