‘W——— W Is-fi ROLE STRESS AND CULTURAL RESOURCES: A STUDY OF THE ROLE OF THE WOMAN MEMBER OF CONGRESS Thesis {0' “no chno 0’ pk. D. MECEEGAN STATE UNWERSITY Frieda Lillian Foote 1967 llfllfllim HllilllllllllfllNWII ”Ullllll 3 M .t......._.“,‘. 12931074291 = 137% «RYL Michigan State , University Ind“: This is to certify that the thesis entitled Role Stress and Cultural Resources: A Study of the Role of the Woman Member of Congress presented by Frieda Lillian Foote has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for my. degreeinm [Owfi 27%.» Major professor/ MUQZKMZ -.._—. 0-169 . ROLE STREZQb A “'1' CF THE HOLY ( 'E . ~ 0 4 - ‘ h it Y..CT. !‘- i‘t‘ \‘hl‘ I I ; s -» y‘n- ‘ . ' 7 :..*.‘:. ...3;.\ Li» '\ .. W" p. r.. r. ’ ' ”V“. . ,f. 54.1‘ 1“ lo, '4- ;n . - . ' ‘ .". "‘“Ie(: *ln‘ 5.35 t). 5.. 4‘ W! "n .x 4181‘312'9 * "- V ,._ _\ . _ ‘ -~ «6.: 116m u’ .‘u 5‘. l f A . ’ ~ ""1‘\‘J‘l":“\l.t. . II A . O s,. u r. ., fl .4 2 .1 .1 9.4 ~ ‘ ~. - . ‘ ““9 “._‘ EX4\ . .’ h... '0-_; ‘§ I .. r- . sr.\.\. ‘(’ ‘t‘lV‘V ‘. x ' ,“ .‘-‘ V - l" “I ‘- u‘ . ~ “0t| Ir (5"? “ ‘ .5..L , n ‘ - {th‘ .. n . , ‘At a ’2 '1‘. . “Q.-‘, ‘Q‘ . I'l _‘ " f ‘ t '- L. F‘ . 4.“. l...“ ‘1! g. a. N - -..t “0* .: ‘ \‘04'_" I ~ P‘ |\ ‘1 ’ a I ‘ E55. " :A., W ‘ )e‘b 1 . ‘1 Q ‘. ,: "‘Ah , ‘. 'fl ' . ‘1‘" ‘rr' §;.‘l "‘3. ‘ ’ . ‘ 4“! '»..\ ‘~. I.‘ .' " ABSTRACT ROLE STRESS AND CULTURAL RESOURCES: A STUDY OF THE ROLE OF THE WOMAN MEMBER OF CONGRESS by Frieda Lillian Foote The problem of the study was that of how women, as a—typical incum- bents of a role normally defined as masculine, have found the ascribed char- acteristics important in modifying-the usual achieved role expectations. The position studied was that of the Member of the U. S. House of Representatives. From the literature on the congress six important aspects of the legis- lative role were derived. Within each of these areas note was taken of whether or not there was blockage in role performance due to the different ascribed role. if blockage did exist, then attention was focused on whether or not the women attempted to remove the blockage or to reduce their sense of involve- ment in the role. In either case, the major concern was that of what cultural resources were available that would help to reduce the stress caused by a combination of high involvement and high blockage. The methodology was primarily that of an exploratory case study of the women members of the House of Representatives during the 88th Congress. For background information some data were collected on all women to have ever served in the House. Demographic characteristics both of the women Frieda Lillian Foote and of their districts were used in an attempt to locate commonalities of the incumbents. One group of data collected included interview statements from the women members, their staff assistants, a quota sample of congressmen, news media personnel and other congressional staff people. Behavioral data were gathered on legislation introduced, committee positions and other Special appointments, and election returns. A matched sample of congress— men was selected for the purpose of making comparisons. The findings indicate that, contrary to many of the suggestions of the literature, the women do not Specialize in so-called feminine areas exclusively, or even predominantly. They do, however, give more attention to these inter- ests than do the men according to the analysis of legislation introduced. This apparently does not serve as a mechanism of stress reduction to any great extent, though it may function this way to a degree. The areas of greatest blockage and stress appear to be those of informal relations and leadership. The resources used were widely varied but pri- marily were intended to remove blockage rather than to reduce involvement even in the two aforementioned aspects of the role. While an historical analy- sis Showed women were given a disproprotionate number of low prestige com- mittee assignments, this was not true of the 88th Congress. The existing structural norms of the formal organization made it easier to sanction violations of the political role than to sanction violations of the morecambiguous ascribed female role. Consequently the political Alli: b'\ the V‘ ‘ . n ' m V '- etch. n-a-1~ .L“. ’ 4.1 the“ De 3 tuxt‘rt’f' u - .I\I #1:: master. “ho tam :nfictfiroun. Rik: --¢‘I."."' t. I M. to" ‘51; me flirty}. ' na- Frieda Lillian Foote role was little modified by the women members. However it is suggested that there may well be a difference in role performance between the widows of former congressmen who take their husbands' seats and those women who win the seat on their own. Role modification and reduction of involvement seem more likely with the former group than with the latter. ROLE STRESS AND CULTURAL RESOURCES: A STUDY OF THE ROLE OF THE WOMAN MEMBER OF CONGRESS By Frieda Lillian Foote A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Sociology 1967 ..5 r’ {1 '<4790’&7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The list of those to whom credit and thanks are due in any field study is enormous. This one is no exception. Because of this, and because some persons prefer to remain unidentified, little attempt will be made to list individuals, though in some cases the author would be pleased to do so. However, various categories of persons must be acknowledged at least. A The field research would have been impossible without the cooperation of many people, but chief among these were the twelve women who were members of the 88th House of Representatives and their office staffs. Despite the fact that they must be very weary of being researched as oddities in the political and occupational world, nearly all were very gracious about sub- mitting to such questioning again. Their male colleagues also are deserving of thanks. They not only provided information, but perhaps more than any other one group interviewed, they made the whole procedure an enjoyable one. The Washington news corps was also of great help in providing basic information on issues and on personalities. Without their help, many other pieces of information would not have made sense at all. ii In addition to the women currently serving in the 88th Congress, four former women members were very generous with their time and insights even though each still held important and time-consuming positions. These the author would like to acknowledge personally: the Honorable Reva Beck Bosone, the.Honorab1y Kathryn E. Granahan, the Honorable Gracie Pfost, and the Honorable Marguerite Stitt Church. Three members of the House from the Michigan delegation to the 88th Congress also deserve special thanks and personal notice: the Honorable Charles Chamberlain, the Honorable Edward Hutchinson, and the Honorable Neil Staebler. Each gave service and help well above and beyond that due even a constituent. There were many other individuals who contributed as well, but suffice it to say that in varying degrees and ways each contributed not only to the data but also to the entire experience in such a way that this researcher-- like many before and undoubtedly many after--has become a life-time victim of that contagious infection known as "Potomac fever. " The contributions of the author's major professor, Dr. James B. MCKee, are also gratefully acknowledged. Not only did the basic idea of studying women in politics originate with him, but more than once he has patiently brought the project back from a tangent to something more nearly akin to the original focus. Knowing how extremely busy his schedule has been, the author is appreciative of the time taken for help in this manner. iii ‘1... r’ HS if» the Dela f 2.5: 1111 great deal of CI". HH€\€T KW‘ 5 - l .'. iris: Dr. Join l'set l 1.2: ". 1.16.1.9 pm . $2-7: I shew“ nu u rig FOl 1: ”age .c m S'Jth a; .15 research 11111111”. hill! 9.. .0!‘ the 511“ My): .. ‘fp 14"., .. 1.: the field work I l A “Ml huL :EH& .1», . “he " s. 1 “he.“ r “(.L‘ d :‘l’n ‘ \"‘:I: ; v up:‘_in--av ‘ .' ‘N “P {.u “mt is 4.. great 1771‘}. .‘l: :p"l - "l 43 v- he‘ .‘[;>E -_-~ :35 .881, Al .\(‘I (’r "‘ '13 fr 4 ‘3‘6 5“ ql‘ \ . \‘dLh a ' , l ~1: x, . 9 ‘h r Q ”L" Crimp v W113 1 Many others in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University are also due a great deal of credit and thanks for help both directly and in- directly given. However two such persons must be acknowledged in a special word of thanks: Dr. John Useem and Dr. Ruth Hill Useem. Both contributed not only to the immediate project, but, through their encouragement and counseling, to the making of the sociologist who would have the motivation and the courage to try such a project. Theresearch would have at least been unlikely, if not impossible, had it not been for the support of a National Science Foundation Cooperative Graduate Fellowship for the year 1963—1964 and a National Science Foundation Summer Fellowship in 1965. These grants allowed the necessary freedom and time to do the field work and then to organize it within the theoretical framework. Last, but certainly not least, are the personal acknowledgements. To her parents the author would like to express a great deal of appreciation for their faith and support--and their occasional prodding—-throughout the entire process. There is great incentive not to disappoint such faith. And finally, to her husband, Michael Gehlen, is due a great debt of appreciation as well. Not only has he been supportive and understanding of the demands made by such a project for more than a year of acquaintance, but he has, without complaint and with great consideration, spent the first month of married life in the chaos that seems inevitably to accompany the iv final completion of a dissertation: the frustrations, the frantic work periods, the deadlines missed, the irregular meals and the hit-and—miss housekeep— ing. Few men are asked to adjust to marriage in such a fashion; none should be. TAB? 7"" ,... .r .: IIAIB‘II': . . . ‘7 ': 2""l‘ " -.__ .XU‘RLSQ o o | .3311 - m LEGIS' 3.. .11 Ease of Represe: t. .:s Legslanve Role 'n. l .' .vnha 8 Ill - TliE Cl'lTl .. ,I"‘ N: ~~I .' l ‘ mm Rae of '11 4...“; . :1 16".;51. ,f we Tl‘ ‘ oh ‘. I 2‘. n tatYthile‘. ~ ' . 5.: k""¢ect 3. . .;~ 1 q .1 “‘ H—lllOU 111 .1551“. . _ 5.19 1::'_v- '7- . . ifi‘lng‘r'U} a l ‘ “I LC "4 ‘1" ~.' Nil “: ‘KldLQ' 5, Muf‘J i *TY‘ 4 ‘1‘ TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES . LIST OF FIGURES . CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION CHAPTER II - THE LEGISLATURE AND THE LEGISLATIVE The House of Representatives . The Legislative Role CHAPTER III - THE CULTURAL AND POLITICAL ROLE OF WOMEN The Cultural Role of Women k Women in Politics CHAPTER IV - CONCEPTS AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK . Review of the Theoretical Literature \’ Role Conflict \ Role Stress . . . . The Statement of the Problem . CHAPTER V - METHODOLOGY Research Site General Techniques . Data Analysis CHAPTER VI - THE HISTORY OF WOMEN IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES . . . . . . . Individual Personalities Group Data vi Page viii 52 74 74 92 138 138 148 163 167 193 195 196 204 206 207 219 _ .1 111 - a mat liliBERS OF Till: --. 31.11131 Bil‘igraphical :1‘ liaison. mung DlSZI ":nrtsons Amimg P0: LIES ill] - AXALYSIS 1 C::.~.;:zee Assgnmerzts IL‘iTri' Relatcnrllps . Leia-raw . . . . ."-:s:i:1enc3 Interests . S;¢:;a‘;za:on . . l assign, , . e ’1‘" '.-..-.;:. IX - 93th RI x" 1:211:63: of the Prulfge- ::7.1r;.' if the Finding 'vq..~"_ ‘ Irv-'5 ‘1"P§ R . 4" .4 Alscx its 'l‘ “N t-\ _ 5 . t u .1”; 83311.06 PA Pl EEC CHAPTER VII - AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WOMEN MEMBERS OF THE 88TH HOUSE . . . Individual Biographical and District Data Comparison Among Districts . . Comparisons Among Persons . CHAPTER VIII - ANALYSIS OF THE DATA Committee Assignments Informal Relationships . Leadership . . . Constituency Interests . . . . . Specialization . . . . . . . . . Re-election . CHAPTER IX - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Statement of the Problem . Summary of the Findings . Conclusions and Suggested Research SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRIES vii 243 . 245 281 290 294 294 319 337 359 368 388 394 394 397 410 417 . finer of "11103281“. in the l .>1'-‘:&.| ".4 soc. ' ' . ‘ -‘nu - a! years sen ed 'r -‘_1;".;“ y‘ 9" .. sin-5e uEE-ntabll es 0 I .‘13 P‘-r~ it" fl' — 1 ~ "“45: Lh’tad4.ul_:hs IBEU: . :3 I. a- ‘.R.I. -- ....r,.t‘: ”£th 65 b1 St“ t: he terrier. menti- 1...: 1:9 if their Ear-:13. fur. stats of the M. ." .....::tr.a:1‘es at the i: '1 ._.' 4.4-... s: r t 3&5 0‘ the "\11." l.“.:~r and "‘.t ‘ I ~ r‘JhuCa. flag", 1 ' . r ‘ A .errure of some ~ ' . O . ‘ l. L b ‘i .. 1. 1 l. '3‘ JQCr-igi'myri , a.~4 x‘."“ .. ”we :9 , - ‘ ‘yce (f 4 J \H :if‘g 4. “‘ I‘t’rn’fl’vrq v- “"}J-.;C r 1 “ ‘3’. 11:13: .i . ‘ ‘ III—let‘ v- - 4\ ‘ ‘ t 33:"; n p I. "l4-"\ 1 OI I ‘ 9 .‘ '9' . L”Thar I r't y": rgohrt pld"‘:l. ~AdL: ard p ‘ \t'r' ' ":11”, ""4 F (- ‘~ if p," .‘J. J . ,1 H.411“ " 1 *1 .J,‘ a ”is a”: r ‘ 4 “5 "- II—u— .- . LIST OF TABLES Table 01 10. 11. 12. 13. Number of women in the House of Representatives, 1917-1964 Number of years served by women members of the House of Representatives Average continuous tenure of women members of the House of Representatives by session of 'bongress Age of the women members of the House of Representatives at the time of their initial election . Marital status of the women members of the House of Representatives at the time of their initial election by party Marital status of the women members by area of the country and political party Length of tenure of women members by marital status and party Educational background of women members of the House Committee service of women in the House of Representatives . District demographic comparison . Percent urban population of the women's districts divided by widows and non-widows (Median: 83%) . . Percent of urban population of the women's districts divided by Democrats and Republicans (Median: 83%) Percentage of population growth of the women's districts divided by widows and non-widows (Median: 13. 5%) . viii Page 223 225 227 229 230 233 237 240 244 286 286 .« Eire-2:216 of X ‘zrnes 1' ‘ {43‘s and :CJE'HiCO“ S l. ' F:r:e:.‘.=.ge ol foreign-l1 ' :29 carer's dis:ricts « 7n -" JJ-Ju. 2.1 v1) 0 0 .9:: mm of the 11.x, tannins (lie-(313:: .-::. wars of climatic -. nl'is :16 inn-111.11% Revveri "n ~9~3 *Ji Cuitehe gr”. :1. “v-l-o. Q : .m.4glflfilblthh‘v ‘F'w- u -.._....ee asezgrmeris 1 ‘. firth. ~.-.:...\-"‘ , of app-infirm a. 41"" w an_wem¥ aers and ;| i‘.’ n V... .‘ .2" legee 1:”; “ b‘fih‘ ‘g-J. ~ 5 ‘‘‘‘ eat “I - 1.1-39, of ~ a“ ' ‘ bmnb'TlYI; Table 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. Percentage of Negroes in the women's districts divided by widows and non-widows (Median: 5. 6%) . Percentage of foreign-born and second generation immigrants in the women's districts divided by widows and non-widows (Median: 22. 5%) . . Median income of the women's districts divided by widows and non-widows (Median: $6, 194) . Median years of education in the women's districts divided by widows and non-widows (Median: 11. 13 years) . Percentage of college graduates and above in the women's districts divided by non-widows and widows (Median: 8. 7%) . Committee assignments of the women members Comparison of appointment as conferees in 88th Congress; the women members and a matched sampled of men Constituent case work volunteered as a major reward of the office . ' Committee assignment of bills introduced by committee membership of sponsoring member . Ranking of committees in terms of number of bills introduced by men and women . . . . Ranking of bills by substantive orientation in terms of number of bills introduced by men and women Emphasis on "Feminine Interest" areas in legislation by men and women . Competitiveness of the elections by initial and subsequent elections for men and women . ix Page 287 287 288 289 289 297 366 371 373 375 376 391 In ‘ _ . :::_- :7rpreu;c‘.ec for :2) murals ‘wiii‘. a "mum . WT SL‘ - .4 TITE'CLCIt'C l .:.;.‘.:;..s with an "exgm 117.1113 preixctec for s; ) 5-.:‘- . .o 8' 1 - “a: ”ha mom LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Behavior predicted for sixteen types of role conflicts for individuals with a "moral orientation" Behavior predicted for sixteen types of role conflicts for individuals with an "expedient orientation" . Behavior predicted for sixteen types of role conflicts for individuals with a "moral-expedient orientation" 159 161 ' i 1"." 'zerearefeu posh . rams: :he degree of c. .; l ‘ r- .1624; ”asap? re .er... A ..‘. .... fr." A.~. ‘ Q5 4:}... a dial} u.. o 423:5 ethnic. growing xterm: say that a baric FL-.. _ ‘ w. u‘ U “~.. 13: arcud the home arm; . . r-1 '5 ~u' .. g). L". particul: CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION There are few positions in the contemporary, industrialized world that have evoked the degree of concern--or at least curiosity--misunderstanding, and perhaps misapprehension, as that of the adult female. To say that she has had, in the past, a fairly distinct and commonly understood role within class, and perhaps ethnic, groupings, is trite but reasonably true. In fact, one could 80 further and say that a basic core of role identifications or expectations centering around the home and family has been applicable to women of most any level, though the particular expectations of how this was to be carried out might vary from subculture to subculture. To say that, at least in the case of the dominant middle classes, the particular expectations which comprise this role are rapidly changing is as true as the former statement, and probably as trite by now. But while many Peeple are saying it, there are any number of important sociological questions f01‘ Which the data are as yet unavailable to indicate answers. Such questions include: What is the effect on the family system? What is the effect on the 8i’stems into which the women are now moving? To what degree does she actually have access to the positions previously denied her, and how hard is she pushing for them? Is she adapting to the expectations once exclusively zen. or does the new ‘ '1 5" ¢ 3‘3?“ 3901129 1'91.€u..t-.. fie ir g eve .::‘:§ :IfL (-1" Ytll'. an we deahf‘g\ - u soap-boxor81|".r} ii a .es from a Ca L . 2 games to the impress . 3 -itrzran. {bench-M511 #1:: 523.9 kind of even \ . 1:3: ance one b1bll’ I: I Pg... 3" . ‘ x lettCheiog‘: ‘ 1)“ rd.“ 351,141: “*5: p} '1! .. )4 b “:\-t U’I' aCCOLnted fl] r .:_.’_€~.Z'n [317116351073 3' 2‘ . fit... ' t‘ ‘Det'm . c. 3‘: held'by men, or does the new type of incumbent mean that the expectations themselves become redefined and an entirely new sociological position appear? In the face of conflicting expectations, which role is likely to take precedence? The literature dealing with the situation ranges from fairly scholarly works to soap-box oratory, with the latter predominating. 1 The methodology employed varies from a Gallup survey research poll throughout the entire United Statesz to the impressionistic and personal history writing of a Helen Gurley Brown, 3 the non-systematic survey of a Betty Friedan, 4 and to the attempt of a Jessie Bernard to pull together data from many kinds of sources to provide some kind of overall picture of women in a particular field. 5. The 1For instance one bibliography compiled on the subject (Evylyn Perloff, Dept- of Psychology, Purdue University, 1965) lists articles which may be Categorized as follows: popular magazines such as Post, Harpers, Redbookv £83m. etc. , accounted for 28 articles; there was one Ph. D. dissertation (unpublished); professional and semi-professional journals (such as the Mrnal of the American Association of University Womery, accounted for 17 articles. The books listed were a little less on the strictly popular side With several of them having to do with the education of women—~or the question Of the Education of women. 2 George Gallup and Evan Hill, "The American Woman, 11 The Saturday W(December 22. 1962). p. 15 ff. 3 I Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl (New York: Pocket Books, “0.. 1962). 4 Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystifle (New York: W. W. Morton & 00.. Inc., 1963). 5 Jessie Bernard, Academic Women (University Park, Pa: The Pennsyl- vania State University Press, 1964). ‘ . “n h .‘ieststus of some . ,‘Oh m»; 0311211551011. “ . .. Tiere are many pets P“ as use: will make a ma :: :Ergrg feminine rule. 3.65:3 as the effect or 21:51. 3: in'.'estigate the ': tan-m strictly secu- .5 of the change {g s 52:515. 35. for instzzcc mes-the: hand. one : ,‘ ‘ "( 1;“.‘1'N'w ,c,’ “"'~"M4Cd .0118 V1 9“ t ' “$4.225 are not agree: $1.576 m ‘ acc...p.ete bu. ::s:::;;sltei. | 01' (1085 U5“ “~;[,Ee .. u“ ‘ :‘ , S 011M l ‘ t. dad {X‘t . ‘ . J“UC'3' ‘| phrhe I r L ‘AI I g I 6‘9 err'nr 1 Ln- . P a h " issue of the status of women has even been felt to deserve investigation by a presidential commission, with a number of publications resulting from this. 6 There are many perspectives from which one may view a problem and the view taken will make a major difference in the type of study. In the case of the changing feminine role, one may make it the central concern and ask such questions as the effect on the emotional and psychological stability of the women, or investigate the pattern of responses to a new culturally defined role. In a more strictly sociological sense one may study the causes and/ or consequences of the change for the larger social system of the change in role expectations, as, for instance, Nye and Hoi'fman7 attempt to do for the family. On the other hand, one may take the changing role as simply illustrative of a more general sociological or psychological concern such as a concern about roles w or role conflict, or social change. One can be concerned, from a communications viewpoint, about what happens when role expectations and Obligations are not agreed upon by both parties in an interaction situation, 1° e. . 18 there a complete breakdown of communication, a new set of expecta- tions established, or does the "deviant" give in and revert back to a more traditional set of expectations? In a role conflict situation, what are the ‘* ’ President's Commission on the Status of Women, American Women, (“Whingtom D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1963.) Reports of the individual committees of the Commission were also published in the individual fields of civil and political rights, education, federal employment, home and community, private employment, protective labor legislation, and social insurance and taxes. 7 F. Ivan Nye and Loise Wladis Hoffman (The Employed Mother in America, Chicago: Rand, McNally 8: Company, 1963). ::'"‘»‘.’.;:‘l‘. determine th: : 9::: select a particul; :31: :en roles by l-t); :Lkfieffigeeandgneap. :.359:9ssar)' for the new: .3:9: Cssler on The “f " :1: is Zargely descriptn 9321:: study of m 23' of 1 5:21: a‘so, is the atter- (2121: shared with the {\M ".5215: expectations dgff: L :1: ‘he matter of rm; 33.937135 0! the [an ‘ '33? 01' it: crucial Cami. —-T filer-g enectaumg .5..:::afeS a: lexpeclalirp variables which determine the direction in which the conflict will be resolved? Or, one may select a particular role as a case study of the process of accom- modation to new roles by a-typical incumbents. More Specifically, one may examine the degree and means of access as well as the changes and adjustments that are necessary for the new role to become institutionalized. The work of Margaret Cussler on The Woman Executive8 tends in this latter direction, though it is largely descriptive. Jessie Bernard's Academic Women9 is a documented study of many of these questions. Such, also, is the attempt of the present study. On the assumption, somewhat shared with the two above mentioned writings, that those cases in which the expectations differ most radically may be the most fruitful for insights into the matter of role change and role stress, it is a study of the women members of the United States House of Representatives. One of the crucial conditions for considering this as a case of particu- larly Conflicting expectations derives from the fact that the woman in this maition faces an expectation that even the woman executive or the woman academician seldom needs face. Her job, by definition, takes her away from the home area for most of the year. She must move to Washington. Thus the attempt to combine the core eXpectations of the feminine family role and the new role is particularly complex. For the unattached woman this may h Margaret Cussler, The Woman Executive, (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1958). 9 Bernard, op. cit. I: u. . A . ... f;st:::ents. Either . - n. _'...'» 4‘ U" 4,. {.1‘. .. ;:._.':.:..:V\ her. or e -'::."::s':-an «for the It I . 4 .:;.<::e rcle reversal szr satin} and generally 9.:-:11; soczal )Xl'éltii' "::‘-;‘I'n 9‘ 9‘25". a\&l.dd.e to ' t 5-. a l‘ "’ ,_ .F .r . ‘ :1 :greswoma“ " to. .. t' ..... a: mes. Therein re 3:“; ‘1 {ERICA es her hi" ‘2- .o.‘ ‘F_~ M - z . ‘\ t..- h’uuht an .4 . u 13211 :V . "-=;: -»|' " lAM'gn “‘ ‘ Q: .. a :1. U 0 ~ ‘3‘ are 81' 163: 7“.‘“' "(“Mr ‘~‘« 5 . r ”“‘e m 1"»- -‘... . "A 4!: 'ri .. ‘L‘CV‘M ‘ ma: q. - ‘ JC '4 ‘ta ‘~ ‘1‘. «I ., d a”) e ‘ e ‘ 6 11.13.1583 (4' 9.. , c F‘ "c iL.‘e prq"v§ k . r). , ‘ta. «‘1‘93.‘. 1 \‘L u.8u\oic 1.9 ‘c .“ .zw _ .e'“ i“ Q ‘L “the pr “St" .. 'rj'. cause no real problem. However, for the married one it demands some rather special adjustments. Either she must take the position in the family usually reserved by cultural definition for the male and determine the place of residence and let him follow her, or she must separate herself from her family--or at least her husband-~for the majority of the time. Even beyond this it will de— mand some role reversal since the position of Member of Congress is one of high visibility and generally high prestige and frequently will be a higher and more powerful social position than that of her husband. There being only one such position available to the family this may well mean that he will be known as "Mr. Congresswoman, " a designation not apt to cause much glee in most American Inales. Therefore, to a degree that few other positions in society demand, it removes her from the basic core of the feminine role--that center- ing around home and family. There are some other qualities that the position of Member of Congress has more in common with some of the other fields into which women are now entering, but that are at least somewhat at odds with the usual feminine role. It is highly competitive normally; to be successful one must have at least some access to the informal social structure of the Congress; one must pass judg- ment uDon a large number of issues and general policies; and one must make decisions on a quite pragmatic and universalistic set of criteria, not an ide- alistic and particularistic one. The focus of the present study is strictly sociological, not social psycho- logical. While it is concerned with role stress and role conflict, there is no ~23: to Stud} the etft" l ‘.’| ... . meet: an at: 3'7?“ 1‘ is“ ‘7 “ 95:3: enema-dons for if :iexsto: of legslatnr 2:51;. is suzzzciertiy infill ;:.-'2 :32: Whatever hand: -1993}. Mere the t 255.7201. llhere the: )2"! " II.“ l .9 issuable for then? L‘s; ‘~. A i .ree I“ I} 4 4“ L‘LI' v. 11“; ...... . rCIIe‘ attempt made to study the effect of conflict for psychological well-being. Neither is there an attempt to understand what having this kind of a position does to the expectations for the feminine role, or to the particular member as a woman, except perhaps incidentally. Instead the concern is primarily with the position of legislator in the situation where the woman has entered the field, is sufficiently motivated to stay in it that she seeks re-election, and must face whatever handicaps or assets are hers by virtue of being female in a male world. Where the two sociological roles come in conflict, stress will be assumed. Where these stress points occur and what resources or means are available for their alleviation is the general problem of the research. The study will be organized in the following fashion. Roles are enacted within a cultural context. Consequently, before a study as to whether a per- son conforms or deviates becomes meaningful, there must be some indication of the important aspects of the setting, in this case the Congress. Chapter TWO Will deal with the substantive literature on the House of Representatives and attempt briefly to touch on those aspects of structure, mores, or Special rules which may be of importance to the problem. This chapter will also re- view the literature on the legislator as a social position. Chapter Three will deal in abbreviated form with the cultural definition of the feminine role in contemporary society. The literature dealing with women in politics and leadership roles will be noted as well. Chapter Four will be devoted to a brief discussion of the concepts and definitions used and the basis for these concepts in the literature. Then, o ‘ Q . a; "3:: the various t. ,I . .J ’I‘t‘ xii/:4: hate gum ' e .. I 4 Ezezerai tn met}... .. .~- :19 the primary €37? ‘- In. 0' “F V :15 n v '- ..-""- F ‘. ‘ _._.,=.. hue 5. 4 C|""F' t ‘ I “ A Q .539. :9: I. -\t‘:.'1'l€.".“l‘.0 l V-II « 2.95 10:1}: for compar: >0 .'. -...: the s tting in a h. 1'04"? _1\ ‘ .- .- L~93 meet the e “'.—1:0‘fl‘b‘ Ifi . -...9..9. of. .he tz-t" 4.1 ~‘g’t.: 1‘s::“cQ Cha: ‘C-v- ': .. . ‘ ‘~| :1" .‘ ‘ “‘mu-ated ‘1‘ Q I , g '7 H'Ae‘* .L‘ g : _‘£ f‘ZG'F h'-,.\ :,_L V C‘ t r- V a", ‘lia’d"er \ P _ 0“. L‘ \T“‘; _."" drawing upon the various‘ types of literature reviewed, hypotheses will be pre- sented which have guided the actual research operation. In general the methodology used in this study would be labeled a case study since the primary emphasis will be on data collected about the women members of the 88th Congress. In addition, however, some data has been collected on all women who have ever been members of the House of Repre- sentatives, both for comparative or trend analysis, and to give some additional insight into the setting in which the current members work. The various methods used to collect the data will be described in Chapter Five. The his- torical material on the total female membership of the House will be presented in Chapter Six. Chapter Seven will provide the first presentation of data on just the women of the 88th House, and is a descriptive statement of the primary actors and their districts. Chapter Eight is the basic data analysis chapter in which the previously formulated hypotheses will be used as the framework within “1011 to view the findings. Finally, Chapter Nine will be an attempt to draw some implications from the material and make any conclusions which seem appropriate. TEE trcsufl'l’: .51: senesentatit'es ar ..... p ,.-..-:;.. states that "All this: of 9.:: United : :3.“ .~ -...5:9::attes. " B 8} r.‘ ‘- ié‘fi%.[;1\n . ~ ....i-c.. fifl‘l‘ 590 "x ’3“. " .xep'ears, and that I ._‘ LII .. of-.. ,.