Change and Continuity in the Relationship Between Private Responsibilities and Public Officeholding: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Abstract

National surveys of state legislators conducted by the Center for the American Woman and Politics between 1977 and 1988 suggest that women's presence within state legislatures has increased despite the persistence of gender differences in the connection between public roles and private responsibilities. Mothers (but not fathers) of young children are substantially underrepresented among state legislators, and marriage continues to bring more advantage to men's than to women's political careers. Women continue to reach the legislative rung on the political ladder later than men, and women legislators are less likely than their male colleagues to hold extralegislative employment. While structural changes may reduce the incumbency advantage that some suggest have disadvantaged women, so long as gender differences in the compatibility of legislative service and private roles persist, fewer women than men at any given time will be positioned to take advantage of new opportunities, thereby making improvements in descriptive and substantive representation elusive and difficult goals to accomplish.

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