Using a unique data set, the author investigates gender segregation in voluntary organizations. Results indicate that (1) women are more likely than men to belong to gender-segregated groups and (2) women's groups primarily restrict members to contact with persons of the same age, education, and marital and work status. The article ends with a discussion of how segregated voluntary associations help perpetuate a social world that is substantially ordered by gender.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Acker, Joan.1992. Gendered institutions: From sex roles to gendered institutions.Contemporary Sociology21:565-69.
2.
Acker, Joan.
1995. Feminist goals and organizing processes. In Feminist organizations: Harvest of the new women's movement, edited by M. M. Ferree and P. Y. Martin.Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
3.
Aldrich, Howard E.
1989. Networking among women entrepreneurs. In Women-owned businesses, edited by O. Hagan, C. Rivchun, and D. Sexton.New York: Praeger.
4.
Babchuk, Nicholas
, and John N. Edwards.1965. Voluntary associations and the integration hypothesis.Sociological Inquiry35:149-62.
5.
Booth, Alan.1972. Sex and social participation.American Sociological Review37:183-92.
6.
Campbell, Karen E.1988. Gender differences in job-related networks.Work and Occupations15:179-200.
7.
Coleman, James S.
1982. The asymmetric society.Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
8.
Curtis, Russell L. Jr.
, and Louis A. Zurcher Jr.1973. Stable resources of protest movements: The multiorganizational field.Social Forces52:53-61.
9.
Davis, James A.
, and Thomas W. Smith. 1988. General social surveys, 1972-88.Chicago: National Opinion Research Center.
10.
Freeman, Jo.1973. The origins of the women's liberation movement.American Journal of Sociology78:792-811.
11.
Granovetter, Mark S.1973. The strength of weak ties.American Journal of Sociology78:1360-80.
12.
Gustafson, Kathleen
, Alan Booth, and David Johnson.1979. The effects of labor force participation on gender differences in voluntary association affiliation: A cross-national study.Journal of Voluntary Action Research8:51-56.
13.
Hochschild, Arlie Russell.
1989. The second shift.New York: Avon.
14.
House, James S.
, Debra Umberson, and Karl R. Landis.1988. Structures and processes of social support.Annual Review of Sociology14:293-318.
15.
Jacobs, Jerry A.
1989. Revolving doors: Sex segregation and women's careers.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
16.
Knoke, David.1986. Associations and interest groups.Annual Review of Sociology12:1-21.
17.
Knoke, David
, and Randall Thomson.1977. Voluntary association membership trends and the family life cycle.Social Forces56:48-65.
18.
Liao, Tim Futing.
1994. Interpreting probability models: Logit, probit and other generalized linear models.Sage University Paper Series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07-101.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
19.
Liedka, Raymond V.1991. Who do you know in the group? Location of organizations in interpersonal networks.Social Forces70:455-74.
20.
Marrett, Cora B.1980. Influences on the rise of new organizations: The formation of women's medical societies.Administrative Science Quarterly25:185-99.
21.
Marsden, Peter V.1987. Core discussion networks of Americans.American Sociological Review52:122-31.
22.
Marsden, Peter V.
1990. Network diversity, substructures and opportunities for contact. In Structures of power and constraint: Papers in honor of Peter Blau, edited by C. Calhoun, M. W. Meyer, and W. R. Scott.New York: Cambridge University Press.
23.
McAdam, Doug
, John D. McCarthy, and Mayer N. Zald. 1988. Social movements. In Handbook of sociology, edited by N. J. Smelser.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
24.
McPherson, J. Miller.1982. Hypernetwork sampling: Duality and differentiation among voluntary organizations.Social Networks3:225-49.
25.
McPherson, J. Miller
, Pamela A. Popielarz, and Sonja Drobniĉ.1992. Social networks and organizational dynamics.American Sociological Review57:153-70.
26.
McPherson, J. Miller
, and Thomas Rotolo.1996. Testing a dynamic model of social composition: Diversity and change in voluntary groups.American Sociological Review61:179-202.
27.
McPherson, J. Miller
, and Lynn Smith-Lovin.1982. Women and weak ties: Differences by sex in the size of voluntary organizations.American Journal of Sociology87:883-904.
28.
McPherson, J. Miller
, and Lynn Smith-Lovin.1986. Sex segregation in voluntary associations.American Sociological Review51:61-79.
29.
Moore, Gwen.1990. Structural determinants of men's and women's personal networks.American Sociological Review55:726-35.
30.
Oberschall, Anthony.
1973. Social conflict and social movements.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
31.
Petersen, Trond
, and Laurie A. Morgan.1995. Separate and unequal: Occupation-establishment sex segregation and the gender wage gap.American Journal of Sociology101:329-65.
32.
Popielarz, Pamela A. 1992. Connection and competition: A structural theory of sex segregation in voluntary associations. Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
33.
Popielarz, Pamela A.
1994. Do weaker bridges span longer distances? Paper presented at the International Social Networks Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.
34.
Popielarz, Pamela A.
, and J. Miller McPherson.1995. On the edge or in between: Niche position, niche overlap and the duration of voluntary association memberships.American Journal of Sociology101:628-720.
35.
Poster, Winifred R.1995. The challenges and promises of class and racial diversity in the women's movement: A study of two women's organizations.Gender & Society9:659-79.
36.
Putnam, Robert D.1995. Bowling alone: America's declining social capital.Journal of Democracy6:65-78.
37.
Reskin, Barbara.
1984. Sex segregation in the workplace: Trends, explanations, remedies.Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
38.
Rosenthal, Naomi
, Meryl Fingrutd, Michele Ethier, Roberta Karant, and David McDonald.1985. Social movements and network analysis: A case study of nineteenth-century women's reform in New York State.American Journal of Sociology90:1022-54.
39.
Rupp, Leila J.
, and Verta Taylor. 1987. Survival in the doldrums: The American women's rights movement, 1945 to the 1960s.New York: Oxford University Press.
40.
SAS Institute.
1989. SAS/STAT user's guide, version 6.4th ed.Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
41.
Smith, Constance
, and Anne Freedman. 1972. Voluntary associations: Perspectives on the literature.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
42.
Smith-Lovin, Lynn
, and J. Miller McPherson. 1993. You are who you know: A network approach to gender. In Theory on gender/feminism on theory, edited by P. England.New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
43.
Snow, David A.
, Louis A. Zurcher Jr., and Sheldon Ekland-Olson.1980. Social networks and social movements: A microstructural approach to differential recruitment.American Sociological Review45:787-801.
44.
Tarrow, Sidney.
1994. Power in movement: Social movements, collective action, and politics.New York: Cambridge University Press.
45.
Tilly, Charles.
1978. From mobilization to revolution.New York: Random House.
46.
Weinberg, Davida J.
1996. Gender homophily in favor-exchange: Moving beyond structure to specify “preference.” Paper presented at the International Social Networks Conference, Charleston, South Carolina.
47.
Wellman, Barry.1979. The community question: The intimate networks of East Yorkers.American Journal of Sociology84:1201-31.