\r ‘V‘lt‘I‘; \gfln’ Q CHAPTER II THE LEGISLATURE AND THE LEGISLATIVE ROLE The House of Representatives The formal requisites for the position of member of the United States House of Representatives are few and relatively simple. The United States Constitution states that "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. "1 Beyond this," it declares that members of the House shall be chosen every second year, that they shall have attained the age of twenty-five years, and that they shall be residents of the states from which they are elected at the time of such election. It further states that when " - - vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies. "2 Finally . "the House of Representatives shall‘chuse (sic) their Speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. "3 k. 1 U.S., Constitution, Art. 1, sec. 1. 2 Ibid. , Art. 1, sec. 2. In this respect the House differs from the Senate where vacancies are filled by appointment of the governor of the state until the next regularly scheduled election. 3 U. S. , Constitution, Art. 1, sec. 5. 5.19 if 9.6 above says. ':;:":t at she is elected. 715 oilh have since grow gieirstplace. The Cons: :;;:is generally know n t ‘:;;7:c::5;de the frameu 473=T.'-:?a'.ic or Republic 3: '2resiient of his state--l “‘0“ .. ize pc'utical ream None of the above says a great deal about what the member shall actually do once he or she is elected, nor does it even intimate much about the informal norms which have since grown up around the process of obtaining the position in the first place. The Constitution, for instance, says nothing about parties, though it is generally known today that seldom is one elected to this type of a position outside the framework of a political party, and this is usually either the Democratic or Republican party. It is also accepted that a member is not only a resident of his state-—however residency may be defined—-but of his district. The political realities of life normally also decree that this residency is one of some long standing unless his is a well-known name otherwise. In addition, these realities mean that generally speaking, his initial election at least is likely to be preceded by a fairly vigorous campaign at either the pri- mary or general election. A certain amount of party in-fighting and maneuver- ing may occur even if the campaign itself is quite sedate. But these are only a part of the institutional norms which have grown up around the position. They may even vary quite distinctly with the type of dis— trict, Party strength, the national political picture, or other related factors. Those norms having to do with the structure and functioning of the House are more diStinctly institutionalized yet. Some of these norms may be referred to Simply as "rules of the game" and seem to be more or less consistent for any legishture in a democratic society. Others are unique to the body under con- sideration. Whatever the degree of generality, the fact is that there are definable and important norms of behavior which have a great deal to do with .-«- {I Athh the SEE.“ . u ‘yl. .1,- Warren: 1 to ur... "'a-“x-fiffice, with a. legzsiamrs gather s-r-rrrzate to that are:i $21210 their individ; 3:: 15'. a locus for so ' .:a'.l=.' choose or u 15h gradirg each mezz ' 1: 2... Ir: assuming off :ifse‘ere "'“"’aticns C: Agulgt Eetleases or on “hate: 31299 Structure R“. Licsenrns to the L'. S. ..... ~15 ;s :6 House at “Orin . £1“ ‘h . "‘9‘“: COMV ....n:’.tee at? ‘. 5. 5“? 'w- M ' ylh a...m‘ sant. Lh/lr‘. ”5‘13- il. the comp: .. k ‘K. . 4 . in: HEY. A “e in {-179th If I“ V .et'e n -. a; 36 11361.10!»ng ‘el a brief (3,, £13"? ‘ .'.. . h 1” "5 “bl ILL 10 the manner in which the system operates. As Wahlke and his associates eXpresa it, . . . fundamental to understanding the legislature is the fact that, in taking office, with all their differences in background and out- look, legislators gather together in a common arena to take actions appropriate to that arena, not for doing whatever might randomly come into their individual minds to do. The legislative arena is not just a locus for so many persons to behave as they idiosyncrat- ically choose or wish. It provides boundaries to legislative behavior by providing each member with certain premises of decision common to all. In assuming office, the individual legislator accepts a set of severe limitations on his discretion to act for whatever purpose he pleases or on whatever impulse might seize him.4 The Committee Structure . If one turns to the U. S. House of Representatives, one of the norms long recognized and frequently commented upon, is that the House in its com- mittees is the House at work. Most of an individual member's influence is related to his committee assignment and committee seniority. Most of the tedious, but important, point-by—point consideration of legislation is done there and with it, the compromising. To the novice in the field, the logical place to look for work of the House might seem to be the floor of the chamber itself, rather than the committee room, However, a brief description of the action on the floor should suffice to indicate that this is not necessarily the key place of work. The floor of the House chamber is large with long rows of padded seats conneCted together in bench fashion forming a semi-circle around the center or W811. The back rows are slightly elevated, giving a general amphitheater \ ‘ 4 1 John C. Wahlke et a1. , The Legislative System: Explorations in Legis- ative Behavior (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1962). P- 135- ' ‘ A ‘I V‘" 3:33:13}. '3“ “99“” v " . no i v rug-‘- V. a 'e -,..£L- vgflhflfi AWLI ytteione Sid . 56 - '5 'bsened :hat freque-r.‘ “0.. n r;- .. ‘ .- ' v- I U l ~D>c r“? .v..;:g an ordinary aftc .- :‘S‘. says, allowing ! :_.: :.e venous other-rs ‘3 “Eli“ in ‘ .f'fittg ‘ ire b . ark l'cy “ «cell . axes in approxin: gamed by a raised 11 impression. Around all sides of the room runs a rather large aisle where a member may, and frequently does, pause, smoke, converse, and observe the situation at large. A center aisle divides the left from the right and each party is allotted one side. Seats in the chamber are not assigned, though it may be observed that frequently the same people sit together in a group, and even many times in approximately the same place. The center of the semi— circle is occupied by a raised dias on which is the Speaker's desk as well as space for the various officers and recorders of the House. During an ordinary afternoon session—~the House is called to order at noon on most days, allowing the mornings to be used for committee sessions-- the population is small. Frequently only thirty to forty members are in the chamber at all, and these may be engrossed in their mail or a daily paper or perhaps standing in the back talking-~behaviors which would promptly get a visitor expelled from the gallery. The person at the microphone seems to be Speaking largely for the benefit of the House reporters and those few other members who have a major interest in the bill in question. The assumption of most members is that if anything of significance is said, it will reach them by way of the grapevine or can be read the following morning in the Record. Should either a quorum call or a roll call vote he asked, and should there not be enough members then on the floor to make a quorum, the bells will sound around the Capitol summoning the absent members. The Clerk reads the roll Of 435 names througi once, and then goes back and re-reads those who failed to anSWer the first time. By the end of the second call, those who did not 2.1;: a time to use er 4 . :‘tzni the dias. uhe »-'.-:e:;urd "em as ,. um . V ’ :pi' Q .' r f' 73% ‘ tubule: and i '.::s: s soon as the ca .~'.'f'. :e Ste House at u C! There are, of tours: nominee. “here i“ there the Spec. “ra‘uoq' ‘:\:u me's UnCe 3' S B k Nel‘emv ore h ‘1 h . h... ”a. ‘ ‘ , (Woe: fit } . ,l ’x. \‘. rarf, Yrd ‘ ‘ “‘5 I ‘;5 6‘0 12 make it in time to answer either time will gather in noisy, good-natured con- fusion around the dias where the chief clerk will recognize them individually, and duly record them as "present. " The whole process will last from thirty to forty-five minutes and frequently is followed by a mass exodus from the chamber as soon as the call is over and business resumed. Obviously this cannot be the House at work. There are, of course, sessions where what happens on the floor is of crucial importance, where nearly all of the members are present, the galleries are filled, where the speeches are eloquent or informative-~or both--and where the outcome is uncertain. An almost electric air pervades the place on occasions such as this, often exciting the most cynical and hardened of political observers. Yet, neither is this the House at work. What is occurring in this setting is the final culmination--the moment of truth—-which comes only at the end of much previous discussion, debate, polishing, studying, compro- raising, and planning. Though the words may be eloquent, for the most part they are directly aimed at only a few uncertain swing votes. The hard work, the lining up of the majority of the members has long since taken place. High drama, definitely yes! But this is not the day—to-day work routine. Consequently one must return to the committee system to understand much of what makes the House the institution it is. Many of its most important norms center around this fact. The enterprising freshman member who wants to get ahead is told that the committee system is the core of the legislative process 3:5 tat the best way tr. singles is to partici; 3:3. There he shoulc ;l;j:.:g down other inter "4&an of other cu- “I. 4 Iietlasic work comma: xiii fit? from. one sess; 34:51: _:ersor.ne1. Open:- ::-:2:u13r£ybecause of 1}- "LfCECaL'SC of retiremer ;-::;:::o:rittees are 1hr .. i} “lay of defeat. F1 r.- ::r‘i'fir.llitlcal prouess z: “1:.caierstip and those v i”? \.‘ . n ~ts aV‘I‘r .. f'f’repluceShiL\ ' ‘t Ch,” “€95 0’1 the ‘t. 13 and that the best way to attract the favorable attention of his colleagues is to participate wholeheartedly in his committee work. There he should develop a specialty and concentrate on playing down other interests he may have that fall within the jurisdiction of other committees. 5 The basic work committees of the House are standing committees and are held over from one session of the Congress to the next with relatively few changes in personnel. Openings on the major prestigeous committees usually come about only because of the natural attrition of death or defeat, or occa— sionally because of retirement from the House--and members appointed to the major committees are the professional politicians who are least likely to fall by way of defeat. First chance at the choice spots is then largely a matter of political prowess and acceptance by one's colleagues-—especially by the leadership and those on the committee to which one aspires--and having served one's apprenticeship by the time an appropriate opening becomes available. Changes on the less important committees are somewhat more f”Went. due in part to the greater attrition rate both by resignation and de- feat, and in part to the struggle to shift committees and find a suitable niche before one begins the climb up the seniority ladder. On the committee all ”we? as far as formal position is concerned depends on one's length of service on that committee relative to other members of one's own party. The committees are almost all organized around general substantive ”988. though these tend to overlap with the result that jurisdiction over a \ 5 0‘ Charles L. Clapp. The Congressman: His Work as He Sees It (Garden “3': Anchor Books, Doubleday and Company. Inc. , 1963), p. 13. 1hr fill may become 8 3532.12 pciitlcal "usef‘g 1:1; irided into three g 1: Cartesian, houexer. :.';-'.‘ariffalrs or Publlt :ezber as a result . Ereeconmzttees are 1:; l is and Means. sen'ecnoo other. At liencommttees are :zezf'herr. and any orl 7:916: are: Agriculturl ::.l:a::i:and Labor. 1 fem-rec. Judiciary. «iris, and Science a: recon-exclusive. A : tray one of them and 23688. lhesex'er. _____ a: - House Admins u t r. l! 5"“. “d l ., ,‘ .E a“ Rs}. "- LTS.‘ I. 1‘ 5.37.633 '« . I“. . y . e. A v.- 4 WI, “ were 14 particular bill may become a matter of controversy. Varying in prestige and their general political "usefulness" to a member, the committees are con- veniently divided into three groups: exclusive, semi-exclusive, and non-exclu- sive. On occasion, however, a less prestigeful committee such as Interior and Insular Affairs or Public Works may be an extremely important one for a given member as a result of its relationship to his particular district. Three committees are exclusive--namely, Appropriations, Rules, and Ways and Means. A member who serves on any of these can serve on no other. An occasional exception is made however. 6 (2) Ten committees are semi-exclusive; members may serve on any one of them and any one of the seven non-exclusive committees. The ten are: Agriculture, Armed Services, Banking and Currency, Education and Labor, Foreign Affairs, Inter-state and Foreign Commerce, Judiciary, Post Office and Civil Service, Public Works, and Science and Astronautics. (3) Seven committees are non-exclusive. A nember may serve on any two of these seven, or any one of them and any one of the ten semi-exclusive com- mittees. The seven are: District of Columbia, Government Oper- ations, House Administration, Interior and Insular Affairs, Mer- chant Marine and Fisheries, Un-American Activities, and Veterans Affairs. 7 Assignment to a particular committee, or committees, is of major con- 8equence to a member of the House. "Not only is the fate of most legislative k In the 88th Congress, for instance, fifteen members who held positions on exelusive committees also served on one or two Joint Committees, which are committees composed of members of both the House and the Senate. They are primarily study committees. In addition, six members who served on an exclusive committee also sat on another standing House committee. Five 0f these six served on Rules, the other on Appropriations. Nicholas A. Masters, "Committee Assignments," New Persgectives We of Representatives, ed. Robert L. Peabody and Nelson W. lsby (Chicago: Rand McNally and Co., 1963), pp. 44-45. "T4“ ietermined in corn: ":9: may“ he decides. - ""u\ -. ..- 3173:? on the kind of C0 atteiieztnfied uith or : :1.- :'-: committee, 3 Co 71‘. '51:: 31:35 hm: to do lit I =attet::eicsuledgeal>1e - 7' ;" ‘rn-u“£~ up”: -..u.....l..ees, of co :8.“ :.:;..... will give him a 7212mm. " Ce "lth pa 1’ 1...," . fires are nettrallx~ th L.P“ ' “4- rgnlli‘d «a . such as if. _ _ C burn—.1399. r‘“ N. «u :';C re“ . ‘5‘.C-‘e:‘s of l’\ 5s i" die ~ 'A‘ We o A, f“ _ ”1 'rlth pare, 5 “ .3 " h.y [th hp 15 Preposals determined in committee; to an important degree the fate of individual congressmen may be decided there too. A person's congressional career may rest largely on the kind of committee post he is given. "8 Since his best chance to become identified with or Sponsor legislation is legislation which is considered in his own committee, a committee position which has no significance for his district allows him to do little that will impress his particular constituents or even become knowledgeable about their problems. Appointment to one of the exclusive committees, of course, is both recognition of,and access to,power, which in turn will give him a chance to Speak out on important issues and will give him influence with people who can be of use to his constituents. The major committees are naturally the most in demand. Those likely to have little Political reward, such as the District of Columbia committee or House Ad- ministration Committee, may have to go begging for recruits. How, then, does assignment occur? To begin with, each party is respon— sible for assignments of its own members to its committee vacancies. Theo- retically the majority party could organize the entire House and handle assign- ments for both parties; in practice this is never done. Also, once a member is on a committee, normally be will not be removed except at his own request. If. however, the relative strength of the two parties shifts after a given election so that a party no longer has a claim to as many seats on a committee as they have I‘Bturning members of that committee, then the member with the least seniority on the committee is re-assigned until a vacancy again appears. \ 8 Clapp. 02. cit. , p. 207. mar 5112859 no 5‘3 .im -1; 555131131 members U ‘0 I ,-- 1. ,c o ‘igarclzlca ”a "HE'TFE On the \\a\ ‘LZZrEiS a". especially dz Y f;- great panics. p :3: 9592:: a glien {:0 :e:s.:f':;s rezon for u: ;;?.Iicats 1 25:0 3 31:13:86 on Corr. 3:111. 'E':a‘~ .rg Reminca’ létg a me ecusl tr: Julio“. . .th-c '- 't‘.;&&.51;b(‘(. "Mi”ee \‘pu k 661$. Le appr oval "v“ ‘v. “.4. nee. 16 Given these two starting facts, each party proceeds in slightly different fashion to assign members to the committees. The result in either case is more or less oligarchical control. The Democrats entrust the decision to their members on the Ways and Means Committee (which means that this committee is an especially desirable one for the Democrats since it carries potential for great political power.) Each Democratic member on Ways and Means represents a given geographical region and it is up to him to nominate members of his region for other committee posts. The Republicans instead rely on a special committee. Their Committee on committees . . . consists of one member from each state having Republican representation in the House, each member casting a vote equal to the number of Republicans in his state's delegation. . . . Because such a large group is unwieldy . . . a Special subcommittee is designated to prepare the party list, subject to the approval of the full committee and the party policy committee. 9 Even given these formal mechanisms within which to work, the actual a'SSigflrnent process is still a very complex matter with a great deal of indi- vidual campaigning going on, especially for the important available positions. Such Campaigning involves the whole Spectrum of behavior designed to influence the members of the Committee on Committees and the chairman of the committee on which one desires to sit. Involved in such procedures are personal calls and letters, having influential other persons call or make contact on one's behalf. and having the dean of one's state delegation lobby for the preferred position With the leadership- \ 9 Ibid. , p. 211-12. .- in .y _- s w, 11L Ni '13,; strategifal.}’ l 3.»; his cmmitu ‘ ‘ ;,.. 135-“. we than! II . l ' :1; on \s as am with he is intere- ‘-_:,: :m on Wars :e:Eer's deiega: Zaiizuen. come seeing Ll‘.f0l‘.".‘.3 :rsies of key pa: 31232. be use?“ scheme fax met} 6 “Elaine of the a 0 ‘ ' Y‘ I V .1 La, 2.30 be :e. .‘ g h, ‘. :9 5215 Cf; n I .V \ , , \. .aLr'er 0+"’ ~. ‘ mg. l! If". r N‘ 'F. . "‘ k -'v- u.‘t \ 1.3 l‘ c», '~..:.§ r» c H‘ “‘5.6 Kr G} I-\. . '1.‘ ‘A0‘ “ 7‘ «m 3’4 'f ‘w‘ -$ ‘5: ‘D l t! ’| :-d |‘- \I p‘ Iii? h~“‘ 'v u‘ .. ' ~' t “"1 | F \ L. “~ 17 One strategically placed observer believes that "as a minimum, when his party is in the majority, a freshman Democrat should make his committee preferences known to the Speaker, the Majority Leader, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, his zone man on Ways and Means, and the chairman of any committees in which he is interested. " To this list one could add all others of his party on Ways and Means, the party Whip, and the dean of the member's delegation. In addition, conversations with state colleagues may be helpful in providing information about the outlook, interests, and idiosyn- crasies of key participants in the committee selection process, which can be useful in determining the approach most likely to achieve favorable results. One seasoned congressman emphasizes the value of the face-to-face encounter. It may also be helpful to enlist the support of any national or state party leaders who enjoy the respect and confidence of key members of the leadership or the Ways and Means Committee. 10 All in all. it's an arrangement which one might expect from politicians. Generally speaking, the chairman or the ranking member of the party on the committee has the right to veto a particular aspirant of his party, though this does not always hold true. There is general accord that the leadership of both parties exerts much influence on committee assignments and that it should do so, but it seems clear that most House members feel that this power Should be--and usually is--exercised with discretion and with a light rather than a heavy hand. 11 Actual criteria used to assign the member are probably quite complex and Perhaps a little variable. In his study of committee assignments, Masters argues that in and of itself the professional background of an individual 'is “x 10 Ibid. , p. 221-22. 11 Ibid., p. 217. .- ‘ Off“ 7" IL! ’6 {Husk I . ' I. A .. -.'. N. h. r . 'N‘Vb. M u Y.. ‘1 ::£ :0 if U u' ”V29 1?. 17.16? :."..‘5 etc. Ex ,. d. ‘ . 9“. fix: wee..- H-.. Mutuao .1 " Nth-AL a“... 1 .A‘ Ll ‘>.'~. sfid'ina. |_l O~H1~Iy.~“. I .t. L huh“.~ :~‘*I “g a, an..‘|‘ " " I ‘ V '1‘, r h ~ 5‘ ‘- " ‘ «in. u "d:‘ '1 V i 3.." H. «era u.-. m..»‘:‘&‘ N D ~.‘. -.. . ‘ u “_ J“ “'5‘ lit at -L y’- 18 Seldom the controlling factor in his assignment, though there are a few general rules which both parties abide by relating to this. For instance, members appointed to the Judiciary Committee are almost always lawyers. Extensive experience in international relations makes one a logical choice for Foreign Affairs, etc. But he reports that "all agreed that holding elective office, par- ticularly a state legislative office, outweighed any other type of professional experience as a qualification for any committee assignment. "12 The three factors which he found do seem to be most often considered, at least in selection for a major committee, are: (1) legislative responsibility, (2) type of district represented, and (3) geographical area represented. 13 The most crucial of these is the first. According to the party leaders and the members of the committees- on-committees, a responsible legislator is one whose ability, attitudes, and relationships with his colleagues serve to enhance the prestige and importance of the House of Representatives. He has a basic and fundamental respect for the legislative process and understands and appreciates its formal and informal rules. He has the respect of his fellow legislators, and particularly the respect of the party leaders. He does not attempt to manipu- late every situation for his own personal advantage. In the con- Sideration of issues, he is careful to protect the rights of others; he is careful to clear matters that require clearance; and he is careful about details. He understands the pressures on the mem- bers with whom he cannot always agree and avoids pushing an issue to the point where his opponents may suffer personal embar- rassment. . . . He demonstrates a willingness to compromise. He is moderate, not so much in the sense of his voting record and his personal ideology, but rather in the sense of a moderate \ 12 Masters, op. cit. , p. 55. 13 Ibid. , p. 46. ‘ -' ' an“. :5 . .‘ yu‘ “ law“. . v. u ‘ 0 fl; ‘ .:e 1:79”; “‘3 c-n'af 4‘ ,w". < ...:3 Gus-”L" .jfyggcy ‘wzttz'?! . a: l . o; . f‘ 'l .1, ”(N‘ H \ ...-..-v-4 V """ .m ; “its 5; tr. protes: mine up of the hu. .0 " q... .. The gel-1'2 fl 2;; 1““ '.r« v- .“ .1 ,. Fp—y- mu 4 a“ w” . 4 i ' h ‘\ ‘ch ha ,‘| {NA “Au-lute ' I c .. NH. '. ' ._ 5"“. 'ugll “a"! }. f' ‘3' Q\ . ‘ ‘ ..:A'h - ,_ “P1 i ‘5‘ \ ”A: ‘s \. ‘ .. a". \; u I .‘ t ‘. s.‘ a a w. t... \1 . n r w‘ i . J‘ O lm .. L l ‘A; 19 approach; he is not found on the uncompromising extremes of the political spectrum. 14 The "type of district" criterion means that the leadership prefers a man from a safe district, one which will allow him to make controversial decisions on major policy without constant fear of reprisal at the polls. In assigning important positions to these the idea is also reinforced that the rewards should by rights go to professionals--the veterans who have earned the privilege of being at the top of the ladder and in many ways have made theirs a "safe district." The geographical criterion is of less importance for most commit- tees, although Appropriations and Ways andMeans have specific geographical , seats. There is some consideration given to maintaining a certain geographical balance on some other committees as well. Both parties take it for granted that wheat, cotton and tobacco areas should have the majority of representation on the (Agriculture) committee. . . . The same general reasoning applies to other committees as well. Assignments to Public Works, Interior and Insular Affairs,or Merchant Marine and Fisheries are usually based on the ecological make-up of the members' districts, so as to allow them to serve their constituent interests and protect their incumbency. 15 Masters goes on to note that in the case of the Education and Labor Com- mittee each party has made some Special assessments of those people who are placed on it. This is the committee that has jurisdiction over some potentially very explosive issues--ranging from school desegregation to mangement-labor relations . 14‘Ibld. , pp. 46-47. 15Ibid., p. 50. is 2:6 PET-3' Cl“ 262‘. ;s m:- plat: grad. . . - D aa-P‘. 7" “"lvw Lug-4 r.|u*‘* " .‘g. p‘, utn- ‘ r.“ gt. Inn-"f. 5 ~39- ~"‘e€ Examlluvl ' ‘ ‘ ” FI‘L’ ‘IF'Tf; r n Lat-but Ann‘st.‘ a La . riser. are 1'! . : . "a .0! it 0?)" .. .. w l “c :..-e.\ “A :Lpi‘;: 'i 2. y“" . . ‘.'u&.l, he“ «I . A 1;. ' .- \ "we. . h) in. 3') ._-. : 1 n: F._ ung: Crm-vg . ‘ § \ “"‘H‘ott ‘ l ._ ‘2 . h» H! I ~ ~ “Chair" .w‘. u ;I. x O" I Mulsa 'go “-r P, "NA “- m d“ '""-,E",L..1 Huff.’ ‘ A h 1’; ‘1‘, “a ‘Eae" ‘AS TV P-E‘5 \_ -:i‘» . '20 As the party committees have seen it in recent years, this assign- ment is no place for a neutral when there are so many belligerents around. . . . Democrats have felt that only members who can afford politically to take an outright pro-labor position-~i. e. , who get union support for election-~shou1d be assigned to this committee. . . . Republicans appear to have concluded, too, that it is impossible to take a moderate position on labor-management issues. They also dissuade members from applying for this committee when it might impair their chances for reelection. Republican assignees, however, are more likely to take a pro-management or non—labor view for the obvious reason that fewer Republicans receive overt political support from organized labor . . . 16 Overall, however, the most important factor in assigning committees is placing a man on a committee that will help him be re-elected. Or, con- versely, on some occasions assignments of little political value may be given deliberately as a mark of disapproval or for "the good of the order. " Once committees are in operation they have what amounts to a life or death hold on legislation. The decision by a committee, or many times the decision by the chairman of a committee, to pigeonhole or kill a bill means that there is almost no chance for the rest of the House to consider it at all. The manner in which the political differences are hammered out in committee on the bill that is presented, and the degree of support which the committee gives the bill on the floor of the House will be important factors in whether or not it is passedinto law. 161bid. , pp. 51-52. _ ‘ 'li ".‘ .3531? A. Leak" 31122857959? 4;:gmlaui Bier. a 5:11 is 1 1‘9efien 9.::72211135: that it 33:266. hearj «3112'; 36 handle . n. J 4" I. "were of in: km”; \.‘ u \ 1.4ij ‘p- s ..e t: ‘DI . h, . -~.- 1 »-., 2h n . ! _ “A . E s" ‘ '0‘ r; ‘ \“mP 1.. I. A ‘~\efl 0 v.. at“. "n, fr- ‘(U'v- w. ,1, , ,h ‘ "‘t' K IA . T‘- ;, .H h“ 21 The Passage of Legislation While the general procedure is well known, a brief review here of the way in which a bill becomes a law may serve to point up areas which will be of significance later. When a bill is proposed it is first assigned to a committee for consider- ation by the Speaker. Assuming that the chairman is not opposed to its con- sideration and that it is of importance when compared with the other work of the committee, hearings are called to consider the merits of the bill itself. 17 These may be handled by either the full committee or by a subcommittee depending upon the structure of that particular standing committee. If as- signed to a subcommittee for original jurisdiction, in most cases it then is the prerogative of the subcommittee chairman to schedule hearings and meet- ings regarding the bill. Questioning of witnesses is on the basis of seniority in most committees, and while the time is theoretically divided in some fair manner, in practice the person chairing the meeting can use considerable discretion. At the conclusion of the hearings the bill is discussed or "marked up" in executive session of the subcommittee-~or of the full committee if they were all involved in the hearings--debated, reworked, debated again, 17One of the values in having substantive areas somewhat overlapping as far as the committees are concerned is that if the Speaker is aware that one chairman or one committee might be difficult to deal with on a bill that the leadership considers of importance, he can on some pretext assign it to another committee. Or sometimes this is done to encourage support and commitment from members who are valuable but who might otherwise be only lukewarm in their support. ‘ .‘r ,' .I 1.49:. an. if.“ . :7 flexible. to t \ C‘ITJZlIItés a: is chairman. {sear rcle 0: 50:9 a:ter.t;<;r. are 5‘38! the g 25 $351.} :3: Me large Ct; SE: than t: the ' ”i u :I‘ hate ac“; i'i.‘ at: L14 ”"3? .. n '2: fi‘ 1 f f (t I) o r '5 LI“ 0.; 7 m ._ f m '1 r:- I.) n,..'I€55€5 file i . ‘ ‘ tn Cha‘“:ler (l: 22 revised, and finally hammered into something which is at least acceptable, if not desirable, to the majority of the members. Alternately, if no con- sensus can be reached at all, it still may be pigeonholed. Committees are variously run, depending on the temperament of the chairman. He has the widest latitude, and he may play the Caesar role or not, as he sees fit. Most committees are run with some attention to junior members. According to seniority, they are given the privilege of questioning witnesses. This privilege is vastly appreciated when granted, resented when not. Of course, in the large committee, the pickings may be a little lean when they get down to the freshman. But, being a politician, he will extract some advantage from the most meager bones. 18 Many times the hearings seem to be m forma, just going through the motions, with the key decisions already made. They resemble a large verbal orchestration, as a "record" is carefully shaped under the vigilant gavel of the chairman. A standard parade of witnesses files by from the national organizations--A.F. of L, ,U. S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers-- then a seasoning of university professors, and so on. The wit- nesses are carved up or blown up, or tailored to the need. Some are dismissed pre-emptorily, others are drawn out solicitously. 