Today’s “You Don’t Say” Study: Men With Daughters More Likely To Vote For Feminist Causes
In a recently released paper, Andrew J. Oswald and Nattavudh Powdthavee examine the work of sociologist Rebecca Warner and the economist Ebonya Washington.
Warner and Washington, through a series of studies, have noted a strong correlation between having children and voting records. In short, those who vote for traditionally feminist/left wing causes are much more likely to have daughters, while those who vote along a conservative line are more likely to have sons.
This line is particularly apparent among fathers.
Pointing to Warner and Washington’s existing studies, the authors make the argument that all parents have one thing in common: they want the best future for their children, and that means casting votes to minimize perceived future difficulties:
The authors’ key finding is that support for policies designed to
address gender equity is greater among parents with daughters. This result emerges
particularly strongly for fathers. Because parents invest a significant amount of
themselves in their children, the authors argue, the anticipated and actual struggles
that offspring face, and the public policies that tackle those, matter to those parents.
Interestingly, one of the existing studies followed Congressmen with daughters:
Washington (2004) provides persuasive evidence that congressmen with female children
tend to vote liberally on reproductive rights issues such as teen access to
contraceptives. In a revision, Washington (2008) argues for a wider result, namely,
that the congressmen vote more liberally on a range of issues such as working families
flexibility and tax-free education.
In short, the paper (which is a fascinating read) ends up stating what should be fairly obvious: when people we care about are dealing with inequality, we suddenly come to care deeply about making that right … Even if the issue of equality does not touch us directly, or actually benefits us (such as in the case of the fathers, who – by sheer virtue of being born male – actually do have an edge in this society).
Didn’t we already know this? After all, look at the sheer number of rabid right wing anti-abortion opponents, many of whom actually voted (albeit, years and years ago, before the ban) for the use of embryonic stem cells in research? These are the same people who advocate against abortion (and, in many cases, Plan B – since it could block a fertilized egg from implanting) on the grounds that it’s murder … Until it directly affected them.
The study I would like to see would be the Sarah Palin study – mothers who maintain pro-life, abstinence-only political positions, despite all evidence pointing to the fact that it does not work. (And, hell, in Palin’s case, the evidence is living under her roof.)
That’s a study I’m dying to see.
