The politics of women's place: Gender roles, public opinion, and the American party system

How have the parties responded to the issue of what roles are appropriate and desirable for women and men? This study presents three findings that challenge the conventional wisdom that the parties have taken opposing positions on the issue of gender roles. First, issues related to gender are rarely central to the parties' national agendas. Party leaders have not wanted elections to turn on gender-related controversies. Second, the parties' gender-related cues often work against the image that the parties occupy opposing positions in this debate. Party leaders have not embraced the very distinct conceptions of gender advocated by their allied groups and they have often tried to obscure the extent to which the parties differ on gender-related controversies. Third, Democrats and Republicans in the electorate hold similar gender-role attitudes. The issue of gender roles has not realigned the electorate and continues to cut across the party coalitions at the mass level.;These findings are based on analyses of party platforms and speeches from 1968-1996; archival research of party records; interviews with party officials and delegates; and quantitative analyses of survey data.;This research has several larger implications. First, it contributes to the realignment literature by demonstrating that electoral considerations and the parties' positions on related issues shape elite strategies on easy issues. Gender roles contrasts with the cases of race and abortion, on which scholars argue there have been realignments. The electoral incentives facing the Republican party on gender have not presented as clear an opportunity as the incentives facing the party on race. In addition, the parties' opposing positions on abortion have allowed the parties to downplay their differences on gender roles. The parties have been able to maintain their coalitions with the abortion issue and subsequently avoid distinct positions on other gender-related issues.;A second implication of this study is that the gender gap has discouraged both parties from taking opposing positions on the question of gender roles. The gender gap has often functioned to keep the parties from becoming too closely identified with a particular conception of gender roles.