19 Assuming that it is reported out of sub-committee--and after some of the same treatment in executive session, out of the entire committee—-it goes to the Rules Committee. Originally designed to serve somewhat the function of a traffic officer, the Rules Committee is that body which sets the conditions of debate for most general legislation in the House of Representatives. If the particular bill is objectional to a majority of the members of the Rules Committee-—and much 18Clem Miller, Member of the House: Letters of a Congressman (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1962), p. 7. 19Ibid. , p. s. .>‘ ‘ ~.W L372 “T " ., D .L ‘\ “‘ , , V I‘ . r ' - as m .e( v . “l...- (.0. tit. 69 gr 1‘5”: :e .5213 at 1:368: it .t' react. the f”. "(A :;:e:‘:ers of Bile 15:.3'. r" L. 5—1 Santiaxjce :l ‘u ,...‘.' a ... «3" r: °‘v~-- MA A hac ‘ :3: “g” - O “‘Lua.‘ “; ‘ It 23 liberal legislation has been as the committee has been a stronghold of con— servatism for some time—~that particular bill may never receive a rule at all, or else may receive one designed to limit the likelihood of its passage. Therefore, though technically capable of coming up under the appropriate calendar or under the discharge petition, a bill without a rule is, in fact, not likely to reach the floor for debate and a vote on passage. On the other hand, the members of Rules are definitely professional politicians, and they are, as such, amenable to the norms of the profession and of the House. They are aware of the fact that completely arbitrary action in disregard of the majority wish of the House eventually will bring about their own downfall. Basically this means that any member interested in the process of getting legislation passed, therefore, needs not only some understanding of how the whole process operates, but some kind of contact with the influential people on both the appropriate substantive committee (which is why his own committee assignment is crucial) and on Rules. Certainly it is true that not all decisions with regard to legislation are made on the rational basis of the testimony or debate heard on the merits of the bill! Even an issue that seems to have a great deal of interest in it and much merit may need Special attention. Clem Miller, ex-member of the House, describes it thus. . . you seem to have a good case, the problem is a lively one, and yet action is Slow. Take the idea for reactivating the Civilian Conservation Corps. This is very much in the public eye now since several states and municipalities have taken it up on a local c fps. Census , . 2.396 Chafing. r’qlu (v- 'er res...‘ aim“ t 4474')": v- H . 1.4;”; .0. lb 3. 5‘ If ~ 0 st.rage::en. ’P!‘. ‘M \g Q -L 3 time is h . -.. , . i:t.oo: . I '1‘ 'v h” tn‘ 'v-f Of». An: d.t... .. _ ‘ n~ 2223180 ix: .‘3 v-u‘" 4!‘ _. W“ M; ‘JA .. '. ‘gauy-i .' -._‘, ‘ ca: bee IL‘ 4.. 'k -.J-‘ x) - ‘ ‘“€3«.g€:er - f‘a ‘I .t‘ ‘H‘QJE', 24 basis. Committee members are eager to hear it. Yet, the com- mittee chairman seems reluctant to move. ' Usually there is a reason; frequently it is not readily apparent. Then you have to go digging for it and by patient spadework allay suspicions, provide encouragement, or uncover idiosyncracies. Much of a congress- man's time is taken up with this kind of sleuthing, to pry his legis- lation loose. Much of a congressman's effectiveness may be wrapped up in his talent for applying the leverage. This factor can be over- estimated. When all is said and done, legislation seems imbued with a will of its own. 20 Because of the wide variety of topics on which legislation is passed, no one member can be expected to be completely conversant with each bill, or even with each general area. Consequently the House has evolved into a group of specialists, each given reSpect when he speaks in his own area of compe- tence. The "House type" is seen by many as a Specialist. "Basically I think the House type is an infighter, an operator. He is not a speaker; he may speak, but he does not speak fre- quently. " "If you are going to take for the House type a man who makes a career of the House, you could add the fact that he is primarily a worker, a Specialist, and a craftsman--someone who will concentrate his energies in a particular field and gain prestige and influence in that. "21 It is through being known as a Specialist that he gains influence and importance. Because he is a Specialist other members defer to his judgment on those issues--and to a certain degree a halo effect may make the real specialist in one area acceptable as an authoritative voice in another, though commentators are quick to point out that the good man doesn't speak unless he actually does know something about the issue at hand. 20min. , p. 11. 21 Clapp. op. cit. , p. 20. 5...... q - - .‘0 \M‘ mite "5 ““‘ 2:1} 56 3C 5 9.33“ ‘ ,., ,4 a: {firluwh 'Q -2...Lo .4 \v “'“‘“ 1 — a. Q 1] ..-;-e P ". .:_‘f.&_ re: ‘L'C’L b y'I-; ‘tnthT1Q.‘)’ n ~~..-'v¢ u‘h‘lul" ' II -.‘ \' - 13.5..“ 37.97;, m. .. '.‘~‘ ’ . ~:: dune :C LP‘C' ewea‘té‘ . J .x i. ' .-.o ‘ ‘tt ICAJ‘ '1‘ N... P: ‘ Jl-L J1 ‘:S Cr. 25 Despite its importance, recognition as a specialist is a relative matter. One may be accepted as a hard-working and knowledgeable member of the District of Columbia committee, but this does not grant the political leverage or general respect that being a specialist on Interstate and Foreign Commerce or the Appropriations Committee does. It may earn one the eternal gratitude of one's fellow members who are thus relieved of responsibilities which promise little to them in the way of political reward in their home districts, but gratitude is a less politically important commodity than is expertise in some other area. Therefore, a part of the judgment of the House of a man's worth is the matter on which he is an expert. To return to the issue of debate and passage of the bill itself, it must be remembered that a bill is not automatically assured passage once it is reported out of its committee and granted a rule. Even should it receive a favorable recommendation from its committee, and even should it have been tailored to fit the assumed mood of the House, there is still the process of actual debate and passage. In actuality comparatively few bills still hang in the balance and depend on floor debate to make the crucial difference as to whether or not they will pass. Many times, however, floor debate is very important in determining the form in which they will pass. Appropriations bills are usually so technically involved that to attempt to amend or change them on the floor is considered folly. They usually will pass with strong margins, eSpecially if the committee presents a united front in support-- which tendsto be its policy. Other issues which tend to have a great Rate as such 3:24:31 3? at a‘” :5 Rzies C0221: I 1 ‘ “-¢ ”-5: 3e [@3364 I " any. if '1 ....2”.'lll'.'u5- 5::e general re H“ . ‘VJ " H L ‘§ “ ~ M‘ nJi ELF a VA .'--‘ in. ‘. P ;.. : t- .‘ \g! V ‘ 26 deal of political sensitivity in the home districts may not get by as easily. Debate as such goes through three general phases. Once the bill is to be brought up at all, the debate begins on the resolution regarding the rule that the Rules Committee has granted to that piece of legislation. A resolu- tion must be passed accepting the rule, and an hour is allotted to debate the rule itself-—half of the time being given each party and controlled by a mem- ber of that party who sits on the Rules Committee. On occasion, if it seems that the leadership is attempting to use the rule as a means of limiting debate or amendments on a controversial subject, the debate on the rule may be quite acrimonious. Normally, however, the debate on the rule is minor, with some general remarks on the substance of the legislation not being un- common. Once the resolution has been passed adopting the rule, the House formally resolves itself into the Committee of the Whole House to discuss the bill. This is a parliamentary device only, but it allows for a smaller quorum than is necessary when the House is in session, and votes are not recorded on any issue. By tradition the Speaker does not preside over the Committee of the Whole but appoints someone to serve as the chairman. Should the legislation be either controversial or technical the presiding officer needs a great deal of parliamentary skill, skill that can only have been obtained by serving in the capacity of chairman on less important issues. Thus, being selected for such a duty is normally considered an it -_‘-‘»""m yuan: gases :2! pass lie: the Car ....' .o‘hw. t . :ciati bide, l r, ....._.,6d 1,.“ L":‘E_§E.'=‘ 31- A: ... _' . .. j " :£;:‘93u Whitfi w. »':.e or. rem 5;: :3} 39 1'6; 5- p .. \ “ to E a. .L t id c «V I) -i-hhl "51' 7,. .‘_a~.‘i’ t? T‘ .(s’ ”p 3r” ‘gLY’ 27 honor, even if the legislation under consideration is not of great consequence. Certainly anyone who is never given such a chance to preside would never be considered for possible leadership positions. After the Committee of the Whole has debated the bill for its allotted period of time, it rises and reports back its findings and recommendations and suggested alterations-~if such have been allowed-—to the House of Rep- resentatives, which is to say to itself. There will be further debate accord- ing to the rule granted, amendments officially voted upon, and finally a crucial vote on recommittal and the vote on passage. Votes in this final stage may be recorded individually if requested properly, though more fre- quently used is the voice vote, a standing division of the House, or a Teller vote--a device where one lines up and marches past one point to be counted "yea" and another to be counted "no." On a highly controversial issue many members may prefer not to have their votes recorded for the constituents back home, but it is precisely on such issues that the vote is apt to be close. The side that is losing by the current method of counting may demand the final alternative of a roll call if it is felt that public record may switch enough votes to win the day--or if it is felt that the time taken by such a vote will given them time to rally their forces and bring enough votes to the floor to win. It is at this point that one of the lesser-known but extremely important political organizations, the Whip organization, is crucial. Each party has its own Whip organization, under the direction of the designated party “hip, Amy;:pv’m‘ya 'pi v "7"". ~‘I ; 'l :6 lea-"H“V“ ‘ r - ._. '13 fl ,. .14}. a]: i-n ‘er .‘ I. it; ‘ m ,,....u« a8 “‘ ms.) 10 be as 3 x.o," . V . :)::;.oed- be r. ave . .q ' ‘9" Fr. ‘ ---..,. . r . l~-l‘ $1 0"! Y‘ I, l‘ I. I‘ It ""r F " “-teuu‘n' 5 u» u . ‘, .- 0. "LL”; '1; 3" ‘II D A L ‘ I ‘( .A, rv O ““Cq 1' '5 . V 11.3 "n.‘ v m! r‘,‘ .c(\ \I‘ .~ 4 n1\ \ H‘A. v .. ts ~51 ’ v- c L‘.:‘.\ A S.\‘.;F .“ g. .53.: ‘J .‘ 4 .~ ‘~.‘_(‘\ f;- a‘ .~ 5 C?) ‘n J,| . . .33. T u “E: 2 5‘.‘ \t ~l131.. \ A "t: r; . n j 2‘; 3'" s , u \-’~, “dat‘” , 5\‘ \‘s_ ‘1'?» w)“fl 28 whose function it is to (a) be aware of how each of the members is likely to vote on any given issue——both in his own party and in the opposition, (b) know the conditions under which a given member might change his vote, and (c), though this is usually de-emphasized in discussion of the work, to apply the necessary pressure to get a member to vote with the party position should such seem necessary for passage. It is also the duty of the Whip organization constantly to be aware of what is happening on the floor and judge when it will be essential to have the members there to be able to vote on a given bill or amendment. For this purpose there is a telephone network established, and when the Whip call goes out, each member's office is notified by a designated person. Depending upon the party, and the particular organization at the time, calls may vary in the degree of emphasis about appearing, but at the crucial call, an appearance is more or less mandatory. Though in many respects the position of Whip is a fairly thankless job, in other ways it has tremendous political advantage and leverage. It is a position that has traditionally put one in contention for the post of party leader. It is also a position that puts one at the center of a large communications network and makes one highly visible to other party members. It is, how- ever, a job that demands a great deal of political acumen. One must antici- pate the moves of the opposition, the potentially quick call, and the relative margin of safety. If the call goes out too soon, the members may assemble, look the situation over and then vanish again to their private pursuits and rtr'E 3: II? VI" r..u "t b .u—Ir V c..‘- . hob A J. Q u‘ 13 ,. E. D uc:t _\\ .3 .-tTE 29 not be there at the moment of reckoning. On the other hand, a call made too late is better not even made. The Leadership The Whip is on the lower level of the party leadership in the House, but he is a part of it. Above him is the party leader, or floor leader; and, if the party is in the majority, above the floor leader is the Speaker. All of these are positions that go almostby definition with long experience in the House, being a part of the establishment, knowing and abiding by the mores, and above all, being better at them than most anyone else. These are party men--organization men—-who know the ins and outs of parliamentary law and House procedures as well as politics. Basically they are conserva- tive on the issue of House organization and internal politics. There was a time when the Speaker had almost complete power over the work of the House. Since the revolt in the early days of this century against "Czar Cannon" the position has lost some of its official power, but it still remains the one most influential position available. In the perspective of half a century . . . the changes made in 1911 have proved to be less drastic than they appeared at that time. Although the Speaker is no longer a member of the Rules Committee, he still influences it. Although he lost his power of appointing standing committees of the House, he still appoints the select committees, the House members of conference commit- tees, and the chairman of the Committee of the Whole. Through these and other prerogatives and channels of influence, the Speakership continues to be an exceedingly powerful office. 22 22 George B. Galloway, History of the House of Representatives (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co. , 1961), p. 56. 30 Much of the Speaker's power rests on the political organization that the man who makes this post has built up among his colleagues of both parties. He must be a politician's politician, for he is elected by them to the post. He must keep in touch with the pulse beat of his party and be constantly aware of changes in sentiment. Yet he must also maintain that certain social dis- tance associated with any position of high authority. From the viewpoint of the ordinary member of the House, who is well aware that political strength lies in organization, "the leadership" is some- times formidable and almost always a consideration. The term "leadership, " however, does not necessarily mean the unified and solidary group of posi- tions formally defined and mentioned above. Although they are the group most normally referred to by the term, here the term is used to designate those whose rqntfliom place them in leadership roles whether or not they hold formal office in the upper level of the House hierarchy. In fact, one of the more interesting aSpects of study in the House is the issue of "real" leadership. Because of the somewhat tighter organization in the House, the elected party leadership there is in somewhat greater control than is the case with the one hundred pgima donnas in the Senate. Yet it is very true that, formally, power is widely decentralized in the House and there are very influential positions which the elected leadership cannot arbitrarily control. Chief among these are the major committee chairmen. In addition, the minority party leaders are a force to be reckoned with, since they have some means of control over minority members that the Speaker and the '. has“ ,. . .i ., . .«o.. .: r“ 'y- .uwe .. V‘t‘ . 2 t . u ‘ "r'.-. I‘ ‘ W "‘~~-:.C s A ‘D . IO- ,- V._ 9"“. hi,‘, . ;F>._“‘ , “..“\ .‘a. . ‘ ~."E.h .‘b. , “ . '-‘ ‘ \ . F‘ 3 '5“. . J v- Vs. - C ' a ‘v!." :P' 5‘. ‘ n. . \ ..g . "l J v- \N r‘ ‘ i...‘ '2‘.‘_‘ ‘1. . w, 2*- ‘- ”He . I. .g ‘P: \- \.4'$ “‘L. ' I.;‘ v'. c F 'o W. 1‘ I . “.O I ‘- ;“I..t:‘ .‘N x m. ‘ ‘9'... ‘- Q “ u ‘L_ e" ' 5. . 31 chairmen do not have. Yet, not surprisingly, these men do represent a fairly unified front much of the time, despite their potential for blocking each other. The seniority system is again reSponsible in part, for it dictates that both the elected party leaders and the chairmen are men of long seniority who have worked together over the years. Most of them are committed to the goals and mores of the House. The factors that are reSponsible for the formal decentralization of power are widely recognized. Weak national parties with members tied very closely to their own constituencies means that the leadership has relatively less control over the member's voting decisions; it is his district to which he is ultimately responsible. Also, specialization by policy area inevitably produces numerous and somewhat disparate power centers. With so many people being amenable only to persuasion instead of to hierarchical authority, not surprisingly the politics of such a place takes on the character of bar- gaining and logrolling. For the individual member who does not happen to be in an especially influential position, however, the leadership is an important consideration. As noted above, he may be able to make many of his own voting decisions and, in fact, may be able to be personally more independent than the leader- ship would like. But there is little that he can do to influence the rest of the House without the cooperation of the leadership. The machinery of the House and of its parties is normally avail- able to the ordinary member only, so to speak, on its own terms, because the source of its strength is also the source of its 1""; 1- 34-:F' ‘ ‘ i=390““e" ' "2.5:“ tabf i ...forthe | it” ultras“ -ét ao‘vo - v'rr‘ flfr" 56-144; k ..~o. I! ‘v w. fish"? at u. “"th . I n . was. s :; pin-h ' A ' "’ l v‘~-.y—.,... .. . . n-L-.‘uki..~ .- ‘ . ,r H, o '.-.. ,c 939: ~... . a": a If "3‘ PP ‘>. V c.'_ ’ v ., e ”-4 -. "with. UK 15"», ‘. "‘ .I ‘ ‘.“” ~b .. Each, 0. '. .. I L1. “.836 C,-. ;' n” _ l ." ' ‘ 11.:2J. ,' L" I 1-... .- ‘ {2“} . x . , "L. t“ 1 ‘ t L: ':-.. ‘ 2.“ n . u ‘r, A ‘-.u‘ ‘r‘ ‘ n“ .v. - i‘., . \t 31",, ‘ g . . ‘5 t‘ at. . . “la‘ 5.“ L .¢.t,:“,er a '~ ~ \ - .V I ~ .r :"w i h 9 HL‘\ ‘ . ..; 32 disabilities, namely, numbers. In a House of 435 or in a body roughly half the size, as one of the parties, there is a tendency . . . for the real and formal leadership closely to coincide. A formal standardized system of communication and control is indispensable to the conduct of affairs in a body of that size. . . This standardization of the communication structure implies that initiative tends to be centralized or at least that there are central controls on the flow of business. These the rank-and- file member cannot command, or, as sometimes happens in the Senate, supplant. 23 Informal Groupirgi On the other hand, it is true that the very size of the group means that there will be meaningful small groups which inevitably grow up within the structure based on various similar values or perhaps on region of the country, seniority status, or even on the basis of non—legislative interests. To the extent that these concern themselves with the matter of legislation, and al- most invariably the topic comes up whenever legislators get together, they form the beginnings of an informal structure which lies beyond the formal structure, and gives rise to an informal leadership. In point of fact, most such informal leaders have relatively small groups over which they can exert any particular influence, but the very fact of the existence of such cliques alters the approach of the formal leadership. Rather than dealing with the individual member in isolation, the leadership must find the relevant sub- societies or groups and consequently must determine that linking person 23David B. Truman, The Congressional Party (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. , 1959), p.195. \ 3‘ 90‘0““ 3 n; 7!!L'_ y . is ca ..',‘ (.336 Of the 1-— - is its high ' {,- -v ”refil‘.‘ 1 .y .’A - M... UA N “ .'_.-,',_ l . Id 12:. tins-TA Ella . . ' Q “I u-n 5p] \F\ " C ut. .~"-...:.l‘ {Jess v u ' ’1‘; ‘ha '97.“ .h 9 “- n~liy 'u ~ an ,9.) Hi“ ”‘r‘dflzat y . ‘ 5‘9”“... h --ba .‘5 ‘ . MAES .3"? J-‘ u» ' 'n. ‘ . fl... 1. aunt . net‘s..£) ~ 5‘ 1"“)- v ?- ‘v ..“.\S:. RP .32; Yr. ha“ i. r n - Sadr) Vt 2» ;. . in , k‘ “b\..,‘e ? ‘v- >E|;h: f sinp. ‘ ‘8‘k ‘1. :"‘v-. .“J‘n' 3".“ i d l i Fe ‘1, "v- , ‘ he a ' i" ~e Fl ‘ 1“ v. " I “ ..\ : . ,,r‘ ‘r‘.‘ T’.F‘P‘p - ‘. :'-'-. m: ‘9 ’ = is. 33 through whom they can reach the others. Of course again it must be remem- bered that one of the outstanding characteristics of the species Americanus Politicus is his high rate of group membership, and this is a consideration in terms of the informal groups to which he may belong. Membership in one may well balance out membership in another. Aside from the small cliques of friends that exist and that may meet either regularly and formally or just on a social basis, there are several other regularly constituted, though unofficial, groups to which a House member may belong such as the organizations of entering freshmen of one party, various discussion groups, the Prayer Breakfast Group, and less formal social systems such as the "gym group. " The influence on the views and voting habits of the legislators of participation in these organizations is difficult to measure accurately in concrete terms. But they _a_r_e_ influential. The opportunities they provide for mingling informally with colleagues and getting to know them better, for sharing common experi- ences, for relaxing from the persisting strains of an arduous demanding job, constitute important socializing factors which are difficult to ignore in an assessment‘of influences on a congressman. As one member commented, "In this very large group which is the House, these smaller groups which rise and decline through the years are valuable for several reasons, psychological and social. They give a little more air of friendliness, support, and confidence to what is a rather strenuous life. And they are a vehicle for learning. "24 Of these, the "classes" are probably the most numerous. A class is the group of entering freshmen each session within each party. Frequently, when the initial session of Congress is over and their usefulness as indoctrina- tion periods is past, they. are still maintained to provide an educational function, 24 Clapp, op. cit. , p. 41. “41:81, and a utters seen to if: ~‘-'"?"‘t.'.l itasnr 4|“Nn40‘ 0"“ A‘ L»; ""uurb w-k.. may” : 7 I re, A .. $.36 .r‘ mu: .7. I...‘ ‘K—‘ ‘ .-: it .t‘es‘éll‘ .1. ‘v ‘5’“ "E n“- . ‘4‘ “‘ -.‘i'./ o "f‘ 9 "u... ‘. ' ‘r n ,... “-L _ P natufisea: don-l - ' . f‘p;;‘,‘ ‘ ~. .‘ r - . ...i.d‘ :e\<‘ \ nu‘ '- A i {it x. we 8:“: F I.“ y hi1 LNLA kt": ll 3. o i ‘f‘ Ag) ; ,. L t "- ‘1 ‘ ' 'u an r ,- . 4.. £"‘( '4; y ; . t” .VCIL (I: In. “ E .‘ ‘ \u v, . €331 1C L "' v 3.2;: a; h ' 2 O 5': 1,) M ekh‘ see are '\.1'.-‘ I‘Ht 34 a social outlet, and a source of potential help on legislation. Though some members seem to feel that merely arriving at the Congress at the same time is insufficient reason to maintain such a group, and they prefer to find groups based more distinctly on common interests, for others the classes serve a very important function. If nothing else, they serve as a place for the begin- ning of those friendships and the close ties without which one accomplishes little in the legislative process. Two of the more divergent groups that are noted for the close ties of their members and that cut across party lines are the Prayer Breakfast Group and the gym group. The former is the more formal and routinized, meeting once a week for breakfast and an hour of prayer and fellowship during the congressional session. "Legislators state that the bonds between members of this group are unusually strong and that they are often expressed in acts of legislative cooperation. "25 The gym group consists of those who happen to use the gym regularly and thus meet on an informal basis. According to one member: Actually a lot of work is done in the gym. You can accomplish a lot on an informal, casual basis. You can discuss informally things you don't want to call a man about. One important value of the gym is that it crosses party lines. You have an oppor— tunity to get to know better the guys in the other party. 26 There are other sources of group formation. For instance state delega- tions frequently rally on distinctly state-related issues, many times cutting 25Ibid., p. 44. 26Ibid., p. 45. i l l g 4 ' .’ ,. "01" F1 ' l ‘ ,{h- ‘. LV LSEA. . y e is another 1r. .gno v ,. .9 _ w,- "‘; ‘ g ‘. .~_ ll .‘._‘-4- -“." ,.....-.- at. “an“? ‘ ' " '1 ts l ('0‘; 5. ¢ MAL ... t.‘ .n 1,. .0 m 1 21:"... e); 185 Adel. -'\. _ ,- ..t‘.’t 41’? man I.‘,,' I ' ‘. 1}P"-rn-r'i“ he.“ LAH.’A ”ideal :u,‘ A... “-r H -~‘.d CK‘r ‘ ~“ in F m. Mfr-'h 0 Mk ‘. N. it {(1 p v, ‘ a “3 Fri. . ‘ "db r' ' hga 'r A ,‘u. :h r. a A“ "'0‘ -L.. h p' 'ta.e‘ q 1" ~ ‘w‘r-v‘r, A.“ «A. arr-4 -. “‘J "v a“ rt. QU’4 my. - if v a ‘v.’ ‘ pr ‘\ n ". \"‘ 4“ _ ”In a ‘nph if ‘ a ‘l ‘1. h - ‘ . . ‘ L‘.’ It. i . N“ ‘36 v- g. 1; '9 ”LL:— 1 k} .rie‘ I “r- w. ‘ Ns‘ ‘Jt‘fi ,‘ .C"‘~ .I .' \‘I‘ .kh-r (‘\ v ‘ ' ‘A. . N. ' ,_ . 7 -. .e - il ‘3 Y ’ -‘ ‘1 u j. s ‘u 35 across party lines. The Democratic Study Group, initially visualized as an idea group to develop liberal Democratic programs and organize to push them through, is another informational group. It is somewhat larger than many of the other groups. Furthermore, the Democratic Study Group is better organized than most for legislative issues since it has a system of regional whips to keep its members posted on legislative action and to try to get them to the floor for critical votes--as DSG sees them--much as do the party whips. There are many small, and sometimes transitory, groups that are primarily informational in purpose, though frequently begun on the basis of friendship. Probably no one person even knows of very many of these. Oc- casionally there are small evening seminars, which may at times include the wives, but that are primarily informational", not social. And at times one of the executive branch agencies may even foster some sessions aimed at particular small groups--sometimes at a committee. Throughout congressional discussions of these groups, one point is stressed: Because of the common uncertainties and tensions associated with the job of congressman, legislators are inclined to sympathize with one another's problems. Bonds of friendship and association, however casual, strengthen this natural inclination and provide the basis for supporting one another's endeavors. Activities that serve to promote a common bond are to be encouraged. The advantages of par- ticipation in the informal groups are stressed in the following discussion . . . "Isn't it the same spirit of fellowship which is present in any of these groups? In terms of the liberal Democrats, for example, I think there's a kind of informal fellowship of liberalism that provides emotional and intellectual support for the people who think of themselves in that group. I know, I feel it. It is more than just the formal meeting of ;: :3 the "i 3)‘ P5 :z-zzj. There ...;.1 3.049 pressure fl. '~ ’ ' we a: a .23.. )Z'. 5:)“ 'd e11 . .II. F; 'l‘1 ' -; 133% €021.71: marks “rm ‘~ --\. 1"» .nll.‘c unal Wm. , ' are trim: l '- .. if} pron: Lc‘m ‘- . «S L. by; . r ~4.- .H _ ‘-\-_“:, 3‘ D ‘l _,. ~..: ‘ Q 'v 3'- ;. {7'9- - 55“' 5a . 3 ‘v . - "* ".C' .g“ u;‘ V,‘ B. I ,, . r.“ . “‘«L. '- ll' . ‘u,.‘.t_ .‘ i .1 . . d‘\"h ‘...'.e at. 38 however. What kind of a relationship is this ? What are the expectations for this aspect of the role? Herman Finer, when talking about the legislator in a general sense, expresses it in the following manner. The member who has gone so far has gone very far, and it now behooves him to keep friendly with other members. Popularity on personal grounds is exceedingly important, for it takes the edge off sharp truths and opens a way for their acceptance. It is even more important to be popular with opponents than with friends, for they will grant concessions on that account, be- lieving that such a "jolly fellow" could hardly be ill-willed or stupid; . . . The full list of ingredients for success in this direction, universally valid, cannot be given--each person is born with his own way to the hearts of other people. 30 In the viewpoint of one member of the House, the relationship is a rather ambiguous one--one in which the expectations are that you can't really predict anything. The political relationship is at one and the same time intensely personal, and yet blandly impersonal. The typical congress- man exudes personal friendship by the yard. Everyone is a bosom buddy from the word go--first names all over the place, affectionate grabs of arms and shoulders, pats and taps. A sick Member returning is the center of warm attention. Praise is bandied around in wholesale lots, and your first trips to this candy factory leave you feeling a little heavy. Yet this intense, clubby, personal relationship continually smacks with great force directly into the cold, cruel hardness of the vote. The close friend you were grimacing with not two minutes before votes with the other people. You may be able to shrug this off by rationalizing that "he's voting his district," but frequently it hurts . . . "It's not only his neck, " 30Herman Finer, "The Tasks and Functions of the Legislator," Legis- lative Behavior, ed. John C. Wahlke and Heinz Eulau (Glencoe: The Free Press, 1959), p. 382. 9 9.- i a -“ “- .~ I \- .~ -l‘.‘ rv A U. I. A‘ .. 3 ~. “Mt: a VL . a». I -~-.-: - "-.' - "“-~.\t .- . , . w . r§._ \— < '- in: ~. b’h \. _ fi.‘ ‘A‘ '4 K. v ‘5:— I-.' »..t ‘ r; r L ‘. -~‘~ ’ L, 4 ‘V— .l _‘ ’Z “L. ‘. \ Q .. F ‘ l . t. e . - V . -. a»: ., .i . * . x ;L‘. ‘~.,l' . “e " u” “‘L ‘ Q V C .. i.‘ ‘§ 1.: ‘ A. ‘ . ‘x. 39 you speculate. "He's putting his/ my party on the block. He's putting mg on the block. " This alternation between the role of buddy and executioner, in greater or lesser degree, creates great strains that often be- come almost intolerable. That politicians have thick skins is simply not a reliable opinion. Politicians are usually in poli— tics because they are "feeling" people. Their feelings toward one another are the most acute of all. Hence, a session of Congress is a wearing affair. But the usual definition of the relationship tends to be that these are indeed friends, even if the bonds of friendship tend to be strained at times, as in the statement that the "resourceful beginner will learn that the cornerstones of success are, in fact, hard work and making friends. "32 It is also valuable to have friends among the professional staff of the committees and the House as well as among the personnel of the executive agencies with which one must deal. The loner is usually not considered to be an effective House-—or Senate-—type. He may be able to attract much national attention and publicize an issue, but seldom is he perceived as being the type to steer his own ideas through to final enactment. One's committee, and more particularly, one's subcommittee, can often furnish a major source of friendship. The less formal situations, such as taking trips together on committee business, can help break down barriers and open the way for friendships. Some have mentioned that friendships that develop between wives of members have sometimes tended to increase associ- ation between the members themselves. 31 Miller, op. cit. , pp. 105-106. 32 Clapp, op. cit. , p. 14. : 7'5 3.331431 \ a": 4 an,- ~&v« \tse- v w - ' ' “RT r ‘h~- gd.“ M. A . ' .’ .‘ ‘ "w._ I p- ‘ ' A a VAAe ‘ .t, * .9. x. , .':e 'r A." 40 The cloakroom is one other place where informal associations may well be picked up, if one cares to join in. Long, L—shaped rooms at each end of the House floor, they are one of the few plain spots in the Capitol. In fact, they are almost what might be termed barren in contrast to the more usual ornate decore. There is a separate room for each party, and, though not officially segregated by sex, for many years they have had the aura of a mas- culine club in which not many of the earlier women members felt too at ease. They have long since ceased to be used for coats, if indeed they ever were. Instead there is a small lunch stand 'in the corner of the L. Running along the wall in one direction are long leather couches; around the corner are banks of telephones. Much of the folklore of the House pictures the conver- sations that go on in these rooms as the height of political conniving and in- trigue. If one were to be rejected by the cloakroom crowd, no political progress would seem possible according to the myths. Such seems not to be the case in real life, as is true of so much mythology. However, in light of the emphasis on the personal relationships being necessary for success, these rooms do serve a valuable function as a place to acquire and maintain acquaintanceships and to catch up on the general political gossip of the day. As in many very private places, weighty policy seems seldom a topic. There are freighted, private discussions, _s_o_tt9 1293, that do go on, but this is not the general run. It is rather a place of escape from the ceaseless press of business; a place of refuge from the insistent and the importunate. Talk among the leather couches is general banter, idle trivia of the most ordinary sort. Everyone finds his way to the leather seats of the cloakroom at one time or another for a moment's reSpite, n O 0: hr. .‘A-C‘ 4.. L9.“- I , . ‘» ntmrn' it: .3“..th Nun--0 .-. ,. "7“ r ‘-. .... u; ‘3’""9E Am; .- A...» a 1 . u-ull. I . . g “‘ -: g"; ., N“. \. "-- ‘fiy -.,\ LP ‘ ~d~ I'.. . ,_ -‘ . Y - J: 5 ., .M x ..- n ‘n‘ i» ‘ ’ \x \ A“ . .\\ “V ‘ . \‘."~‘v._ -._. \ u ‘3 ”A D .58 ~..‘ ~ 5, ‘1“ I ‘h I ~ "o .-g i, .. a t 41 to collect and compose himself . . . One absorbs the feeling that this is quite the ordinary America with its narrowness, its humanity, its immediacy. 33 One place where this matter of personal contacts may become crucial is in the matter of special projects for one's home district. Patronage is fairly sparse around the House-~a few post office and civil service jobs, appointments to the service academies (which many members put on a com— petitive examination basis anyway), or census workers at the time of the decennial census. These, therefore, cannot do a great deal toward cement- ing an organization in the home district that will help return the member the next time around. In fact, some members complain that patronage is more trouble than it is worth, considering the paucity of goods compared to the expectations of the people. However, constituents may well be impressed with the effectiveness of their congressman if he can produce Special projects for the district--a new post office or two; some other federal building project; or perhaps a special bill that is of concern primarily to a particular industry which is mainly located in that district. These are areas where one's fellow members have very little interest or knowledge--un1ess of course they hap- pen to be in direct competition for the same funds for projects in their own districts. Much of the competition at this level occurs with the Army Corps of Engineers, or with the Administrative agency involved. There is an elaborate procedure that a public works project must go through before it sees the light of construction. 33Miller, Op. 01 . , pp. 78-79. , . -r “~13" 'l . , ,. . \. ..ha ha Prealer.‘ feserl a . 'vlv lfl : .....1. i . , '“r r?;; u tun“- ‘ ‘ :P" ", r9. .v .4 a... t . HQ" "5‘ o ...\...5 J. i (7’? 42 Beginning with the recommendation of the local congressman who in turn is acting on local needs, it goes through a ten—or- twelve step approval process which includes Congress three or four times, the Corps of Engineers at many levels, the President, the Bureau of the Budget, and other interested federal and state agencies. This process ordinarily takes a long, long time. A project may never reach the construc- tion phase . . . The Corps of Engineers is the first hurdle, and perhaps the last one too. At every step their assess- ment of the urgency, their reports, play a vital role in the progression of the project. 34 However, for final passage one still needs the votes--both on the committee to report the bill out, and on the floor itself. Here the Member himself turns out to be a lobbyist, and as is true in any lobbying situation, the stronger the personal ties, the more sympathetic those whom he is trying to influence. Probably no one has a better built-in advantage than a fellow-member in this regard, for members understand each other's problems and the importance of a district project to political survival. There is, of course, a kind of reciprocal expectation: you help me on my bill; I'll help you on yours-—pro- vided that in neither case it affects one's own district adversely. But as important as the potential advantage of cooperation is the matter of sympa- thetic understanding and camaraderie. The member who does not have this type of relationship with his colleagues, a relationship where he feels free to call for such help on a personal basis, is at a distinct disadvantage. No member can get by with doing this too often, of course, but at times it may be a matter of political life or death. afimd. , p. 16. itciofinai - o v , , . ‘ .. . - “1"”."0 N ( _I_,...-...-.u 4....;" 9*‘ “‘8 .2 {Lust I. in -‘ 1 :2 arereleia: l . a s ~.‘ “‘1‘? (F r , r .4» wit .u_ ”CUE ‘ I». 'l I -.§ . .. ‘T~**Ga*€ \ A .2. ~ .;:a of Q a .‘ th l are : x (1. '2 U - ‘5. “‘4“ 2““ q“ “. -."- J .1. ., -1 ““ ‘ .-\ x U‘. H ... \ ‘.;\, v “' s,_ be A a. "u l~ ‘ .- ‘IAP .. u. “\Ef ‘ '. Li C st,“ u' “ r.“ L- ., as. J I. h: ‘. . -.u‘ ll- . ,. ‘ .‘D ’n‘ I.‘ ‘a“ ' l \._ a 1. ‘~‘ 0A A“)... . x," .. ’. G ‘1 r . v- n “L -1. .‘ .\ .. .04.: 9" t k .- .. F..\ \o I: I- 4 ~.,‘v-.. ": ‘F ,1 A“ r K. 43 Much of what has been mentioned under the general rubric of the infor- mal relationships can be summed up under the general topic of the "rules of the game," the norms that are considered legitimately binding upon every member of the group. "The rules for behavior indicated by the term ' group norm" are relevant not to behavior associated with a unique position in a group, but to behavior expected by virtue of group membership generally. "35 Rules of the Game The idea of rules of the game is not a new one, though most of the writing done about them has been of the impressionistic sort. In the Wahlke study an attempt was made to get the legislators themselves to name those rules which they felt were applicable to themselves and their colleagues rather than having the researcher identify them. 36 Oneof those who dealt specifically with the federal Congress instead of the state legislatures was Donald Matthews. In U. S. Senators 3nd Their World he lists six general categories which he felt covered the "folkways" or "rules of the game" in the United States Senate. These would be relatively applicable to the House as well, though'the list may not be exhaustive. His 35Wahlke et al, op. cit. , p. 142. 6See, for instance, David B. Truman, The Governmental Process (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951), pp. 348, 359, 373, 376, and 458; Roland A. Young, The American Congress (New York: Harper and Brothers, Inc. , 1958), pp. 48-52. The Wahlke study differs in that those in question were state legislators rather than members of the federal Congress. It also differs in the methodology. See Wahlke §t_§_l_, op. cit. , chapter 7. ..~t~~r- rec' .V', in , ' ”Mu-H t a A .‘ . L...: 7!} TEES ii . .. ~.“ I «as: \h“ "I set at... & ~... “‘1 1 ~ \ "' "'" odl ;‘~‘a‘ 1.: . y ..‘L ‘5'}..FA \ ' '. “‘an n. I a. .4 ‘l '5- . ‘a‘ "'I re. - . \“ ~ i "b: 44 six categories deal with apprenticeship, legislative work, Specialization, courtesy, reciprocity, and institutional patriotism. The first, apprentice— ship, is that one should expect to serve a relatively unobtrusive period of about two years while he learns the other norms of group behavior and proves his worth. This rule is declining as a major norm. However, it still seems to be more stringently enforced in the House than in the Senate. Under the rubric of legislative work is included the idea that the member ought to de- vote most of his time and energy to the highly detailed, frequently dull, and politically unrewarding work of his committee rather than strive for the national headlines. Specialization has been mentioned previously as a point frequently stressed. "Only through Specialization can he know more about a subject than his colleagues and thus make a positive contribution to the operation of the chamber. "3 Courtesy actually means more than the term usually implies. Basically it suggests an impersonality as far as disagreements are concerned. "The rules prohibit the questioning of a colleague's motives or the criticism of another state. "38 "The most important aspect of the pattern of reciprocity is, no doubt, the trading of votes. "39 But there is more than this. "The spirit of reci- procity results in much, if not most, of the senator's actual powers not being 37Donald R. Matthews, "The Folkways of the U. S. Senate, " American Political Science Review, LIII (December, 1959), p. 1068. 38Ibid. , p. 1069 . 391nm. , p. 1071. p nun-H“ ‘ I .A t." V '2" a?“ ‘ i , - U i H I. L ., ".4 Il owl. ‘ . ,‘...; I,‘ r‘. l i . i ‘ t a- . t h‘ “ s..-.4: a ‘ . ‘ _ I —.¢ '... 4 \' >- "‘-~-‘,. F--r . .a a .. ‘- . . v . ’~. ‘ *‘iwfiv- . Amt“ ,' ‘ |_.w. u , w‘u. . ( v k . 'rt .~ k; W‘ ‘ ‘.':\‘, ~I 1.. .. V 4‘ a In. «" . ‘4, .. ' s. “L \ . ._ .u - ~ ”a . v .' . s. .. r 45 exercised. For if a senator does push his formal powers to the limit, he has broken the implicit bargain and can expect, not cooperation from his colleagues, but only retaliation in kind. "40 Finally, with regard to institutional patriotism, both houses are extremely jealous of their particular prerogatives and images. If anything, the House seems to be more sensitive about this. In the general parlance of the day the Senate is rebrred to as the "upper chamber" and in the minds of most of the public it holds more prestige. Consequently, the rules of the game in the House demand a decided loyalty to the rights and prerogatives of the House. Especially, one should not give in to the Senate on a conference site, chair- manship, or—-any more than necessary-—on a substantive matter of the bill under consideration. Wahlke, gt;__a_l_._ found in their study of state legislators that here too there were definite rules of the game -which' were recognized by nearly all members. There was, not surprisingly, the greatest degree of consensus as to what these were among members of any one legislative body. Yet there was amazing similarity and a great deal of consensus among the four states as well. They finally compiled a list of approximately forty rules which were perceived by the members, ranging from performance of obligations to abstinence from dilatory actions such as calling attention to the absence of a quorum or asking for a house call at inconvenient times. The leading rules 40mm. , p. 1072. , I , . ._. o qr . ;,1"u;:. Ural u ‘i‘" " ‘etatt. u. --| n, '8 v . - ‘c i~wynJ~ 9 .4 1 49 lb vagiuiiis ‘ | crut-d Q Eff. - .36 G. ... n, , .. maul? - ‘ I . ‘. _ h E: A h r‘ . 3:53:61, 1:; ‘fzze game u g». ,.~_ “u... ("‘v i g 1.. ”.‘v‘ ‘5‘“, l “' ‘P‘,.v- ' 4...“ t "' 9; . -'- "RA\ -. .. a... “rhiq ‘D 'w.‘ ' _- P.. .‘t C. ‘m.; ..‘~ .' b p n .‘. a. 'IQ‘W“ ; x‘b a I. .2 F. . Zy- . y. ' L 'u " a ‘: .)‘ v “’ ., a I 4. n. ~..! I l ‘ ‘\ ‘ . 1.,» _ «._“s.~( ‘- ~ g; ‘s V ., , a l. K. . n l. ‘ \ I ‘. 'v .. . .uf'l . ‘ p \ U. . '. ‘_\ 4 ~- ,, . .. ’[7 46 in these cases in general terms were (1) performance of obligations--keep your word; (2) respect for other members' legislative rights; (3) imperson- ality--don't deal in personalities--or oppose the bill, not the man; (4) self- 41 rearaint in debate, and (5) courtesy. It is significant in this respect that not a single respondent sug— gested the existence of conflicting sets of rules, each with its own set of proponents: nor did any respondent suggest any of the rules he named conflicted with other rules he named or rules which might be mentioned by his fellow members. All accepted without any question whatsoever the belief (tacitly assumed in the wording of the question, it is true) that rules of the game are the same rules for everyone in the chamber. 42 In the Wahlke study by far the most frequently mentioned sanction for enforcing these rules was the obstruction of a member's own bills. "Another frequently mentioned sanction was ostracism of the offending member in one 43 form or another." Almost as frequent, and very similar in concept, was the idea of mistrust. "Cross-examine him on the floor, in committee; . . 44 don't put any trust in him. " The basic function of such rules, and the purpose of their sanctions, in the long run is to maintain some kind of a working consensus within the group, though the precise ways in which they accomplish this are not known. 41Wahlke et al, op. cit. , p. 146. 42Ibid., pp. 148-149. 43Ibid. , p. 153. 44lbid., p. 154. ff:"5.”.f'it‘f§-C‘\' n. . f a: spec: 0. it "u ,J ;_,..s a argor or. 21625:: as a rapr I l N .- .a:he represent. .3 l‘-.' .-......1‘accnma';s N ‘;-¢L. . ..,.,_ till} 5110" 1 l I I :“‘.A I. ‘- ‘~....t i3 Pip . bli'it’ he {V .3: _, I ~. .I ' ~‘erhl‘ C‘Wr at. Iu ‘9:- w. ‘rf “.1, a J CdWWr... “1..“ ‘ -. .‘w. M1. " p“.! 1;: 1(2- ,‘ ‘2 ‘~._ I 'V "a{ r. \ 6::tc;rn . 1 ‘dl.‘ I ‘F ‘. .. Lt“ " “S ‘r 47 $116 Constituency One aspect of the role of the legislator that has not been touched upon and that is a major one in terms of the amount of time involved for him is the member as a representative of his constituency. By this is meant not only that he represents their wishes with regard to legislation, which cannot be as neatly accomplished as it sounds even if the member is oriented toward the idea that he should simply reflect their wishes, but that a Member of Congress is also the errand boy of his constituents with reSpect to the various departments and agencies of the government, as well as in numerous inci- dental matters. He must be on hand to greet any member of his district who comes to the Capitol, and frequently to take him to lunch or dinner; he must pose with the high school senior classes that come to sight-see from his home district; he must answer the mail that comes in, or see that it is answered over his signature and be prepared to stand by what it says; and in doing so, he must not slight or alienate any important people or groups. On all of this hangs his continued career in politics. It is, in effect, a major means of campaigning when people are willing to grant one the role of statesman rather than politician. This, however, is extremely time- consuming, especially when added to the theoretically major job of legislation. Letters in particular must be answered, individually if possible, and above all, promptly. 45 __ 45 One member recently estimated that with a constituency of 400, 000 he received approximately 1200 to 1500 pieces of mail a month not counting pair ' ”.€ ‘ gar. .1. .-. we‘d?“ .orly ‘ L . .V. p: r .. a... f h {1:215 some; I 'u ‘Il"Y‘l‘\‘; ‘¢' —- “¢:enlL’§ ‘ 2‘: ‘o . ‘.\ ‘ Fv~ ." . ‘§4.|‘ \(L L o N. ,‘ a F .. $5., '1 ' II t ._‘- 'a‘ y '3! . ‘ f l.‘ ht r-J. ‘L. Q" . ; Ed .: n, 1'? 48 In presenting a rough breakdown of mail one member estimates that about fifty percent deals with personal problems of constituents, a good deal of which is connected in some way with hardships being suffered by men in uniform. Five percent or so involves'requests for information; another twenty-five percent deals with legislation pending before Congress. Still another segment deals with matters relating to projects that are primarily local or district in nature and come from city and county officials or speci- fied group representatives. In addition, there is the usual miscellany of invitations, thank-yous, crank mail, and so on. The fifty percent or so that deals with the problems of individual constitu- ents is what is commonly known as case work. These letters present a great potential for political benefit to the congressman who may gain a firm ally by straightening out someone's problems with one of the various administra- tive agencies of the federal government. A chance muffed, however, may even cost him votes. "Careful staff attention is directed, therefore, to case mail. A person who has a reasonable complaint or query is regarded as providing an opportunity rather than as adding an extra burden to an already 46 busy office." Normally such matters are routinely handled by the staff newspapers and various printed reports. "Each of these letters gets a reply. Eighty percent of these letters are answered within twenty—four hours. Letters that require study, investigation, or intercession with some agency of the Government are answered as soon as the information has been obtained, and in any event they are acknowledged within a few days. " Joel L. Evins, Under- standing Congress (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. , 1963), p. 19. 4 6Clapp. op. cit. , p. 84. —_.III "”15 L.» < ‘flutr Nu‘.’ " . I“, . .v a" . ~e....es. U. | . 60 ~ r‘ >I ‘ I 1‘ :L:‘..‘. a: the i, ‘ v"!“; ,- *S’.4 ,_ 13.. : “54.18.11 .._. o ,1 items... p 53. L ....'.E. v\ ten-1;“ r it (“mutt ‘I- ' Ir 9,.“ ' 9 “t:'cevC‘ h.t ‘:.E("" “: 495 a: “if 1; Eehn‘lh‘ ‘ . -... a. if“ .a .‘o t, N' n “'35 “fr“w e ~ n» ‘ ~: 'I I 'e 3. . .::' 5‘ ]~ .zp1' -U“ rt ' A .:~ ‘. N‘ h ., . ~E “file 'A .\. Vtx‘ivn h‘v D . L:- k l .l‘ “.r .‘- _ 1" ‘\ .r ' lgnr' \ f-~_ ._ .1 ‘13.- 31‘ v. . ”k. "a 4 ,K. 9... D,‘r‘ ‘ 8.9“ 49 member who has learned the proper liason people and approaches in the vari- ous agencies. On occasion, however, when the problem seems eSpecially difficult or the agency especially obstinate, the member himself may person- ally take a hand. Results are more likely when he does. Nevertheless, a competent and, preferably, experienced case worker is a valuable asset in any office. To handle all of this requires a certain amount of executive skill, either on the part of the Member himself (and at least indirectly, almost always so), or on the part of an efficient administrative assistant or office manager. Del- egation of responsibility is a necessity, and specialization on the part of the staff becomes an accepted matter. Although the ranking staff officer in the House is generally termed an Executive Secretary, many Members have as- signed the title Administrative Assistant, to their chief aides and have given them tasks commensurate with this description. There is no uniformity in this matter, however, and each Member is allowed to allocate titles and sal- aries—~within the total budgetary limits of his office--more or less as he chooses. Closely related to the office and constituent function--and indeed really a part of the role--is that of being the out-going, "glad-hander" and person- ality expert. Yet, associated with this, is the image of the one who is in-the- know, who is forceful enough to make major decisions and not be swayed by the erroneous values of the wrong people, but who is reasonable enough to listen both reasonable presentation of the then present constituent or lobbyist. . m . ".‘1"‘i“"‘ . ,1. ate-.3” hC’VM . . - . rm: .1? .av-vr < «n vi '.l.5.t ." . .ze techrg-g: l: :15: nee Tilt-Er. ‘...‘.' "med. rte CZCSI WM~ViSIS 3f ."'P‘V ' .1. ‘ Ffifl - “f. 4.1. \k .. 1.. l‘”. " V‘ iv “"1... “r: ‘ Irv... }~ . r». a 5 ' -4"‘-a\u' ‘ L, !I '1 ‘ h- u-mu "(1"— I rm- H g 'Pwt, ““':«.;?r x "4‘ i... .. " ‘lJi‘ :6!” C -L.‘ ., Int ;;"-l.‘-:\.. ‘ c~ ‘ rp. , ‘d‘lt .-_. I ,. - n‘ \“h \“.‘ 0‘. 50 Lobby-pg Seldom is the visit of a single constituent labeled as lobbying--though it may be if he is coming as the representative of some recognized group. The lobbyist, however, is another of the important persons in the life of the Member of Congress. The techniques of interest groups actively engaged in attempting to influence legislation vary, depending in part on the size, power, interest, and scope of operation of the organization in- volved. While most members of Congress can identify individual lobbyists and organizations they find distasteful and irri— tating and whose methods they regard as unfair, there is virtually unanimous accord that the bribery and direct approach, which characterized an earlier era, is prac- tically non-existent today. 47 Or, according to one member of the House, A considerable body of popular myth has grown up around the lobbyist in his personal relations, and especially his social relations, with members of Congress. The importance and extent of such contacts have been greatly exaggerated--eSpeci- ally by the lobbyists themselves—-as a means of justifying the high salaries paid them. There may be some Congressmen who still are susceptible to this kind of lobbying, but they constitute at most an extremely small minority. Actually there are very few of the old-fashioned school of lobbyists left on the scene, and they are less and less effective. Today's lobbies depend on expert analysis and research more than on social activities. They confine their efforts largely to the task of developing relevant information on proposed legislation. 48 Basically, current lobbying procedures tend to stress the informational side of the practice. An organization interested in influencing legislation may go 4’lllbld. , p. 85. 48 Evins, op. cit. , p. 197. v .. 'I;.'. 6";“r‘i ‘ r;.~d" “f“‘ vet ~.-'-.,I . " t .’Ib¢b-. k ‘ 0!" [C9 me E .r'" ~ ‘P‘ )4 h N; “LC“. .,.....; . n ‘9 13.17.95 139.: :_..‘fi‘ " ‘L .1. '15 :i u. el: .» .‘ J‘ ,u" " ‘ ’ r ‘~~t- “alt be“ . “N,” L .~= ’ ' ~-.L um“: h \f. .. ""' ~ v}. " ‘3 r '1‘ , 'A'vu i A1 3.: 51 to great lengths to prepare relevant information and facts, and even to write speeches for the Members to present. Their research facilities are often quite extensive and the material prepared by the more efficient groups is sometimes preferred to the service provided by the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress. Of course, it is also true that a given Member will tend to turn to and trust those organizations with whom he is in basic philosophical agreement, though this is not to say that a lobbying organization will confine its contacts to those known to be friendly. One point to be noted, however, is that many members will be encouraged to turn to a group with which they have some personal contact and of whom they have some personal knowledge. Consequently the contemporary lobbyist—- or legislative representative--may Spend a good deal of his time just "getting acquainted" with the likely members so that when he has material he wants to present, he already has an entre to the office. He may simply stop by the office and chat periodically, leave a bit of material, perhaps remember a birthday or anniversary. There is still the time-tested dinner as a place to talk things over; but in the opinion of many members this is frequently and easily overdone, though it is a matter of degree, not of kind. Since one of the major complaints is that a member never has time for his wife and family, the social life is less of an attraction than at times previous when Congress was only in session for four to six months, the family re- mained in the district, and the member could--if he so chose-~more or less resort to his bachelor days. if: --x a n I «a. Tit-:3), the rate to his :51, a: the ., . 11 .J‘. L713“ 8 ""4'fi“ ‘. ‘ \ 1 ft" 5 in... I‘ I?I‘~. F t:"“‘}"l‘ A! o\,. "~~.\ gs . ”v . .,_ I} a, . , ... u ' I ‘- JJ‘. 4‘ . n“ I "H...“ ’1. ‘to - H ‘ , t t '1‘» ‘. . R's”? ‘. \ 52 Today, the Member who does not know at least those groups that can contribute to his information is putting himself at the disadvantage. The lobbyist, on the other hand, is putting himself at a disadvantage if he works with too small a group. It still takes a majority of those "present and voting" to pass a bill. Influencing just those who could be expected to support one's position is dangerous business. ‘ Such, then, in brief is the contextual setting of the study: the U. S. House of Representatives——its norms and mores, its committees and seniority sys- tem, its leadership and its informal groups. Much more could be and has been said about it, for the fascination with Congress is evidenced by a wide collection of literature. More to the point, however, for the purposes of this research is a look at that smaller body of literature that attempts to view the position of legislator in general as an analytically important and distinguishable status in society. The Legislative Role Serious works on the legislator as a social position are more conspicuous for their absence than for any other one reason. In addition ,the two recent empirical works are studies of state legislatures. Assuming that in many ways the positions at the state and national level are basically similar, however, a review of their findings would seem to be in order. .r'a’l 1'1"“: ‘-:‘ C Li .0»: 1'53:ij Rf"? .s—-—-——— Bette m th‘o thu e I :3 ‘. ’1 H I 11-23181. 1. 'uety .-I¢. ‘ {Lip \ 1" ~5A.“/|IQ 53 Iggislative Role Strain Before moving to these studies, a more general look at the role of the elected public official is presented by William Mitchell in a short article in 1958. Mitchell is particularly concerned with the sources of strain in the elective position, and he names seven general categories or sources that he feels are of primary importance. The seven categories are; (1) the in— security of tenure which comes in a democratic polity in which the closer one comes to the democratic ideal, the more insecure the position. (2) the con- flict among public roles, particularly perhaps, that between the "statesman" and the "partisan." (3) the conflict of private and public roles. (4) ambigu- ities in political situations. (5) diffused responsibility and limited control of situations. (6) time and pressure demands, and (7) status insecurity. By the last-named point he refers to the fact that "status insecurities grow out of the ambivalent status accorded the politician by the voters. The politician is never quite certain whether he has a position of respect or not. "49 Mitchell goes on to suggest various techniques which the politician can and does use to help reduce these feelings of strain. For one thing, he can verbalize his ideas and feelings in writing and speaking, which serve to help convince others of his wisdom and judgment and to relieve him of the feeling of doing nothing. He can, of course, if the strain becomes too great, simply 49 William C. Mitchell, "Occupational Role Strains: The American Elective Official, " Administrative Science Quarterly, 111 (September, 1958), p. 225. , . um‘itin‘ (fr .. , 5::..-b.u-l _un l V ' l; I! :eet, menu. I O ‘ ~ 8 rm t.) "1 O K'— 97.. -. .4.‘ 1‘ ..:..:es atzch be r 4m . 13.29:. if: '2: 3:51.21: use :f V . . If “"P'Ij' ” ‘Fren. ,‘ ”an ~~4n€ ‘ t. ‘. V ‘ .= the seven: . ‘55- he 'C-eliexe "in f n ‘. U. ‘Cr Sf‘yye l . .,‘ “ ‘11,." s . 4;. HL:I.:/rl LL: , u (‘0 iii . '- 1,? 7. " t'h. \‘hi. ‘1‘. rlrge u p . f. .chr . 1.5“ :9"—:‘ “I"... ,u . u; “irr-. 0.1: than. V. “. A ‘riC _. ‘3’... .1 If. h. ‘~ 1 . I ‘e P'rlf .;. \ "., i '1' ‘ _ 3;. a: "f. . . are (if '. "- 1| 11- a.».tu‘ :9 7.. :a ‘ l—~GLt‘I ‘k ‘I e "a ‘- -\ We :r ,W- ’ v.4 e ._ ’~. \ i» .V' . ~t Ji‘w‘l» I ‘a n >- JV, .“ v'u ”Va 1, ~ . t “5 Hf t‘ ”kt-"’1 9‘ N .-, p t ‘. “ea. r2. , . L]; I gm. '1 a .. 54 leave politics. Other less drastic measures seem to be followed by most, however, including the formation of a kind of mutual admiration society, a tight little in-group, that appreciates the problems of the other man and the qualities which he must have in order to have survived. Also included would be the use of titles of respect, the extreme deference shown to colleagues, the constant use of flattery and positive remarks, along with the studied avoidance of applying the term "politician" to each other. A further possi- bility is the development of a cynical attitude toward the voters with the con- sequent effect that, since the elected official distrusts other people and their motives, he believes that he is immunized against being hurt by their criti- cism. Or for some, perhaps, simply a stoic attitude may serve the purpose—- the realization that with all of the problems, on balance things could have gone much worse. Leg’slative Role Sectors In their study of state legislatures Whalke, gt_. _a_l. attempted to study legislators empirically in terms of role theory and to delineate the principle legislative role orientations which they found to exist. They begin with a basic postulate that the office of legislator is a clearly recognizable position in the four states studied, that legislators and many other persons in those societies associate certain norms of behavior with those positions, 1. e. , expect certain types of behavior from occupants of the position of legislator simply because they occupy that position and that a significant portion of the behavior of legislators is role behavior consistent with legislators' role Latsic agree 23:1,". the type ale L:- varies-5 litil‘iilai ass 211:2: he 3;:in :5 after not ..- new If V ‘ ._,_ v-v . \1Ihn'h pe' V . v . .m ... N 61236]? SR.” we 0. If M... tax J: ”TX. . . . ' 533152159. i "A u N . . 1P: Let‘r: Cl ‘te 1:915:19 66 face-to-face pressures for conformity primarily from only one of . . . (the) groups. Particularly because he is a person who attends sensitively to his immediate environment, the Spectator weighs such face-to-face demands heavily. "72 In terms of his contribution to the main work of the legislature, the Spectator does not pull his fair share of the load. Yet he is unlikely to cause much trouble to those who are primarily concerned with the passage of legis- lation. He may even serve a useful function as a tension-reducer on occasion due to his open admiration of those whom he considers important. Interestingly, Barber comments that though the majority of those who fit into this quadrant of his schema were men-~since the majority of his sample was male--the easiest way to typify them in terms of background and expectations is as a " . .. . middle-aged, lower-status housewife of modest achievements, limited skills, and restricted ambitions. "73 The opposite quadrant-~those high in activity but low in willingness to return——Barber labels the Advertisers. In this category——in which, inci- dentally, he found no women--the "primary focus of attention is not on the softer rewards of good fellowship but on the use he can make of political 74 office for his own advancement. " The Advertiser is typically a young man 72Ibid. , pp. 61-62. 73Ibid. , p. 214. 74Ibid. , p. 69. “1.. 67 on his way up, a young man in the early stages of his career who hopes to be very upwardly mobile and sees the visibility of public office as a means of enhancing this career. Once in office, though, he may become very disil- lusioned about the degree to which this will help. Trapped between his ambi- tions and his ethics, he tends to become a cynic. . . . members of this category do not find the legislature a particularly pleas ant place to be. Their reactions are marked by feelings of frustration, by resentment over the imperious demands of outside circumstances. The costs are personal, not just financial. In several ways the Advertiser feels uncom- fortable about being forced. 75 He may feel forced to do things he does not want to do; forced to give up his preferences on matters of legislation and perhaps even to act contrary to his personal desires or beliefs. He may feel forced to give up his "rightful" powers over others. The strateg of the Advertiser, then, tends to be aggression, particu- larly indirect aggression. One such indirect way is internal and perceptual, namely , . seeing everyone else as equally cynical and self-seeking or else as stupid. They release some emotions by imagining ahead of time situations in which they could work out their aggression. They also do so by attacking the work load. Yet they do not work hard for specific legislation so much as they work hard at being noticed. 76 (The Advertiser) . . . is temperamentally something of a gambler, looking for a sudden killing rather than a series of little ones. 75Ibid. , p. 82. 76Ibid. , p. 102. 4 ii... .... ‘I_.——r.-—.j ,. -J§i_ ‘1 68 He has no long—range commitment to legislative life that might encourage steadier efforts at building a repuation within the chamber. His cynicism makes it difficult for him to view legis- lation or specific issues as important in themselves rather than simply as weapons in a struggle for survival. 77 Basically he contributes little to the legislature—mot in morale, certainly, and even not in the day-to—day work load. Those who are low in activity and low in willingness to return Barber names the Reluctants. These are people who tend to be serving because of a strong civic sense of duty and who have been impressed that this is a job that must be done and done by someone who can serve well. Often they are people who have long been involved in locallcivic affairs and perhaps have even held local office. Their reluctance comes mainly from the fact of their being older, frequently retired or in some way infirm, as well as from their disliking a break in the normal routine of life. Serving in the legislature does not strike them as being any more impressive than serving on a local committee, and consequently they do not gain the same of satisfaction that comes to the Spectator from being in a more exalted position than they might otherwise have been. Reluctants experience neither the Spectators' relatively intense pleasure nor the Advertisers' relatively intense pain in the legislature. They are perhaps best described as being uncom- fortable there. Their discomforts arise primarily from the adjustive burdens they must try to cope with at an age when personal change comes hard. And the changes that the legis- lative environment seems to demand are larger ones for the 77Ibid., p. 106. _‘ ‘4 ““' ‘ufl'l 5___.——‘-.—-.- "fl‘. u v . r instant m. contrast xxith 1 D . ' I ”ase 6: hi: Gee; - I Hi. ‘ Q 4.. Q 17...: in ‘. Eu: Ll ..‘ ”WHIP-an “~- u rum. 3515 Values as v precess he 1 4_. _ H. ‘. x f . , | (“1". p“ A. u ELlhg‘k. \ 1.-. . . w?‘ .4- .QU:.EA‘Q\ t a; .h ,, n‘ ‘ :~ ‘ ”V n“I~ H‘ vNigb 'l““ L‘ 69 Reluctant than for others because his past is in such sharp contrast with his present. 78 Because of his deep feeling of duty, however, the Reluctant presses toward playing some useful part in the legislative process. The constituency that elects him tends to be one that emphasizes social harmony and the preven- tion of conflict—-and this is basically why he fills the bill for them—-and these are his values as well. Consequently in the search for some part in the legis- lative process he tends to stress those things that may bring about the reso— lution of conflict. One such strategy, which at the same time keeps him out of, the substantive controversy over legislation, is to stress the importance of sticking with the "rules of the game," and parliamentary procedure. He would be comparable to what Wahlke calls a Ritualist. "He attempts to im- pose order on a chaotic environment by focusing on its orderly aSpects: the formal processes, the formal organization. Or he spends his time in intel- lectual work which involves little mixing in the political burly—burly. "79 If he can be persuaded that he is, in fact, making a contribution and if this does not mean getting too much involved in the rough and tumble of politics itself, the Reluctant may stay on for years and become one of the sages of the House, the one whose wisdom and understanding of the operation of the place are a legend. If, on the other hand, these conditions do not prevail, or if he simply becomes too infirm to keep up the pace, he may soon fade 78Ibid- 9 p9 1380 79Ibid. , p. 150. 7'0 from the political picture. In the former situation he becomes a distinct asset to the legislative process by his constant emphasis on the need for following the procedures of democratic process and not letting the enthusi— astic partisans overrun the bounds of decency and order. The last category, the high in activity as well as high in willingness to return, Barber labels the Lawmakers. Though in some respects the Law— maker sounds too close to some sort of a liberal ideal to be considered an actual type. there are some distinct and unique characteristics which Barber feels tend to typify people in this category. In the first place he sees them as people who have a deeply rooted interest in elective politics, in many cases stemming from an early family involvement. They appear to be young, well-educated, and upwardly mobile, and interested in particular issues--a point that differentiates them from the Advertiser. Like the Reluctants they are interested in performing a civic duty and like both the Reluctants and the Advertisers, they have frequently filled local offices of various sorts. Un- like the other two, however, the Lawmaker tends to view his nomination and election to the legislature as a natural extension of the local political activi- ties and as a desired end. Also, whereas the Advertiser seeks the nomina- tion because he sees it as a chance to further his occupational aspirations, the Lawmaker will seek the nomination even when he is certain that his oc- cupational life will suffer from it. " . . . he relies much less on a single 11‘1'1. _ gzafizgforce, 23m differe beach cast itielf. The Lie House 5] l5 8 source 2955 {fuel hasty ‘0: ”lb net 2 rivers sz J’ ;_1 . M 33;:th Valle Barbe I'F‘IA‘. has... 596"; 71 motivating force, such as occupational ambition, and thus is open to rewards from many different directions when he gets to the legislature. "80 In each case, holding office is instrumental to some need beyond itself. The satisfactions that Lawmakers derive from being in the House show an emphasis on the prescribed tasks of the body as a source of reward, rather than the prestige, power, or worthi- ness of the office. Furthermore, their satisfactions come from the active manipulation of the process, rather than passive recep— tion of benefits. In other words, Lawmakers more than other members stress adaptation to the role, rather than the status, of legislator. They invest intellectual and emotional energy in coping with the elements of the environment most relevant to the tasks which define this role. 81 While Barber also detects in them " . . . unusual emphatic abilities . which seem to make it easier for them to accept others who are per- ceived as different or even inferior, "82 he further finds evidence that they can be more objective and detached from the entire proceedings than the other types. He emerges as one who is self-consious but not timid. He even attempts to master himself by means of conscious self—analysis, though not in a brooding sense. "The Lawmaker is not overly impressed with him— self, yet he maintains a solid core of self-reSpecting confidence. "83 Obviously it is the Lawmakers who shoulder the bulk of the legislative workload. Because they are conscious of issues and used to thinking in terms 80Ibid. , p. 172. 8liIbid. , p. 181. 82mm. , p. 182. 83Ibid., p. 185. ‘ . v .izeutiex P383 ' .s ‘ .- 3;... v3 “11335 flights :13): s ' ' : tartan: 1:35 the :8; The in tr 1; o" “'0" «a.......0l'a' a habitu: cite: the; gazing P {rained :1 lifters It be eff iLCOT‘F r y. it". 72 of them they may tend to become impatient with the rules of the game and be willing to bypass some procedural norms if necessary, and it is here that the Reluctants may serve a useful function in keeping them in line . However, without their initiative and drive, as well as their willingness to carry through on plans, the legislature would be nothing. The Lawmaker's main strategy--rational mastery through role definition-~appears to be not a temporary expedient but rather an habitual style of action utilized in many phases of his life other than the political. . . . The practice of consciously or- ganizing his approach to his roles, is probably sufficiently in- grained in his personality to outlast many a disappointment. ' Furthermore, this strategy is more likely than any of the others to be effective in bringing him the kind of reward he is most interested in--practical success on legislation. 84 Thus the literature on the legislator as the incumbent of a particular ' position suggests various forms of adaptation to the requirements of the role, depending on background and personality as well as on particular obstacles one faces. It also reminds one that not all incumbents follow the same set of norms for the position as far as personal approach is concerned-~though it would seem generally agreed that some approaches are more likely to lead to what is normally termed "legislative success" than are others. But several styles of emphasis or adaptation seem to be possible as long as one stays within the general enacted requirements and does not violate too dras- tically the more informal rules of the game. In fact, if one attempts to combine some of the ideas of Barber with those of Wahlke, _e_t_ a}; , it might 84Ibid. , p. 205. Jr ! s1. 73 be suggested that as long as one does not "break" the rules of the game in an action sense, one may well ignore a number of them. One may be a passive legislator--a reactor rather than an acto r--at least as long as the constitu- ents are satisfied. Both of them also suggest that one kind of substitute for .. being actively in the middle of the political give and take is an emphasis on rituals. This can still give a sense of participation and importance. If the ‘ :«I member is not involved sufficiently in the legislative struggle to gain the re- wards that are inherent in such a life, there are still many satisfactions he may realize from his role as Barber suggests. The situation is fraught with l l many possibilities as well as many frustrations. ' Some specific hypotheses will be suggested on the basis of the fore— going literature that may have some special relevance for the problem under consideration. But these must wait until another and completely different area of the literature is presented—-that dealing with the feminine role in contemporary society, and particularly with the role of women in politics. This Will be the topic of the next chapter. .w.. v w: CHAPTER III THE CULTURAL AND POLITICAL ROLE OF WOMEN It is sometimes more appropriate to begin a discourse with a disclaimer as to what it is not attempting to do than to specify the particular goal. Such would seem a wise measure here. This section will in no way attempt to be either lengthy or comprehensive with regard to the literature that speaks of the cultural role of women in society--not in American society, and certainly not in any other. Neither will it attempt a particularly historical approach which traces the changes in role definition and analyzes causes for these, though of necessity some reference will be made to such changes. Finally, there is no wish to champion a cause or agitate for a particular vieWpoint. The Cultural Role of Women There is no lack of literature on the status and role of the contemporary Woman. On the other hand, a lack of reports on empirical research studies is evident, Since women are nearly omnipresent in society, many people seem to feel themselves more or less experts on the basis of general par- tiCIpant observation and without any need for a Special research design. Particularly is this true of women. Though much of the popularized writing is (1°39 by men, not surprisingly, most of the material that asserts itself as at all serious social science analysis of the role of women has been done 74 josh. Them 9::-s appfo 3011‘ .43 Since :he pt :osiucn. ti o ' 'v Si?-TT;Q1;€ cle f1"... “.1 it All: I . - . , “J: :l-Iafi' ! On .. ..g‘. s".,‘e\4‘l : hen 1 Ir 32:51-31: 5) .1.“ . V.‘ "- .«¢,““e : ~ N. ‘ ._\“.' "WA-"f N . ‘ h " ,h:.l' ‘. ‘ . \‘HE Dr‘ MI. by women. The material reviewed here will deal basically with this more serious approach, though it should be noted that much of this is subjective writing. Since the position under consideration in this report is an upper-middle class position, this will be the focus in this review as well. The middle and upper-middle classes have received the most attention in the literature any- way. As a consequence some of the literature that is comparative along either class or ethnic lines is not included. What will be attempted here is simply to note what is generally described as the societal set of expectations for middle and upper—middle class white women. Even though there is a great deal of writing about changing roles, role conflicts, and ambiguity in role definitions--and even though some of the writing is polemical in that it deplores much of this current role--it does seem that there is a general consensus among most social scientists working in this area that a general cultural role can be determined. It is this very imprecise set of expectations that will be neatly packaged and presented-- hopefully. Maths of the Feminine Role What are the characteristics generally attributed to the occupant of the feminine status-position? One of the key attributes may well be phrased in parBonian terms: she is expected to be oriented toward the emotional- e xpressive pattern of behavior more than the instrumental. For instance, ”Al‘s uh . No "l grw' “\I"A I __ ‘ ALA ; .' .‘txfllalt mu "Rifle ler role for v girl," the file a C0! to men, l often its ‘ . fi’,p"r.r‘. ‘\-~t.d",L ‘ medic.“ l: Alfie RC: 3. ,\ . . 7 are. ~ ‘ ..L. ~ .aht‘ 76 in speaking of college-age women and their problems of adjustment to a set of conflicting role expectations, Komarovsky puts in somewhat general terms the feminine role in this regard. While there are a number of permissive variants of the feminine role for women of college age (the "good sport," the "glamour girl," the "young lady," the domestic "home girls," etc.), they have a common core of attributes defining the proper attitudes to men, family, work, love, etc. , and a set of personality traits often described with reference to the male sex role as "not as dominant, or aggressive as men" or "more emotional, sympa- thetic." Alice Rossi, whose own views of what should b_e_differ rather radically from what she sees as the actual current situation, says . - . in the larger society women are seen as predominantly ful- filling nurturant, expressive functions and men the instrumental, active functions. When this vieWpoint is applied to American Society, intellectually aggressive women or tender expressive men are seen as deviants showing signs of "role conflict, " "role confusion," or neurotic disturbance. They are not seen as a promising indication of a desirable departure from tradi- tional sex role definitions. In a similar way, the female 8pliers, the family, is viewed by social theorists as a passive, Dawnlike institution, adapting to the requirements of the occu- Dational, political or cultural segments of the social structure, Seldom playing an active role either in affecting the nature of Other social institutions or determining the nature of social Change, 2 The Gallup P011 in 1962 reports that in any composite picture of the American woman she pictures herself, at least in the aggregate, as primarily \ c Mirra Komarovsky, "Cultural Contradictions and Sex Roles, " Ameri— Wai of Sociology, LII (November, 1946), pp. 184-185. 2 I) Alice Rossi, "Equality Between the Sexes: An Immodest Proposal, " %. xcm (Spring, 1964), pp. 611-612. 77 interested in home and family and "someone to care and someone to care f o r. " There is little disagreement from anyone that the cultural ideal of the feminine role is a "soft" one. A man's basic identification in the urban, industrial world of today is his occupation or profession, by definition a competitive and instrumental role. It is perhaps not too much to say that only in very exceptional cases can an adult man be genuinely self-reSpecting and enjoy a respected status in the eyes of others if he does not "earn a living" in an approved occupational role. Not only is this a matter of his own economic support but, generally speaking, his occupational status is the primary source of the income and class status of his wife and children. 3 For the woman, on the other hand, the primary status is that of wife and mother, and the home is that primary-group institution where the instru- mental attitude is least functional and where the major emphasis is on the Particlflaristic and emotional-expressive aSpects of life. Whether such differences are the result of biology, of cultural condi- tioning. or of the adaptation to the primary occupational role, i. e. , "house- wife," is here of less consequence than the fact that this is a definite aspect of what is regarded to be a part of the "feminine role" in this society. There are. of course, those who do not conform to this model, but they are gener- ally VieWed as deviants—mot particularly as acceptable alternative-behavior r018 models . \ 3 Stat :l‘alcott Parsons, "Age and Sex in the Social Structure of the United es. ' American Sociological Review, vn (October, 1942), p. 608. rater set ( tartar; women 1 . ., i conning on an occupe '- " I t v. I r 33.3: pt. her 1. :5: .:fe hie case r f!!!- The m Maud} itch are ir beds. The 5131515 c0: {Jr-3:30? m; m ass-secretary. $1123: as men 1‘s u biolég 3 .L‘ «meet.- 6 Vfthel; :E‘ {Ema‘e \ i Y‘ _ .‘II‘ "ul «we “Bilge Ga} 78 Another set of characteristics taken to be a part of role expectations for American women are those identified as the subordinate—passive group. Again, Parsons comments that even with regard to the situation where the woman takes on an occupational role-~an instrumental role--it is normally one that does not put her in competition with those men most closely associated with her life. In the case of the feminine role the situation is radically differ- ent. The majority of married women, of course, are not employed, but even of those that are a very large proportion do not have jobs which are in basic competition for status with those of their hus- bands. The majority of "career" women whose occupational status is comparable with that of men in their own class, at least in the uppermiddle and upper classes, are unmarried, and in the small proportion of cases where they are married the result is a profound alteration in family structure. 4 PrObably not many women would put it quite as bluntly as did one New Jersey housewife, but the theme that she expressed is not uncommon. "A woman needs a master-slave relationship whether it's husband and wife, or boss-secretary. This shows she's needed and useful. Women who ask for equality with men are fighting nature; they wouldn't be happy if they had it. It's 81mPly biological. "5 The Gallup Poll did reveal, however, that American Women themselves capoused the idea that they should be subordinate. ° - (the) man must be the leader; he cannot be subservient to the female. Repeatedly women told us, "The man should be \ 4M: , p. 609. 5 mnGeOrge Gallup and Evan Hill, "The American Woman, " Saturday %- December 22, 1962, p. 28 SmberOne." "A celluloid us. "i he." Moczucx‘s‘nj‘s ' 11:52, she indicates i 5:15 in: she can out sc, Sing-one, or .‘ have occasion: Meme hem levee, he max 1:658 ‘iere w 1M cenm must DQSSQS .A ‘ r“‘fi.T._ "he“: ' 4 ‘- JLL 9:3“ THE 17:93 C 79 Number One. " "A woman needs a husband to lean on." An Arizona mother told us, "Being subordinate to men is a part of being fem- inine. "6 ' In Komarovsky's study of the cultural role contradictions of college women, she indicates thatone of the basic conflicts comes when the girl knows that she can out-accomplish a male, but that to be feminine she must not do so. Sixty-one, or 40 per cent,of the students indicated that they have occasionally played dumb on dates, that is concealed some academic honor, pretended ignorance of some subject, or al- lowed the man the last word in an intellectual discussion. Among these were women who "threw games" and in general played down certain skills in obedience to the unwritten law that men must possess these skills to a superior degree. 7 Justification and Social Support for the Role The idea of female subordination has received strong cultural support from other societal institutions as well, especially from the church. Both Catholic and protestant theologies, drawing in large part from the writings Of St- Paul, have emphasized the role of the man as the "head of the house. " Giving Official sanction to this idea are the words of Pope Pius XII in his statement on the role of women in the civic and political sphere (at least by implication): "Associated with men in civil institutions, she will apply her- self especzl ally to those matters which call for tact, delicacy and maternal \ 6 M . p- 28~ 7 KOInarovsky, op. cit. , p. 187. H4 “ “L J.- .m‘fl. 'fl . d.».. a he .c. w 1 .9- 05,- He __\_ ..C Ki " .‘Il. ' l ' Mom: I A 'an - 1 "in [tier 1] er J.‘ ..afi‘lfc u." , :t, 1 “WHO A. L M. (a ‘I'V‘ a i 5C.” O -G 80 instinct rather than administrative rigidity. "8 Only recently has it been com- mon in the traditional marriage ceremony for the term "obey" to be dropped from the bride's vows. Legally the approach taken has been based on English common law in which the daughter was primarily under her father's jurisdiction until mar— riage. At that time she became legally tied to her husband. While tremen— dous modifications in the legal structure have occurred since colonial times, many of the values associated with that type of status still remain. For that matter, so do some of the legal restrictions. The President's Commission on the Status of Women reports Under the common law brought to the United States from England, married women were virtually legal nonentities. A wife could not administer her own property, enter into contracts, sue or be sued in her own name, engage in business in her own name, act as surety or fiduciary, receive her own earnings, or dis- pose of her property by will. - . some remnants of past centuries still remain. In some States a married woman does not have legal capacity to become Suli‘ety or guarantor. A number of states limit the right of a married woman to serve in a position of trust. A few states still limit her right to sue or be sued in her own name. Al— thollgh some of the community property states permit the wife to receive and control her own earnings, in Texas her earnings be<30 me part of the common property and as such subject to the control of her husband. . . .9 In Conjunction with the legacy left by the legal and religious definitions of her place in society, it is still true that in the usual situation she is \ 8 "W Sister Ann Regis Shibrock, CSJ . and Brother Gerald J. Schnepp, S. M. , men in Politics," Social Order, 111 (October, 1953), p. 36. 9 Com U° 3. President's Commission on the Status of Women, Remrt of the Won Civil and Political Rights (Washington: U. S. Government ““8 Office, 1963), p. 18. .-.-——r-W‘“ ‘ ""1 itgetient upon her hits 5126 cermel‘ai this is extinct. 1: the last half :53effet'tix'e13' use at. Denied in fitteziaienhas unite ism ne 1'. n“.- sexua'; dii fie-c: flea: $36: a“ if: rc '=-'F; ~~..‘ F. \ ... mice J". )I \ 81 dependent upon her husband to establish her social status in the community, since normally this is done through his occupational role even should she herself work. In the last half century or so another justification has been found, and very effectively used, for the more passive and subordinate status of the woman. Derived in large part from Freudian psychology, the idea of functional differentiation has been widespread in psychoanalytic thought. In brief, and somewhat distorted fashion, this can be stated as the idea that the physiologi- cal and sexual difference of the sexes is, and should be, carried over into all other-—or at least most other-segments of their roles as well. It is the growth of this philosophy that Betty Friedan discusses and condemns in The Ffllhline Mjsflque. 10 In its more or less extreme form this philosophy argues that the fact that the woman is biologically the one who bears and nur- tures the infant is indicative of her true interests and status in life. She finds her greatest fulfillment in caring for and being nurturant to the rest of her family I'ather than through independent expression in some other field. Con— 8'5‘illerltly, her interests in other areas of life, according to functionalism, must be related to the family and her natural role as wife and mother and g"'e'l‘diam of the good. More advanced exponents of the functional theory recognize the right of women to work outside the home, to take a part in civic \ 10 Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (New York: w. w. Norton and 0“me : Inc. , 1963). l ! 82 and social life and in political affairs, but only on condition that they confine their activities to problems of motherhood, educa- tion, and the family--to what might be termed "home policy. "11 There is little argument that the American woman has, in fact, concen- trated at least her voluntary energies; and even to a great extent her working time, on issues and activities that are so related to home and hearth. Even more, Nye and Hoffman in their study of the working mother indicate that many times when the job itself is in no way "feminine" the motivations for working that women verbalize are frequently home and family related, par- ticularly in the financial realm. The point of disagreement in the literature moves from the empirical level of what i_s_ to what is 2119113}: or, at times based on this, what is desirable. The question is whether this attitude and set of activities are artifacts of contemporary society imposed on unsuspecting womanhood to "keep them in their place, " or the natural outworking of the Phyeiological sex—related activities. TO’ mun extent the functionalist idea has invaded the ranks of those who consider themselves in the vanguard of contemporary feminism. The adapta— tion here is the idea that there is a very legitimate, and even desirable, dif- f"fiance between the sexes, but that the difference should not be reflected in a suIJel‘ordinate-subordinate status, nor should opportunities for complete exI’l‘ession of one's interests be differentially supplied. This view holds that for t00 long the feminist movement equated equath with sameness, and that \ 11 U Maurine Duverger, The Political Role of Women (New York: The '11th Nations, UNESCO, 1955). 31 i 1t i—flwvf—‘rr H “3, a? ”(3 .-. u~ yon-..qm “‘1 . ..« u .h‘ “A 4.1'5vr'F' _ ..4 7”: at!" Of C‘ Lamp" ‘ euunk .. 1":er on Utxlo. 2130155533 V , a,“ A .' e L9: azfe, 83 they are not equivalent terms. " . . . we feel that to admit women are differ- ent from men is somehow undemocratic. We have fought so many years in the feminist movement to be just like men that we have overdone it a little. Equality of opportunity is not identity or sameness of opportunity . . . "12 Descriptive Studies of the Activities of Women Turning from the attributed characteristics to a brief survey of actual behaviors, one finds, not at all surprisingly, that the social behaviors are quite consonant with the generally attributed characteristics. Most of the behaviors, for at least a majority of American women, are those which are somehow related to being a housewife, or, in the more currently acceptable term, being a homemaker. "The woman's fundamental status is that of her husband' 8 wife, a mother of his children, and traditionally the person reSpon- Sible for a complex of activities in connection with the management of the household, care of the children, etc. "13 Parsons goes on to note that It is, of course, possible for the adult woman to follow the mascu— line pattern and seek a career in fields of occupational achieve- ment in direct competition with men of her own class. It is, however, notable that in spite of the very great progress of the emancipation of women from the traditional domestic pattern only a very small fraction have gone very far in this direction. 14 X 12Ruth Useem, "Where Are the Women, " The Mich jam State University w. VII (March, 1962), p. 18. 13 Parsons,o 0.2 cit. ,.p 609. 14 Ibid. , p. 610. He goes. c . , . u v A. n‘. . c . “,[1 . mm H 'U .r“. 3 ‘ p.25. TAO ate a Q! . ' . m a hurt ‘Lj13 ls E‘A‘ ~- ' , I “W W .T. l ' C(‘_Wir, ,. “I, d cites, 9 I 7". IPV,\ ‘ sz in“. a ‘ ( I ‘ . .8“ We ‘ in I’” “~55. 3* 1 ‘ t r; n‘f c.' "e ”A IA‘Q- ‘ . 84 He goes on to note that with the basic alteration in the masculine role so that it emphasizes the occupational world away from the home instead of the previous joint economic endeavors of the husband-wife team, there have arisen two alternatives in the feminine role to the either-or situation of home versus full-fledged career. The first of these is the glamour pattern empha— sizing very feminine forms of attractiveness and often a directly sexual type of appeal. Many of the particular forms of expression and practices have been taken over from social types that were not previously considered respec- table. This is the pattern impressed on‘the younger women in particular-- married or single, working or not. In comparing this to the other alternative it is evident that they are quite age related, though not exclusively so. The glamour role comes early and is associated with the idea of youth to a great extent. It is also associated more With courtship than with marriage per se. The second pattern, which Parsons calls the humanistic pattern, is more usually associated with the Older "mature" woman, though this is not to say that she gives up entirely on the glamour pattern. This humanistic alternative - . . takes a wide variety of forms. One of them lies in a rela- tively mature appreciation and systematic cultivation of cultural interests and educated tastes, extending all the way from the intellectual sphere to matters of art, music, and house furnish— ings. A second consists in cultivation of serious interests and humanitarian obligations in community welfare situations and the like. It is understandable that many of these orientations are most conspicuous in fields where through some kind of F A bitter “ " .:g‘. “a: £1.64“! A . ~er‘1Ur“. 1 . A. ‘ \ "J 85 tradition there is an element of particular suitability for feminine participation. 15 Fundamentally, however, Parsons looks at the basic role pattern of women as marriage. In the case of the feminine role, marriage is the single event toward which a selective process, in which personal qualities and effort can play a decisive role, has pointed up. That deter— ___ mines a woman's fundamental status, and after that her role F patterning is not so much status determining as a matter of living up to expectations and finding satisfying interests and ac- tivities. 16 Or, as Betty Friedan puts it in less sanguine terms, A bitter laugh was beginning to be heard from-American women. They were admired, envied, pitied, theorized over until they were sick of it, offered drastic solutions or silly choices that no one could take seriously. They got all kinds of advice from the growing armies of marriage and child-guidance counselors, psychotherapists, and armchair psychologists, on how to ad- just to their role as housewives. No other road to fulfillment Was offered to American women in the middle of the twentieth century. 17 As far as a description of the behavioral aspect of the middle and upper— middle class woman is concerned, one of the best short summaries is that given in the report of the President's Commission on the Status of Women. IntereStingly enough, the images discussed, both past and present, are of the married woman, and to a great extent of the young married woman. A1- thOUSh occasionally the figures in the report indicate the relative participation \ 1 51bid., p. 611. 16 Ibid. , p. 612. 17 Friedan, op. cit. , p. 26. $6.302 her r, m home 1?. :er chL \' ; ' u “e-‘§7€01i. hf . . I ’$~ V nglsm 86 of married and unmarried women in various activities, the basic assumption is always that when talking about the status of American women, one is talking about the married woman. The following indicates the kind of status gener- ally assumed to be associated with the role and the changes over time. At the turn of the century, the popular assumption about the dowry of skills a young woman would bring into marriage anticipated that the young farm wife knew how to cook and bake, keeping the ' wood or coal stove stoked to the proper temperature; how to can and preserve the annual yield of orchard fruits and garden veg- etables to supply a family requirement calculated at 125 quarts per person. She would use a sewing machine to make her long— sleeved blouses, her floor—sweeping dresses, her children's pina— fores and her husband's nightshirts--his Sunday suit might be bought through the catalog of a mail—order house. She expected to nurse the family ailments prevalent at the time-—children's diseases, pneumonia, typhoid fever, malaria, tuberculosis. In cases there was no school in the back country, she would teach her youngsters herself. ! i Her home was largely self-sufficient, her outside activities chiefly in her church, its missionary society and its women's circle. Neighboring families, however, could rely on mutual aid at times of crisis--illness, accident, or death; fire, or crop failure. Teday's image of young married women is very different. It shows suburban mothers reading directions on packages or cans as they cook frozen or otherwise preprocessed food by gas or elec- tricity. To buy it, they bundle the children into the car and set fOff-h to market at the local shopping center, where transcontinental trllcking systems have assembled in one area most of the con- sumer goods that suburban families use. They make the rounds from supermarket to five- and-ten, from drugstore to branch de- partment store. Services are there, too: laundromats and dry- cleaning establishments, banks, dentists' and lawyers' offices, and beauty parlors. . . . The appeal to the modern young housewife of instant coffee and mmlite rice is a vivid indication that time is always short: per- haps that is why her hair is short; her dresses are short; at 0me or at play she is likely to wear shorts--and on occasion her ternDer is short, too. . . . 87 Except for minor childhood illnesses, suburban wives' nursing is likely to be as aides at the local hospital. But they are ex- pected to be active in sales of TB seals at Christmas and Crip- pled Children's Seals at Easter and to engage in fund drives for research and assistance to sufferers from diseases such as cancer and heart. . . . Homemakers‘ teaching will generally be as organizers of nursery schools or day care centers, as teachers' helpers, or as substitute or full time teachers in public or private school systems. . . . Their cultural interests may lead them to library or museum, amateur theatricals, school band performances, the movies, or, depending on where they live, presentations by stock companies, visiting stars of stage and concert hall, first-run casts with top billing major centers. TV sets in the home are omnipresent, with commercially sponsored women's fiction and children's pro— grams of widely varying quality or lack of quality by day, major newscasts and a range of fare from westerns and comics to prestige programs of national corporations by night. . . . The suburban norm is for evenings to be highly organized: the young wife and her husband belong to the Parent-Teacher Associa- tion, numerous civic bodies, voluntary agencies, and fund drives. Suburban couples are expected to be active in their church and, 120 a lesser extent, in their political party, where the wife is Called on to do much of the pre-election doorbell ringing. The suburban wife has constantly impressed upon her the impor- tance of getting along well with people, adjusting easily to new locations. She is likely to move at fairly frequent intervals, and though there is an increasing sameness among American communi- ties, particularly those built since the war, that makes one house or one school or one shopping center very like another, each move means new human relationships. 18 However, in assessing the current feminine role, one must not lose Sight 0f the fact that women are increasingly in the paid labor force. In some Ways this might seem contradictory to the previously stated emphasis on \ 18 U.S. President's Commission on the Status of Women, American 3&3 (Washington: U. 8. Government Printing Office, 1963), pp. 60—62. 88 homemaldng and marriage, but a closer look indicates some other interesting interpretations. One fact that stands out is that even with increasing numbers of women working, one still finds that approximately two-thirds of the women over fourteen years of age do not work outside of the home. Yet undoubtedly the trend is in the direction of women working. It is now a very legitimate pat- tern to follow. Hoffman and Nye report that "Census data show a steadily increasing proportion of women in paid employment over a sixty—year per- iod . . . "19 There has been a "moderate" increase in the proportion of all women gainfully employed-~from 25. 7% in 1940 to 34. 8% in 1960. By contrast, the proportion of employed married women living with their husbands increased from 14. 7% to 30. 5% in the same twenty year period, and the proportion of mothers with children under eighteen increased even more dramatically. 20 When one examines the types of jobs and the attitudes of those women who work, however, it would seem that this should not be interpreted as a revolt against the feminine role or the selection of a career over homemak— ing. There may be some question about a career versus marriage that re- mains in vogue, but little about the idea of combining work and marriage is ”'3’ longer questionable. Cultural and technological changes have reduced the economic contribution that women make to the family while staying at \ 19 F. Ivan Nye and Lois Wladis Hoffman, The Employed Mother in mwhicago: Rand McNally and Company, 1963), p. 7. 20 Ibid. , p. 7. 89 home. In many cases her economic duties have been transferred to service agencies outside the home that can mass produce them more cheaply than she. Moreover, the cost of paying for these services has been transferred in gen- eral to her Spouse. She is therefore frequently left with fewer of the tradi- tional time—consuming duties, more time, and an economic incentive to work. Add this to the fact that expanding technology has also created more jobs which she can handle, and the increased number of women who work is not surprising. Nye and Hoffman report in their study of working mothers that indeed there has been a move toward an equalitarian ideology, but that it has modi- fied, rather than drastically changed the idea of a male-dominant relationship. A modified ideology favoring male dominance still appears to be accepted by most American families. However, this is not entirely inconsistent with the employment of the wife, provided her position is lower than her husband's in the occupational hierarchy and yields a smaller proportion of the family income. 21 The motivations for work are undoubtedly varied with some of the more commonly given reasons ranging from the desire for money to the need to feel that one is busy or doing something of use to society, to just plain boredom-- e8Peeially after the children are no longer around all of the time. They re- POl't that when money is the stated cause, it is frequently income that is to be used for the family, to raise the family standard of living or to pay for X 2M, p. 75. 90 a college education for the children ratherthan money to be used just for the woman herself. A further indication of the place that work plays in the family relation- ship, and indeed in the larger societal relationships or cultural eXpectations for the sex roles, is the type of work that women do. Those areas that may be loosely termed "professional" in which women predominate or are strongly represented are heavily service oriented and lower—status professions: nurs- ing; teaching, especially at the elementary level; social work; and extension services. Among those relatively few women who go on to earn a doctorate, the largest single field has consistently been education with the social sciences a regular second for at least the last twenty years. 22 Prior to that there were so few of them that the relative predominance of one field wouldn't mean a great deal. The largest single category of employed women in 1960 was not in the Protessional field but in the clerical and kindred workers group that accounted for 8Ome 30% of all employed women. 23 If any one generalization is possible from the literature, it is that there are a number of possible variants of the so-called feminine role in American Society today and that emphasis may be shifting from one variant to another. Nevertheless, there is still a core set of expectations that are generally \_ 22 . Jessie Bernard, Academic Women (University Park, Pa.: The Pennsyl— Vamfi State University Press, 1964), p. 71. 23 Nye and Hoffman, op. cit. , p. 10. . ‘ r' 1 5.3.61 J16 pt int-flirty a 1.7mm: that " i .4 amen. '» resszrec \ l ‘ ‘ - ‘ - 126.10% CO. '41 "'9: x . , r ‘ 4 fia-I“‘ .uea ‘c 91 accorded the position at large. So, while there is movement toward equality of opportunity and equal standing before the law, there still remains a general agreement that a difference should and does exist between the roles of male and female and that this involves for the woman an emphasis on the humane or expressive orientation as compared to the more instrumental orientation for the man. Moreoever, the ideology seems to still hold that there should be at least one man in the life of each woman who will be superior, stronger, or somehow dominant in his relationship with her, though it rejects the cate— gorical idea that all men should be so considered. Perhaps the whole idea is as well summarized in a popular magazine article as in any of the more rigorous literature. Reports from the big coeducational campuses and select women's colleges alike confirm that the top of the class of '66 is turned on by a changed ideal of feminism. They want to use their rights and their heads, but they cling with vengeance to femininity and its benefits. They want a man, a dominant one, but . . . they also want a life of their own. . . . "I want to be a real person, not an addition to my husband," says Evelyn Smith, a junior at Mills College in California where the current phrase is: "A free man needs a free woman. "24 ' The development of this kind of mixed imagery and change becomes very Wide” in some ways as one moves to investigate the role of women in that area where dominance and power are a part of the definition of the game: Politics, Consequently, the next section deals more Specifically with the \ 4 . "What Educated Women Want," Newsweek, June 13, 1966, p. 68. 92 literature on the relationships between the fair sex and the "authoritative allo- cation of power. " Women in Politics @elatively little in the way of social science literature has directly focused on the role of women in politics, though some studies have included it as a variable. From the general literature, ‘hpwever, a few themes tend to stand out. ‘Firstrthere is a general ionisensus among the students of political behavior that\women are less apt to be involved, less apt to vote, and definitely less apt to be in positions of leadership. Secondly, there is a strong hint of a distinct anti—feminist attitude in the electorate at large, with women being as apt as men to be antagonistic to the idea of other women holding high office. Third, some have asserted on the basis of suggestive data that women are more. apt to be concerned with local issues and local civic action groups than with the national and international issues of the day. Finally . throughout the literature there is the suggestion that when women do become involved in the political world, it is to support the types of issues that are normally ‘associated with home and family: child welfare legislation, education (presumably elementary and secondary education in particular), and such things as consumer protection. In reviewing this literature more specifically the plan will be to begin “’ 1th a brief look at the historical involvement of women in the political realm and the“ move to the current situation as the available material presents it. 93 From the more general picture of the involvement of women in politics, there will be a cencentration on what is known about them as leaders or public of- ficials. The primary concern will be with the situation in the United States since this is the situational setting for the study at hand. Given the fact that in many respects the situation in western Europe is very similar, some material will be drawn from European and British sources as well. The Involvement of Women in Politics Historically The basic realization with which one begins an historical review of this type is that overt involvement of women in politics is a relatively recent phenomenon. The social culture, as mentioned in an earlier section of this report, was not such as to be conducive to their involvement. Not only were they not enfranchised nationally until 1920, they were considered to be unable to stand for themselves at law in many places. The cultural patterns, just as importantly, did not create the kind of self-image in which a self-respecting woman would think of being a politician, nor were girls given the kindof education that would expose them to the issues and types of thinking neces- sary for political involvement. F_eminism and Social Causes: The many social changes associated with the move toward urbanization, and the industrial revolution all played an in- direct part in the coming of age of women politically. Such factors as their movement into thelabor market, the increasing educational opportunities Offered them, and the changing reSponsibilities inherent in caring for their ; 94 families were undoubtedly significant. In particular there were two social movements that seemed to be catalytic agents, both in terms of teaching women the tricks of the trade politically and also of advancing the feminist cause itself. These were the abolition movement and the prohibition move— ment. Abolition was a cause with which many women found themselves emotion- ally and ideologically in accord. For one thing, it was socially acceptable, at least in certain parts of the country, for a woman to agree with and work for this movement. Women were supposed to be idealistic and moralistic, and the issue was presented as a moralistic cause. It also served, however, to emphasize the subordinate status of women. The idea behind abolition-- every person a free and equal person-—gave some of them ideas as to what the relative position of women should be as well. If slaves were to be free, why not women? Just as importantly, it taught them some of the techniques of organization, of propaganda, and the thrill of battle. One other thing they learned was that in a cause such as this the men appreciated their support and Would more or less accept them as equals, at least in the deprivation and Sharing of risks, if not in the glory. The official beginning of organized effort to gain the franchise and 90111110111 privilege in many respects can be traced to an historic meeting at an anti-slavery convention. It was 1840 when Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton met in London at the World Anti- Slavery Convention. Mrs. Mott was one of eight lr vul- (“l-u ‘1‘ i"""' d b...“- , ; rah' Yr Jib v.) . . ‘, V | u_ u;, ."‘l‘ ‘""‘¥u uh“ ~ i . _q , ,7‘ .- Cr ‘4‘“ 0L“ v ‘l ‘u - \ ‘u‘ \“'it. l, i .. . o > i. ’7‘ hi“. . a ‘ u 1 ~ F N\'-- r In an . I“ ‘h u‘ i r'“ w ., 4 { . q \ a” t“ x, , “1.1 u._ ‘ . ..- 95 American delegates denied seats because they were women. Mrs. Stanton was the wife of a delegate. These two women made a pact to start a woman's rights movement in the United States. 25 From this time on there began a distinctly separate push for equal rights for women, and particularly for the franchise, from the more general abolition movement. Many of the women were still deeply committed to the more gen- eral movement, however, and devoted much of their energies there, with the idea that when abolition came, certainly they would be included in the new freedoms. They were not. The women's rights movement as a separate social force followed its own path and did not die. In 1848 the first Woman's Rights Convention was held in Seneca Fall, New York. There they passed a resolution to the effect that "It is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise. "26 It was another twenty years before there were actual organizations founded for‘the eXpress purpose of securing constitutional amendments to give women the vote, and another ten years beYond that before the amendment was first introduced in Congress in 1878. By then, however, the feminist movement was in full swing. Though the franchise was its major objective, the general customs that t"IldBd to limit the participation of women in the total social system also came under attack. Though certainly not all women or men who supported the idea \ 25 ' League of Women Voters, Forty Years of a Great Idea, League Pub- lication #266 (Washington, D. C.: The League of Women Voters), 1960, p. 7. 26 Ibid. , p. 7. 96 of the franchise went the whole distance in supporting all of the claims, the cry of some of the more vocal of the leadership was that the only difference between men and women that ought to exist was that which related to the bio- logical function of child—bearing. In all other ways there should be no basic difference acknowledged or encouraged. In much the same vein that the cur- rent civil rights movement has argued against segregation of the Negro, these women argued that even a "different but equal" philosophy inherently inferred an inferior position to the woman. The prohibition campaign also enlisted a great number of women. Though not necessarily all of the same ones were involved in the two issues, there was some overlap. Moreover, itagain showed what the women could possibly accomplish, or at least help accomplish, when they became aroused over a social issue. In one sense much of the twentieth century can be noted as a time of overall concern with social reform. As a social cause reform movements attracted many women, enlisted their support, gave them training in the arts and skills of political agitation. They also served to enlist the support of men 0f 8imilar sympathies with whom they worked on welfare issues. This, after the last state necessary to ratify the constitutionai amend- ment had done so in 1920, there was great rejoicing on the part of those who had Worked so hard for the amendment—-as well as a certain amount of dis- pair and fear on the part of those whose ideal of society came much closer to the then status quo. Despite their varied reactions to the particular event, 97 bothgroupspictured the same general outcome of the franchise and female in- volvement in politics: women would now move in great numbers and attempt to moralize and reform all aSpects of society, in the fears of many of the men. without much concern for the practicalities of political life. How wrong they were. Take, for instance, the official Suffrage Association from which one might expect some definite further political action. In the long fight for the vote, the National American Woman Suffrage Association had become a tightly knit, efficient, po— litically wise, powerful organization. Victory was coming into view, and the suffrage leaders, accustomed to looking forward to the next step, began to plan what their organization would do with the vote once they had it. 27 What they did was to form the League of Vtomen Voters, which was not even originally conceived as a political action group. Its function was seen as an educational one, while the women would invade the already existing parties for the“ action fronts. A pamphlet put out by the newly-formed League in 1919 Stated The organization has three purposes: to foster education in Ciitizenship, to promote forums and public discussions of ciVic reforms, and to support needed legislation. It hopes t0 accomplish its purpose first, by education as to national and state human needs; second, by public discussion to Spread information, and, third, by the direct influence of its members who are enrolled voters in the already existing D01itical parties. The slogan of the League is "Enroll in the political parties! . . ."28 \ 27 Ibid. , p. 8. 28 Ibid., p. 11. 'l ‘ "V". M11 3 "ll ’ tum u.nfi :1 , . r l .. :18 "‘4‘th \ N \u‘ 4 ' . W‘ ‘ . . _ ,(m‘rl n.- Vu‘k. ..‘_“l I.\, ‘ >454 r, ‘ .u, u._ LP’ ‘7“ up“ , I ‘-. n. “he: (‘4' t l. . ~ ’ 3 “'- {1' "t.“ P'"' ‘ “n l".“de. -_. ‘ . ‘ L t-. ‘i x .‘ [In -. . l. .lte' "a Li H “\ __‘ . ‘.. W 98 The study of knotty political problems, however, does not have the same drawing and activating power as does an on—going cause. Many, if not most, of the women who had actually been an active part of the Association continued in League membership, but the fringe supporters were not involved. In line with the predictions the League did find that most of its legislative aims were in the area of social reform, although by this time such issues were far from uniQue to women. At the 1919 convention which brought the League into exis— tence, eight standing committees were appointed on the following topics: Amer- ican Citizenship, Protection of Women in Industry, Child Welfare, Social Hygiene, Unification of Laws Concerning Civil Status of Women, Food Supply and Demand, Improvement in Election Laws and Methods, and Research. No group has ever been able to arouse a large number of women to act as a politi- Cal bloc even on such issues as these. Certainly the League has not. Today it is basically an upper-middle-class organization or relatively well-educ ated Women Who thoroughly study the issues upon which they make statements, and many times are active party workers on the side. In itself the League is hardly a dynamic force able to activate great political masses, nor has any Other wOl’nan's organization emerged in this capacity. A National Woman’s Party, if one uses the term party loosely enough, is still in existence. The one goal is to get a constitutional amendment barring any discrimination on account of sex. Suffice it to say that not many people even know about it tOday. . —rw" or 0:61 5.15:}. Alice :- “as zit-Cline Ltzx'inced ' .; fesiraifie $52211 a ra‘. :g but are 9in ‘mnl-I what ‘m. ‘. GI- A 99 For one thing, about the time that the vote was achieved feminism itself began to decline as an important political issue. As was mentioned earlier, this was about the time that the functional theory began to make itself very evident. Alice Rossi suggests three reasons that have been major contributors to this decline. One of the basic ones was that the women themselves were not convinced that the comprehensive kind of social change implied in feminism was desirable. Nor were there supporting. institutions available to help carry out such a radical change. It is one thing to win the legal right to do some- thing, but unless that right can be and is put into practice, its meaningfulness is questionable. There is no sex equality until women participate on an equal basis with men in politics, occupations and the family. Law and admin- istrative regulations must permit such participation, but women must want to participate and be able to participate. In politics and the occupational world, to be able to participate depends Primarily on whether home responsibilities can be managed simultaneously with work or political commitments. . . . their Participation in politics, professions or the arts cannot be equal to that of men unless ways are devised to ease the combination of home and work responsibilities. This is precisely what has not occurred; at the same time, since fewer women today choose a career over marriage, the result has been a reduction in women's representation in the more challenging and demanding occupations. 29 The second reason that Mrs. Rossi suggests is the one already men— tioned, 1' e. . that feminism has always attracted the most support when as- sociated With some other cause. Since the 1920's, there has not been such \ 29 Rossi, op. cit... p. 610. - < Ll 1‘“A_. navy ~QF‘. l " w \ \. ...n-V .Lu “.w‘vll‘l‘ r \ and...” ‘7'_‘,I-‘U!\ I L... ,.ll. 5 :‘I v‘. ht " ry,‘ . ..lg H; V a l 100 an allied movement. Furthermore, she notes, "The decline of political rad- icalism and the general state of affluence and social conservatism in American society since World War II have contributed in subtle ways to the decline of feminism, for women are not joined with men in any movement affecting an underprivileged group in American society. "30 Finally, there is the trend toward a functional definition of a woman's role. Rossi considers this to be the most influential reason. In a more strictly political context, Duverger suggests that this has re- sulted in an excuse for‘citizens of both sexes not to expect women to become actively involved in politics except for civic reform measures, and therefore for the men to excuse themselves for not granting any real measure of power to women. The more general social picture provides a setting within which the Political is worked out. The more general setting with the functional aPproach has done little to encourage women to participate except as helpers, and this particularly in the more mundane matters such as mailings, doorbell ringing, etc. "From whatever standpoint it is considered, women's partici- pation in the political life of a given society cannot be separated from the general Concept which that society holds of the role of women. "31 If the majority of women are little attracted to political careers, it is because everything tends to turn them away from them; if they allow politics to remain essentially a man's business, it is becauseleverything conduces to this belief: tradition, family \ 30 Ibid., p. 611. 31 Duverger, op. cit., p. 151. | l c .r‘ a-n— fi— . , , ,_ . .. _. life. Pill; hi'oix'ec . ‘r b. .n -, 'r‘» ...t H.381 l Lie-'3 in :l 4| ~.. . H .Q A. "“3 affix" 101 life, education, religion and literature. From birth, women are involved in a system which tends to make them think of themselves as feminine. The publicity which blazes around the few women who are outstandingly successful in "non—feminine" fields accentuates the fact that they are exceptions and the gulf which divides them from the normal woman's life. 32 Women in the Political Parties: The slogan of the League may have been to enroll the women as active members of the political parties, but the actual process proved a bit more of a problem, at least in the sense of assuming any positions. of real influence in the parties. It is not that the parties did not wake up to the potential of the feminine vote and the importance of getting women involved in the election process; they did. It is simply that both of the major parties tended to keep women busy at the detail‘level of campaign politics-—a technique they still find useful and effective. The Democratic party took note of the increasing likelihood of woman suffrage in time to establish the Woman's Bureau of the\Demo‘cratic National Committee as early as 1916. Its Director was Mrs: George Bass of Illinois. In 1918 she proposed to the National Committee that the Committee be doubled by the appointment of a woman Associate Member from each state. Over some oPposition this was accomplished, and a woman was appointed from each State jointly by Mrs. Bass and the male member from that state. In \ 1920 the appointments were completed and the Associate Members attended the National Convention in full force. Their general effect or importance \ 32 Ibid., p. 129. “‘ '2‘”. ..o.» y . ‘. "“4 . “O" r-..» .t‘. {‘1' r 'F‘ . 7" I A... .‘ .- .. .. K“ N\tl ‘ ,‘ ,1 '. .. .M, ‘. p 4. T0 ‘: s ‘— ‘e ,‘. k ,. 102 may be noted by Mrs. Bass' description of their participation. "The gallery just above the platform was assigned to their use. They sat in a single row clear across its width, where they lent beauty, dignity and occasionally a piece of verbal counsel to the proceedings. "33 There was still a bit of a dis- tance between their gallery and the smokefilled rooms! At this same con- vention, however, a resolution was passed providing for the election of women to the National Committee on the same basis as the men rather than making their's an appointive position. The Republicans were not far behind--and indeed, to read their litera- ture they were ahead--in the recognition of the importance of the woman's vote. In 1918 the Woman's Executive Committee of the Republican Party was established. The following year further recognition was given to women by the creation of a Women's Division in the national party organization. In 1920 the Republican convention included twenty—seven women delegates and 131 women alternates. 34 The 1921 meeting of the National Committee of the Republican Committee also set in motion the machinery necessary to change their rules to allow women as associate members of the National Committee. However, the previous year eight women already had been appointed to sit on the Executive Committee of the National Republican Committee. \ 33 . Democratic National Committee, Historyof Democratic Women (Washington: Democractic Congressional Wives Forum, 1960), p. 31. 4 Josephine L. Good and Clare B. Williams, The Histo_ry of Women in Wan National Conventions and Women in the Rgaublicm National ~W(Washingtonz Women's Division, Republican National Committee, 1963)» p. 11. 103 Associate members on the committees of either party have not neces- sarily been equal members, and as for representation on the various conven- tion committees, this was much slower in coming. Though it took some time in coming, the so-called 50-50 plan was eventually adopted by both parties in many states where there were women counter-parts to the men on all of the committees and regular positions. Yet the Democratic party report in 1960 indicated that only in twenty-one states was equal representation rguired on all committees of the party. Nineteen states required it on some but not all. In ten states there was no requirement about equal representation at all. 35 As late as 1954, however, one rather astute observer of the political scene, Eleanor Roosevelt, could write. Fifty—fifty looks better on paper than it has worked out in practice. Too often the vice-chairman and the committee- women are selected by the men, who naturally pick women Who will go along with them and not give them any trouble. Thus they are apt to be mere stooges.36 The Women's Divisions in both parties have had rather uncertain his- tories With regard to the degree of support and permanence, as well as the degree 0f recognition accorded them. It was 1944 before the Republican Party made it official that the head of the Women's Division of the party should serve as the Assistant Chairman of the National Committee. The Democrats \— 35 Democratic National Committee, op. cit. , p. 42. 36 Eleanor Roosevelt'and Lorena A. Hickok, Ladies of Courage (New York; G- P. Putnam's Sons, 1954), p. 16. 104 had long followed such a general plan, but as late as 1948 the Head of the Women's Division did not automatically sit as a Vice-Chairman of the National Committee. For purposes of the discussion here—~and the history of women's in- volvement in the major parties is not the major part of this discussion—-it is perhaps as important, if not more important, to know the kind of reception and importance that was attached to these positions as it is to know the offi- cial posts given. Women were generally given positions as "Assistant Chairman" or "Vice-Chairman" or occasionally "Assistant to the Chairman." Seldom with- in the parties have they achieved the really key power positions. As of 1958 the Democrats had had only two women serving as State Chairmen of the Party, the most influential post in the state hierarchy. 37 According to Mrs. Roosevelt The two top women in state politics are the national committee- wOman, who is supposed to participate in conducting her party's business at the national level and in the formation of its policies, and the vice-chairman of the state committee who is responsible for directing and building up the women's organization. If these leaders are not so effective as they should be, it may be attributed to the fact that they are apt to have been hand- picked by the men and put over without any opposition from the Women party members. Too often the selection of a national Committeewoman is based on her bank account, social prestige, or party service rendered by a deceased husband. And a state \_ 37 ' "What Women Do in Politics," U. 8. News and World Report, Decem- ber 12. 1958, p. 79. » —. :— m: .~ -—ufl vice-Chi: finds her which Sh ’s to m l' ‘ . dile'flu IT intense m. in ml”: IO 36' end it Cigf't‘t “07.911 1 vice-chairman, even if she has ability and a mind of her own, finds herself frustrated by a kind of political protocol under which she is not permitted to choose the women with whom she is to work, but must accept those handed to her by the mascu— line—dominated county committees. 38 Maurice Duverger, in his European study on women in politics for UNESCO reports roughly the same sort of phenomenon. Now there has always been extremely keen competition for political leadership. In the choice of a local party leader from among the members, of a candidate for election among the party leaders, or of a minister or a member of a parliamentary com- mittee from among the members of parliament, the rivalry is intense. To give a post to a woman is to deprive a man of it and, in these circumstances, the posts given to women are cut down to the. minimum required for propaganda purposes. All the evidence collected on this point in the various countries is in agreement. In the realm of politics, the "promotion of Women comes up against a barrier of male opposition. " Though Duverger found in Europe that there was some difference be- tween the parties with regard to the participation of women and the degree to whiCh they were actually admitted to the inner councils of the party organi- zation, such does not seem to be the'case in the U. S. A. He indicates that in Europe it was the parties of the left and those associated with the church that gave women a larger part in the program-~though he also notes some swing back to the more male-dominant position in the latter years. Originally the cormnunist and socialist parties took the position of real equality——the fundamental identity of men and women. In the religiously-related situation \ 38 Roosevelt and Hickok, op. cit. , p. 38. 39 Duverger, op. cit. , p. 125. 106 the participation was on the now—familiar basis of functional differentiation. In the U. S. it would seem hard to say that either party is more ideologically committed to the idea of equal rights as a function of general party ideology. The Women's Division of each party has published a pamphlet designed to show all of the accomplishments of that party with regard to women. Each implies that it is that party which has really been the more concerned of the two. The charge, or assertion, in either case is somewhat difficult to docu— ment to any great degree, as will be evident in a later chapter of this report. The Republicans elected women to Congress before the Democrats, but whether this is suffiCient to substantiate a claim to greater interest in gen- eral may be debatable. Neither is there any great difference in the format under which the two Parties have organized women's interests. Historically both parties have followed roughly the same organizational pattern at about the same time. The Women's Divisions of both have been among the earliest programs to feel the results of declining party coffers. Currently, however, each party maintains a Women's Division in its national offices, headed by an appointed Woman who is also the top woman in the national party. 40 0The Republicans named the Head of the Women's Division as Assistant to the Chairman in 1936, though the office did not automatically go to this person until 1952. From 1936 to 1944 she was Assistant to the Chairman; from 1944 to 1952 she was the Assistant Chairman; from 1952 to 1956 she Was again the Assistant to the Chairman--a demotion; and since 1956 has been the Assistant Chairman. The Democrats have had some woman as one of the eight Vice-chairmen of the National Committee ever since 1922, but only in 1936 did they begin the idea of the Director of the Women's Division also ““8 a Vice-chairman. Since that time this seems to have been the practice with the exception of 1948-1950. 107 Despite such claims of the party's concern for female involvement, neither party's Women's Division today would qualify as a feminist organiza- tion in the sense of having one of its chief goals the improvement of the status of women—-either within the party or' without. In fact, it can be easily ascer- tained, and is generally admitted, that women do not have anything like equal power or status within the parties. Lip-service is given to the ideal of more women running for. office, particularly at the local and state levels where there is less problem with handling family affairs concomitantly, but com- paratively little, except perhaps moral support, seems to back this idea. Basically the Women's Divisions are organizations dedicated to mobilizing women in the campaign phases of the party's work for the party candidates-- most of whom happen to be men. They are concerned about getting the women involved as precinct workers and regular members more because this gives them a work force and assurance that at least these people and their families will get to the polls than because it is a way up for the women. The distinc- tion made of sex as a reason for a separate organization is more one of technique that they can use politically than it is a matter of separate goals. In describing the participation of women in the party organization in 1958. Mrs. Clare Williams, then the Head of the Women's Division of the Republican Party, stated--in addition to mentioning the various offices which they hold as "vice-this or that,"-—that There is a broad base of women at the lowest level-~the precinct workers, the poll workers, the doorbell ringers, the envelope stuffers. How many of those workers are men? Practically 108 none. The proportion is almost entirely women, or a large pro- portion is women. - The further up the political ladder you go, whether it is a party office or whether it is an elected office, the fewer women become in proportion to men. I mean, men's participation is this way-— an inverted triangle-~and women's participation is this way—- a regular triangle-—and it is wrong. It ought to be this way-- parallel from the bottom to the top. 41 Another political pro commenting on the relatively low status of women in the political party feels that the pattern may be changing——though admittedly slowly. Jessica Weis, a Member of Congress for two terms, says Armed with the vote, and rapidly learning how they can organize for political action, the women of this country are becoming one of the nation's dominant political forces. Slowly but surely politics is moving out of the smoke-filled rooms and into the living rooms of homes throughout the country. To be sure, in spite of the great advances being made the big breakthrough is yet to come. When the major decisions are to be made—-the selection or endor sement of candidates and the planning of top campaign strategy--the women, almost without exception, are left in the parlor. 42 In answer to the question of what kind of work do the women do in the Political parties, Mrs. Williams gave a fairly classic description. There 18 little reason to suspect that it has changed a great deal in the last eight years. Well, they do all kinds of things. For one thing. women do the details of a campaign. It is women who sit in headquarters all over the country and address envelopes and stuff them. It \ 41 U. S. News and World Report, 92- cit. , p. 76. 42 Jessica M. Weis, "Organizing the Women," Politics U.S.A. , ed. James M. Cannon (Garden City: Doubleday and Company, Inc. , 1960), p. 172. 109 is women who answer the telephone. It is women who hand out the campaign literature. It is=WOmen who ring the doorbells. It is women who do the actual work in the precincts--door to door. It is women who do the telephoning. . . . Besides that, there were, in the last campaign, women campaign managers. There are women who are party officials--from the precinct com- mitteewoman, to the county vice chairman, to the State vice chairman, to the national committeewoman, to the district vice chairman—-women who manage the campaign of "Joe Smith for Congress. "43 One suspects that more of them fit in the first half of the paragraph than in the last. In answering the same question for the Democracts, Mrs. Katie Louchheim, Mrs. Williams' counterpart in the Democratic party, gave about the same general list, adding that perhaps the most important thing the women have come up with lately is the coffee party. idea. Duverger's summation of the situation bears out the inverted triangle He states Admitting the poverty of our evidence, however, we still find signs of three general trends (a) the female membership of political parties is small; (b) the part played by women in the party executives is still smaller, and (0) there is a fairly clear tendency to prevent the formation, with the parties, of any Women's organization with a degree of autonomy. 44 He later comments. It will be seen that in any case, and in all parties, the propor- tion of women in official positions is much lower than the pro- portion in the party membership, which in turn is much lower than the proportion of women in the electorate. This progres- sive decline in women's representation illustrates an important 43 U.S. News and World Report, op. cit., p. 72. 44 Duverger,‘op. cit. , p. 103. 110 aspect of the small part played by women in politics. These purely quantitative data do not, in fact, tell us anything about the real influence of women in the executive bodies, where they generally play a rather minor part. As we have seen, it is very unusual for a woman to take a prominent place in the political leadership or to exercise a far-reaching influ- ence on her party. 45 The Involvement of Women in Politics Currently One could perhaps attribute much of the lesser participation of women in party politics to social structure: the suburban housewife out away from the center of activities with no hired help or extended family prepared to help care for the children might well find it difficult to engage actively in party politics. However, this should not be too great a hindrance to the use of the vote per so, since polling places are never too far from home. What are the relationships of women and voting in the United States ? figmen and Voting; The general finding is that fewer women than men vote in proportion to their potential voting strength, but that this gap is les- sening. This is a rather standard assertion of current college texts in Ameri- can government, for instance, and the figures seem to bear them out. Do women vote less than men? Yes, they do. However, their voting turnout seems to fluctuate according to the type of elec- tion. It has already been indicated that more people vote in Presidential elections than do in the "off-year" contests for Congressmen. . . . Yet the fact seems to be that the fluctuations \— 45 Ibid. , p. 109. 111 between Presidential and Congressional years have become more accentuated since women joined the electorate. 4" Or, according to another authority, Men tend to vote more than women. This variation--not very great in most electionsuexists in many foreign countries as well. . . . In recent presidential elections about 61 in every 100 women have voted, about 75 in every 100 men. Women feel less social pressure to vote than men, are subject to more cross—pressure as to which way they should vote and so tend to remain silent since they are not so sure how to vote. 47 Duverger, though reporting basically on the European scene comments that In the United States of America, opinion seems to be rather divided as to the relative number of women and men abstainers. VMost well-informed studies of electoral behaviour in a given area indicate a lower percentage of women voters, though individual authorities and women's groups often claim the reverse.48 Duverger seems to be the only one who finds any general support for the idea that women ever outvote men except on "freak" occasions. After an extensive survey of the literature Lane cites only one instance in which 4 he found that women outvoted men. 9 Lane goes on to comment that the fact 46 Emmette S. Redford, David B. Truman, Andrew Hacker, Alan F. westin, and Robert C. Wood, Politics and Government in the United States (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, Inc. , 1965), p. 241. James M. Burns and Jack W. Peltason, Government by the People (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Inc., 1963), p. 255. 48 Duverger, op. cit. , p. 141. 49Robert E. Lane, Political Life (Glencoe: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1961). p. 209. This was the case in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1928. "Here a In1ddle-—class and heavily Republican community may have experienced arm about the moral and cultural values of the Democratic candidate, Al Smith, who openly expressed his opposition to prohibition." 112 that women vote less than men has become a fact so familiar now that it has been taken for granted. 50 He also indicates that the evidence gives room for the suggestion that this difference is getting smaller in presidential elections, though the data that give support to this are not too substantial. 51 Another survey of the literature, this time by Fred Greenstein, leads him to the conclusion that men and women tend to vote differently on issues, but that this is of less significance than the quantitative difference. As important as contrasts in the direction of political involve- ment may be, however, they are probably of less political sig- nificance than diSparities in degree of involvement. . . . At the mass level, women are less likely than men to engage in the whole range of activities available to the politically inter- ested citizen. This includes the mere act of voting, although the gap in turnout seems to have been declining in recent years, and it also includes the more intense forms of mass participa- tion, such as communicating with elected representatives. Con- sistent with these participation differences, attitude surveys frequently reveal that women inflate the "no opinion" and "no information" reSponse categories. When women do make po— litical evasllzlations, they show much less "sophistication" than men . . . All in all, it is a rather damning indictment. 50Ibid. 51He cites the data from the 1944, 1948, 1952 and 1954 national elections. The first three were all presidential elections, and in these cases in the nation at large the percentage of men voting was 75%, 69%, and 79% respec— tive1y. For the women the figures are 61%, 59%, and 69%. In the 1954 con- greSsional elections, which draw less well, the percentages were 53% for the men to 41% for the women. 52 . . . Fred Greenstein, "Sex-related Political Differences in Childhood," Wot Politics, XXIII (May, 1961), pp. 355. 113 The fact that women vote somewhat less than the men does not mean that they have had no effect on the political system. Duverger differs with Greenstein in his interpretation or emphasis on the fact of the difference be- tween the quantitative and qualitative aSpects of voting. By and large, woman suffrage does not appear to have resulted in any far-reaching changes in the balance of political forces in the countries where it has been introduced. The percentages of votes polled by the parties do not appear to have been substan- tially affected by this extension of the electoral body. But this is not reason for concluding that the women's vote has not modi- fied political life itself. . . . That a party should retain the same percentage of electors before and after the introduction of woman suffrage is one thing; whether it follows the same line of policy is another. It seems to be beyond doubt that the women's vote has brought about certain changes in the content of political programmes and shifts in the centres of party interests. 53 It is, of course, possible to consider that the change in policy is less a direct result of the women's voting than the fact thatwomen now vote is a result of the general change in the mood of the country with regard to reform and social issues. Be that as it may, there are some indications that the way in Which women vote is not exactly the same as men, although even here the Opinions vary and the empirical evidence is scarce. Again, the major commentator on this factor is Duverger, who claims that the female vote is generally a little more conservative than the male and more subject to religious influences. 54 (It should be remembered that his report is based on European politics where there are parties associated with ‘ 53Duverger, op. cit., p. 140. 54M , p. 122. ' r1" ._ r... - “.f ‘flr-vanh 4 ~ -......un At “uh; ’.. I l "‘ ' h ‘l-u er . V (1 (“wt I. ..A I’ a i (D H “"4 31‘“ .l 7‘s ol U». ‘r r. l. .r .M -l. p in: l V . ’. tel .Tn . A.‘ 114 religious bodies.) He also suggests that the "women's vote . . . seems to be more independent than the men's vote, less rooted in party traditions and habits, less hidebound, more open-minded as it were--and thus more unstable and floating. "55 The latter quality he attributes more to relative political immaturity than to an innate sex—related characteristic. Votes are crystallized only in the old democracies where the electors have long been accustomed to voting and have finally developed a regular pattern of political behavior. The "float- ing vote," on the other hand, is far more customary in the countries where the electoral procedure has been recently instituted. Women, as voters, fall into the latter rather than the former category. 56 He admits that the fact that women vote more conservatively than men may easily be a function of social class and religious identification. Upper class women are lnore apt to vote than working class women, and upper class identification tends to be conservative. To return to Greenstein, The most conspicuous points at which men and women have been found to differ in the direction of their political involvement are in their issue positions and candidate choices. Women are less willing to support policies they perceive as warlike or "aggressive"--policies ranging from universal military train- ing to capital punishment. Women have been shown to have a greater moralistic orientation than men; for example, they are more likely than men to support sumptuary legislation. Women also seem to be less tolerant of religious and political nonconformity. Discrepancies between the attitudes of men and women may in part account for the recurrent sample sur— vey findings of sex differences in candidate preference. . . Sex differences in candidate choice are of particular interest 55Ibid., p. 143. 56Ibid. 115 in view of the Survey Research Center finding in 1952 that more women than men were candidate oriented. 57 Another, and perhaps one of the most commonly held theories about the women's vote, is that the married woman tends to vote as her husband does. Duverger states that "differences in voting are . . . restricted mainly to single persons of both sexes. "58 In their review of studies on public leader- ship, Bell, Hill and Wright note that women are less likely than men to be public opinion leaders or politically influential, and that they tend to look to men for advice and leadership in such decisions. 59 Furthermore, married women, who make up the largest proportion of adult women in this country, usually name their husbands as the one to whom they look for guidance in t11938 matters. Although Mrs. Clare Williams says We must accept the premise that women are no longer saying to George, "I have to vote today, dear. For whom shall I vote?" It is more likely to be the other way: George comes home and says, "Now look, you had time to go to these rallies and you've been to your meetings and you've seen some of these candidates. Now, whom shall we vote for? That's the way it works in a great many places. 60 mOSt commentators would not share her view of the situation. A general summary of the voting characteristics then would seem to be that the women vote less than men, with the current difference being about 7 5 Greenstein, op. cit. , pp. 353-375. 58Duverger, op. cit. , p. 144. 59Wendell Bell, Richard J. Hill, and Charles R. Wright, Public Leader- §£§£(San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Company, 1961). 60 U.S. News and World Report, Op. Cit. , p. 73. 116 10% of the eligible population. As a group they are slightly less stable in their voting patterns and more apt to judge a candidate on the basis of personality traits than men do. Although candidate-oriented to a great degree it would seem that a strongly moralistic issue may bring them out in force. Along with this summary is the recognized fact that women as a group tend to feel less social pressure to vote or become involved in politics in any manner. The cultural role expectations permit at least some women to ignore the gen- eral concept that it is their duty to vote. The reasons for this role interpretation exist partly in the unique history of feminine voting, partly in the way women see themselves reflected in the media, and partly in the con- tents of the female stereotype itself. The culture, of course, draws upon the past for its definition of every role and the past which excluded women from public affairs is still too close at hand for them to be entirely free of this history. 61 quen as Elected Officials: It follows rather logically from the idea that women are not in positions of great power in the parties to the idea that it is unlikely that they will be represented in any great numbers among actual office-holders. The data bear this out, not only in terms of elected officials, bill in terms of any kind of public leadership positions. Studies of the people who are believed by others to be public leaders, ranging from investigations of the power structure in small communities to the United States as a whole, reveal that women are seldom among the top public leaders. Indeed, many studies using the reputational approach for identifying public leaders do not even mention women, leaving the impression that women's absence from the leadership structure either is so common that it is taken for granted or that their appearance A; 61 Lane, op. cit., p. 211. 117 as leaders is so rare that they are not considered as an im- portant group for analysis in the study of power. 62 The Committee on Civil and Political Rights of the recent President's Commission on the Status of Women notes that Despite substantial gains since the adoption of the 19th amend- ment, women have not as yet achieved a role in public life commensurate with their numbers, skills or abilities, or with their potential contribution to the Government of the nation. In Congress today, only 2 of 100 Senators and 11 of 435 Repre— sentatives are women. 63 Only two women have ever been Cabinet officers in the Federal Government; only three have served as ambassadors and three as ministers. The number of women holding Federal judicial office is very small indeed. No woman has ever been appointed to the United States Supreme Court. No woman presently holds any of the 78 judgeships of the United States Courts of Appeals, although Judge Florence Allen (now retired) was appointed to the Circuit Court for the Sixth Dis- trict in 1934. Of 307 Federal district court judges, only 2 are women. In the States, 341 of approximately 9, 400 seats in the State legislatures were held by women in 1958. Few women have held State offices of "cabinet status. " Women appear to have been slow also to achieve State and local judicial office. 64 This seems not only to be the situation in the United States, but in other countries as well, particularly other so-called western countries. Duverger's survey showed that Apart from the USSR where women make up over 17 percent of the Supreme Soviet, the maximum percentage of women elected to the various parliaments seems to be about 5. And it is a \ 62 Bell et al, op. cit. , p. 43. 63 This figure refers to the beginning of the 88th Congress, 1961. 64 Report of the Committee on Civil and Political Rights, op. cit. , p. 3. 118 maximum that is seldom attained; although the Netherlands Chamber of Deputies has an average of 5 to 6 percent of women, only 3. 6 per cent were elected to the French National Assembly in 1951, 4 percent to the Norwegian Parliament after the Second World War (previously an average of 2 percent), a maximum of 3 per cent in the British House of Commons, 2 percent to the United States Congress, and so on. 65 In reporting on the situation in Great Britain, Margaret Cole reports that the women's vote has achieved little with regard to putting women into office at the national, local, or Civil Service level. 66 There does seem to be, subjectively, an increasing degree of involve- ment in the local, and perhaps the state, level in those positions. Mrs. Locheim, Head of the Women's Division of the Democratic Party documents her position that there is some room for optimism (in her system of values) in state politics by noting that "this year (1958) we had 18 Democratic women . 7 candidates for state-wide office, and 15 won. "6 Others too have noted that it is at the county and local levels particularly where the women seem to have made some strides--where they can stay at home and still do the job, and where there is less patronage involved for them to be reSponsible for. It was estimated that in 1952 at least 10, 000 women were holding public office in more than 3, 000 counties. Most of them were county clerks, tax assessors and collectors, treasurers, recorders, auditors, registers of deeds, clerks of the court. A few were judges of probate or orphans' court, public administrators, and x; 65 , Duverger, op. elt. , p. 145. 66 Margaret Cole, "The Woman's Vote: What Has It Achieved," Political Mix. XXXI (January-March, 1962), pp. 74—83. 67 U.S. News and World Remrt, op. cit., p. 78. 119 controllers. It should be noted that in these positions little patronage--if any--is involved; And most of them are in rural areas. 68 All in all, the general impression may best be summed up by the state- ment that "American public leadership is a man's role today. No matter what concept of leadership is adopted or what methods for locating leaders are employed, most studies document the fact of male dominance in public affairs in the United States. "69 While the reasons for this kind of dominance have never been systemati— cally "researched" in an empirical sense, many of them seem very obvious; some have been mentioned already. The cultural tradition of the past re- garded the woman's place as being in the home and the world of public affairs as belonging to men. Religious teachings have buttressed this regard for male leadership and have meant that many women and men have felt it inap- Propriate for women to become involved. This has resulted in a distinct anti‘feminism which has only been aided and abetted by the functionalist ap- proach to the roles of men and women in society. Aside from the attitudinal aspect, however, to which more will be added Shortly, there are the pragmatic considerations rising from the generally accepted, and sometimes legal, patterns of behavior. Most adult women in this Country are married. The cultural norms and traditions, as well as \ 6 . 8Roosevelt and Hickok, p. 101-102. 69 Bell et al, op. cit. , p. 34. the law, have declared that her domicile shall be wherever her husband's posi- tion takes him. His occupation then becomes the prime determinant of where they shall live--assuming that they live together-mot her political or occupa- tional ambitions. Even should she be willing to live separately this does not always give her the right legally to be politically active in the location in which she chooses to reside. The common law rule with reSpect to the domicile of a married woman is that her domicile, by automatic operation of law, is the place of her husband's domicile, without regard to her intent or actual residence. . . . Thus, married women living apart from their husbands may be restricted in the exercise of their rights and obligations of citizenship-—e. g. , voting, running for public office, and jury service--because they lack the required domicile. . . . there are apparently only four States . . . which recognize a married woman's right to acquire her own domicile, indepen- dently of her husband, for all purposes, without limitation. Forty-two States and the District of Columbia permit a married woman to acquire an independent domicile for all purposes if she is living apart from her husband for cause; in these, only 18 permit a married woman to acquire an independent domicile if she is separated from her husband by mutual agreement or if her husband acquiesces to the separation. 70 Moreover, the duties of caring for the house and material needs of the family are the type of duties that are constant and which tie one to a given place rather consistently. The care of the young child especially is almost entirely a female responsibility in our society, and it has been now designated as the mother's responsibility in the middle classes though upper class women ‘ 7 2 ORepprt of the Committee on Civil and Political Rights, op; cit. , p. 0. 121 may get by with hired nurses. Not only does this not leave much time, but it effectively ties one to the home area. As a consequence, running for an office that would take one out of the city for any extended length of time is generally considered an untenable position--if not to the candidate herself, then many times to the electorate to whom she is appealing. This problem increases as one moves from the state and local level to the national level of politics. It may not be impossible for a married woman to "pick up and go to Washingtdn, " even one with school age children (i. e. , it has been done), but it does violate the general norms of family relationships, and does demand an a—typical marital and family situation. Either the family must be separated for the majority of the time while the husband pursues his occupation at home, or he must be willing and able to come with her and attempt to find himself a FOSition, or some kind of role, in Washington. Another fairly obvious factor that keeps women from being elected in any great numbers is the fact that most politicians come from a relatively SIhall range of previous occupations, chief among which is the profession 0f law. Most of those who make it to the national level have had some kind Of an earlier political occupation as well. A summary of the 88th Congress Shows that More Congressmen (505) cited civil service and politics than any other line of work among the occupations in their back- ground. Many mentioned more than one occupation. Next most numerous are lawyers (316), then business and banking (158). There is only one labor union official. . . . There are three 122 physicians in the House and one . . . in the Senate. There 1 are two ordained ministers in the House . . . 7 The occupations typically associated with women are teaching, particularly at the elementary levels, nursing, clerical and sales work. These backgrounds give neither the kind of time or training necessary for seeking public office, nor, for that matter, the money. Bell, Hill, and Wright corroborate this general finding: For federal officials, governmental experience at the state or local level prior to achievement of national leadership is a frequently encountered career pattern. In addition, most government leaders are likely to have had careers in business or the professions, especially law while on their way to or during governmental service. Correlatively, these leaders are drawn not only from the population of college graduates but from among the smaller number of those who have professional or postgraduate training. The literature and data on which the foregoing conclusions are drawn are abundant and consistent. 72 As previously noted, high-level occupations take high—level training, and in the case of many of the professions, post—graduate training. While Statistics about the doctorate are not quite the equivalent of statistics about a law degree, there is good reason to believe that the same trends in the culture at large would apply to both types of training. The facts here indi- Cate that women constitute a very small percentage of the upper levels of gradHate education. Through high school the proportions of boys and girls i 11 8'311001 is relatively the same. " . . at age 18 and beyond the proportion \ 71 St t United States Congress, House of IEpresentatives of the United Wn Omnibus of the Capitol, 87th Cong. , lst Session, House Document ‘ 4, p. 21. 72 Bell et al, op. cit. , p. 99. 123 of women who are in school falls drastically, increasingly below the propor- tion of men who are in school. "73 Dr. ‘Barnard goes on to note that the really drastic decline, relative to the men, now comes after the master's degree. "Of those securing the master's degree in June, 1951, for example, 12 per- cent of the men but only 3 percent of the women were fulltime students the following year. "74 Not only do fewer women enter the advanced training areas, but the attrition rate is higher. Moreover, the percentage of women with tbctorates has actually been declining since the 1930's. Women's doctorates, in proportion to the total number of doc- torates granted, have shown a real decline nationally in recent years; from about 17 per cent in 1930 to only 10 per cent in the last five years. The decline has been over a wide range of fields--natural sciences, social sciences, humanities. Only in the field of education have women held their own. 75 It might be suggested that women rise to the top through volunteer efforts and general public involvement rather than through the more usual occupational roles. Even if this should be so, the population fromtwhich such women could be drawn would still be a smaller one. Bell, Hill and Wright indicate that While it is true that more women assume leadership through other forms of 80cial participation than through actually holding official positions, nevertheless, only a minority of American women engage in most of these public activities and even fewer participate frequently enough to be considered leaders in public affairs. In most \ 73Bernard, op. cit., p. 57. 74~Ibid. ,. p. 58. 7 5Useem, op. cit. , p. 22. 124 instances, too, a smaller proportion of women than men are active participants in public affairs, especially on issues of major political, social, and economic consequence to the community, state or nation. Therefore public leadership of this type, just as formal reputational leadership, tends to fall into male hands--although not exclusively of course. Anti-Feminism: It is sometimes hard to distinguish between reasons such as the above, which may be structural and quite real reasons for the lack of feminine participation, and the factor of a general anti-feminist attitude which says that women should not be in politics at all, and certainly not in public office. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that an anti-feminist atti- tude may well be justified or rationalized by some of the above arguments and therefore be difficult to attribute to strict anti-feminist feeling. On the other hand, that there is a more general feeling is again noted by most writers Who deal with the subject. One may consider it in the light of an anti-feminist tradition among the men whereby they overtly discriminate against women; or it may be seen as well as something typical of the total population, including other women. In either case, the outcome seems very much the same. Sometimes this feeling is perceived as direct, overt, and basically sel- fish discrimination on the part of men, particularly by women who tend to think that more women should be involved in politics. Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok, for instance, view it this way. Some of the men may tell you that women really don't want to go to Congress, that it's too tough for a woman, that they cannot \ 76 Bell et al, op. cit. , p. 44. 125 spend the required time away from home and so on. Rarely do they admit that it is next to impossible for a woman to get the nomination in a district where her party can win. Look over the list of candidates as a congressional campaign gets under way and you will find Democratic women running in districts where Miss America could not win if she were a Democrat. And vice versa. It is a big plum, and if it is reachable at all, who has the longer arms? Once he has it in his grasp, no one could expect even the most chivalrous male to hand it over to a woman. 77 On the other hand, one of the French reporters in the Duverger study differs with the motivation behind the act, while agreeing that it is very difficult for a woman to get a nomination. There is probably no general conspiracy among men to bar women from political careers. But, taking advantage of their leading positions within the parties, men tend to reserve nominations for themselves for purely competitive reasons without being anti— feminist in principle. The fact that some nominations are made by democratic procedures does not seem to be an obstacle to such maneuvers, firstly, because women constitute such a very small minority of party membership, and secondly, because in most cases these democratic procedures are only a facade be- hind which the nominations (in the American sense of the word) are made by the oligarchy of the party leaders. 78 Jessica Weis , a veteran of twenty-five years of practical politics and 8 member of Congress, takes approximately the same view as the latter, i. e. , that it is less a determined and deliberate discrimination than it is a mis- understanding on the part of men--both of their own feelings and of the politi- c . al astuteness of their women. \ 7 7Roosevelt and Hickok, op. cit. , p. 150. 7 8Duverger, op. cit. , p. 78. 126 Nobody is really to blame for this discrimination against women when the big decisions are made. It's the system. The smoke— filled room has long been the private preserve of men, and they're used to it. We are still relatively new in politics, and it will take time for us to be accepted. I know perfectly well that, with my twenty-five years of experience in politics, I am as politically astute as some man who has had, say, five years of experience. But few men are ready to admit that we know as much about pol- itics as they do. 79 Most men in politics are genuinely unaware of the fact that women are not accepted as equals. Governor Nelson Rockefeller, for example, is easy to get to, easy to talk to, and a pleasure to deal with. He listens to the advice and opinions of women with politi- cal experience, and I'm sure he thinks he does accept us as equals. Still, you have the feeling that your opinion does not carry the weight of a man's opinion. 80 Whether the party leaders are, in fact, prejudiced or not, many of them are convinced that the general public tends to be. And political astuteness decrees that if there is a competitive situation where a party stands a chance of winning, it should nominate its most likely winner, not a woman with two Strikes against her already. In Europe Duverger notes that the structure of the political system enters into the picture with regard to the degree to which the parties tend to run women candidates in the face of this type of bias. He States that "on the whole, systems where a complete party ticket is voted for. particularly where there is proportional representation, seem to favour WCullen's representation more than do single-member constituencies. "81 The United States, of course, has single-member constituencies. He further \ 7 9Weis, op. cit., p. 173. 80Ibid. , p. 173-174. 81 Duverger, op. cit. , p. 148. 127 notes that " . . . the increase of women's representation seems to be biggest where the voter has the least choice. We have seen that the possibility of striking out names from a party ticket and replacing them from another seems less favourable to women candidates than to men. "82 His conclusion, there- fore, is simply that mentioned above: the parties simply do not want to weaken their position at the polls by "entrusting their case to advocates against whom they know a certain prejudice exists. "83 How accurate is this picture of a bias in the American public? There is little in the literature to document any serious attempt to study it nation— wide. However, the October 6, .1958, Washington Post reported a Gallup Poll based on a nation-wide probability sample of 3, 144 adults in which the question was asked, "If your party nominated a generally well-qualified per- son for President and she happened to be a woman, would you vote for her?" The responses were then broken down by sex, by age, and by level of educ a- ti0h- In comparison to twenty years previous when only one in three Ameri- Cans would admit that they would vote for a woman for President, the sample reported that 51% of the men and 55% of the women reported that they would VOte for a woman. Forty-four and 41 percent, respectively, stated that they Would not vote for a woman. The others, 5% of the men, and 4% of the women said they didn't know. The younger adults were somewhat more willing to K 8 2Ibid. , p. 148. 8 3Ibid. , p. 153. m x / 1“. 128 accept a woman as a candidate, 58% of those between the ages of 21 and 29 saying "yes" to 51% of those over age 50. And about 10% more of the college— educated population would accept a woman than was true of those with only a grade school education: 57% and 48%. respectively. The largest span of dif— ference came in the area of religion, where 52% of the Protestants, and 53% of the Catholics said "yes," but 65%. of the Jews were willing to accept a woman as President. One could probably safely assume that the prejudices would be stronger for the office of President than for any other office, and that therefore women running for lesser offices would face less discriminatory behavior, if not less prejudice. However, the fact that it exists at one level signifies that this is a factor for a party to consider. A political party that hopes to win must think twice before arbitrarily alienating half of its support. In many areas the parties are too closely balanced for that-~and if it is a three-to- one sure seat, the competition is apt to be close within the party. All of this leads to the frequently heard statement--particularly heard from Women, though not exclusively so--that to get ahead in politics a woman must be twice as good as the man against whom sheis running. This becomes a difficult hypothesis to operationalize, and it seems that no one has attempted to verify it empirically-~and indeed many of the politicians in this study de- nied it~~but it has become a part of the folklore. Esmen and Issue 8: The third general area of agreement in the liter— atu . re 18 that there is one area of political activity in which the women are 129 most involved. The attitudes may differ as to whether this is a good idea or a poor one, but most seem to accept it as a given fact that women are concerned with local issues over national or international ones, with social welfare or reform issues over the "harder" issues such as national economic programs, armed services, constitutional questions, etc. , and, of course, they are inter- ested in "women's rights." In one study involving a rather aetypical universe, husband-wife teams in which the wife was a member of the League of Women Voters from one suburban, eastern city, March predicted that the wives would be most influ— ential in a husband-wife discussion in dealing with the local issues, less influential in foreign affairs issues, and least concerned or influential in labor issues. The results of his study, in which influence was determined by the proportion 0f OPIDion-giving and orientation-giving remarks during a discussion of the topic, bore this out. 84 Greenstein reports that Cross-sections of the populations of five nations were asked hOW Well they felt they understood local political issues and how Well they felt they understood national and international issues, In each nation both sexes eXpressed greater local competence, but in every case there also were sex differences indicating a greater tendency for women to feel competent _(_)_n_ly_ in the local arena. 85 \ 84 J anles G. March, "Political Issues and Husband-Wife Interaction, " Wuction to the Family, ed. Norman W. Bell and Ezra F. Vogel 0 men - The Free Press, 1960), pp. 201-207. Reprinted from Public under th uarterl , XVLL (Winter, 1953), pp. 461-470 where it appeared e title "Husband-Wife Interaction Over Political Issues. " 85 Greenstein, 0p. cit. . Po 356- 130 Lane also states that "within the political sphere, a sexually differentiated role system makes appropriate a female interest and responsibility for local affairs, particularly as they relate to education, reserving labor and foreign relations more particularly for men. "86 Even more than the emphasis on local versus national or international affairs, though, is the supposed emphasis on social welfare or reform issues. Woman suffrage itself came out of an era of concern for social welfare and was achieved only shortly before the great depression and the subsequent in- novations in. what could be called areas of governmental concern. And, in fact, one of the selling points for suffrage was that when women were given a chance to vote and to acquire office, there would be a change for the better in society, 1. e. , that women would be more moralistic about the legislation they wanted and would vote for politicians who were concerned about the values of the society. Of more concern to this paper than whether or not the women's vote has been resDOIlSible for certain kinds of legislation, is the second assumption or Statement that the literature reveals, namely that women who go into politics tend to Specialize in these areas for their own legislative endeavors or com- mittee I3°Sitions, etc. And indeed, one can find many instances of this in the realm 0f Political biography. The late U. S. Senator Richard Neuberger, Wri ting Of his wife Maurine's experience in the state legislature comments in \ 86 Lane, 9p.__ci_t_, p. 216. 131 evaluation that "In politics, the woman's mission is to champion the particular 87 aspirations of her sex, but to expect no quarter in doing so. " And Maurine was somewhat of a reform-minded politician. In the Oregon House she "identi- fied herself with three lost causes: repeal of a state law that disallows compe— tition in milk production and price, a school reorganization measure that was opposed by the all-powerful Grange, and repeal of the state's parimutual gambling law-"88 (She is probably as well known in the U. S. Senate for her campaign to stop smoking in the United States as for anything else.) One of the early women in the professional political realm, Molly Dewson, started her participation as a social reformer from the lobbying angle. "During the Years while Alfred E. Smith was governor of New York she was one of the group of women who went to Albany every Monday while the legislature was in session to lobby for laws to protect the interests of women in industry, better labor laws and social legislation generally. "89 She later became the Head of the W’Omen's Division of the Democratic party. There was Dorothy Lee of Portland, Oregon, who, though she later be- Came Mayor of Portland, started her political career in the Oregon House where it is lloted that she "started introducing bills the women wanted. One by one 8 he got them through, laws having to do with dependent and delinquent children, \ 87Richard L. Neuberger, Adventures in Politics (New York: Oxford U . mversity Press, 1954), p. 52. 88Roosevelt and Hickok, op. cit. , p. 146. 89Ibid. , p. 13. 132 the mentally ill, public schools, judicial reform."90 Being too interested in reforming Ibrtland has also been credited with her downfall, or defeat for re- election as mayor; the practical politicans and some of their cronies couldn’t take "clean government"—-or so the story goes. Elizabeth Conkey, of the Board of Commissioners of Cook County had as her especial portfolio the Cook County HOSpital, and while that need not neces— sarily be viewed from a reform vieWpoint, her own special interests were "delinquent children, the blind, and those most defenseless of all the wards of society, the mentally ill. "91 And so the list could go on. Edith Nourse Rogers became special guardian of veteran's interests in the U. S. Congress, with little regard for the niceties of budget balancing; Frances Payne Bolton. who is still serving in the House, has lobbied hard for legislation to aid the nursing profession; Reva Beck Bosone Served in the state legislature of Utah before coming to Congrfi and while so doing authored the state's minimum wage and hour law for women and children as Well as some other social legislation. individual cases do not "prove" anything, of course. It well may be that they are even somewhat distorted by the ignoring of other aSpects of their legis- 1a tive interests. However, there does seem to be a definite feeling that these \ 9 0Ibid. , pp. 78—79. 91Ibid. , p. 103. i I L 133 are typical, and some more general and sometimes more empirical data is offered as evidence in point. Again from the UNESCO report comes the finding that in the four countries studied, the women members were Specialists. Citing the case of Germany in particular he says In Germany, 50 percent of the motions, reports and speeches made by women in parliament relate to social questions, among which the special problems of interest to women, such as mothers' wel- f are, equal pay, etc. , figure largely. As regards actual law- making on the part of women, it is mainly concerned with the reform of the legal status of women: equal pay, the status of women civil servants, the right to women to own property, the rights and duties of marriage, relations between children and parents, etc. In Germany women occupy half the seats on the committee dealing with public health, youth and welfare, 25 per- cent of the seats on those dealing with petitions, labour and social policy (the petitions' committee has a woman as its chairman). Only one or two women sit on the committees concerned with the status of civil servants, the budget, finance, and administration, and there are no women at all on the committees dealing with the economic policy of the European Recovery Programme. . . and the frontier regions. 92 Bell, Hill, and Wright report that women who hold high administrative posts are "likely to be concentrated in three fields: general administration; person- nel administration; and especially in the administration of such social programs as C3hild welfare, social security, public assistance, and vocational rehabilita- tion. ,,93 They go on to note that in one of the few studies to concern itself with the . I‘Ole of women in community power \ 92 Duverger, op. cit. , pp. 96-97. 93Bell et al, op. cit. , p. 37. Babchuk, Marsey, and Gordon found that women held 522 of 1, 937 board memberships of civic, health, and welfare organizations in a large northeastern city. But they held only 11 per cent of the 222 board memberships ranked as most vital by seven "judges. " By contrast, women held 39 per cent of the board memberships ranked least vital. Thus, not only did men predominate on the boards, but this domination was greatest with reSpect to the more important positions. Although men still are predominant, women are most likely to serve on boards of agencies which have special interests and which have limited budgets. Such agencies often were concerned with problems of children and family. 94 Roosevelt and Hickok state that even in wartime, when the number of governmental functions tends to increase rather drastically, patronage for women was specialized. During World War H it consisted mostly of appointing them to delegations "to international conferences on food, relief, refugees, education and other subjects which preceded the San Francisco meeting at which the United Nations was created. "95 The implication, and sometimes the direct assertion, is that in these areas women gain a certain authority and are reSpected as experts. This, then, tends to create a specific feminine political sphere, the existence of Which contributes to type—casting the women who may enter the field of poli- tics In the future. Not only this, but little change in the situation is foreseen. At first sight, it might be thought that this specialization is chiefly characteristic of the first phase in women's participation in political life, and that it will tend progressively to diminish. But this optimistic interpretation is belied by the facts; so far, there are signs, on the contrary, of a very definite aggravation \ 9 4Ibid. , p. 47. 95 . . Roosevelt and Hickok, op. c1t. , p. 124. ...o E: 1“—v—.‘.n 135 of this tendency towards specialization. Nothing demonstrates this trend more clearly than the history of the parties of the Left and the extreme Left as regards this problem . . . 96 Lane sees this kind of a specialization as a reflection of the larger social order. Because of their maternal responsibilities, their narrower orbits of contact in the world, and particularly because of the fact that they are rather systemati- cally excluded from the more socially valued areas of activity where actual power decisions are made, the women tend to focus on personality-and upon Peripheral "reform" issues.97 Assuming that a woman does manage to hurdle all of the obstacles sug- gested in the foregoing passages and gains either election or appointment to a Political or public office, what does this involve so far as role performance is concerned? Aside from the implication that she will probably Specialize in a certain type of interest, the literature on politics_p_e_r_s_e is negligible. One has to return to the more general literature on the changing role of the Woman, to the general literature on Congress——or whatever the political level may be——and to what may be available in terms of studies of women in other male—dominated professions or occupations. Beyond this about all that can be dOne is to hypothesize. The sociological literature is barren. \— 6 Duverger, op. cit. , p. 124. 97 Lane, op. cit., p. 216. 136 Women in the United States CongLess There are two studies that deal specifically with women in the Congress, both of which include the members of the Senate as well as those of the House. Neither, however, is in any sense a role study. In 1945 Annabel Paxton published a book entitled Women in Congress, which was a series of short biographies of many of the women who had served as well as a compilation of data regarding the names of the women serving in each Congress. Its value for research of this type lies mainly in its present—- ing a working list of the women who have been members and their tenure up through 1945. A much later and more comprehensive study is that being conducted by Emmy E. Werner, the first report of which appeared in March, 1966. 98 Using biographical data, she attempts to answer such questions as the amount and type Of experience the women members had before taking up their congressonal duties, their marital status, their age, whether or not they followed a husband or other relative, education, length of service, and positions held after their Service in the Congress. Among her findings she notes that while the range ,Of ages at the initial entrance into the Congress is wide, the model age is f‘fil‘ly hi h N g , at 52. Approximately 90% of the Congresswomen have been mar- ried, a figure roughly correSponding to the percentage of all married women in the population. The trend is away from the woman member who simply \ 98 Emmy E. Werner, "Women in Congress: 1917-1964, " Western Politi— wence Quarterly, IXXIX (March, 1966), pp. 16- 30. . ——.-4.—, 137 inherits her husband's seat, although a significant proportion still do make their way into the Congress on this basis. She also found that Congresswomen were a highly educated group compared to the population at large. Some four- fifths obtained training beyond high school and more than half graduated from college. Two-fifths of the college graduates took some post—graduate work. In terms of previous occupations, the largest single career was teaching, followed by those in the communications professions and then by ranchers or farmers, and lawyers, in approximately equal numbers. And finally, slightly more than half of those for whom information was available went on to hold some type of political position after retiring or being defeated for the Congress. Such hypothesizing is precisely what will be done for the women in Congress, though one more section on the available literature will be needed firStr-that dealing with the theoretical material on the concept of role. Be- fore leaving the topic of women in politics, however, a caution should be Stated. What has been mentioned up to now, despite the authoritative sound, has all been about tendencies and trends. Generalizing is valuable, of course, for purposes such as suggesting direction for hypotheses, but in the case of any One individual it must be remembered that sex is only one factor in deter- Ininirlg political behavior. For some people it may be the one most important Var-1 able, but the literature on politics suggests that many things do play a Dart CHAPTER IV CONCEPTS AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Review of the Theoretical Literature The Concept of Status and Role Central to the manner in which this study will be approached is the concept of role. While no attempt will be made here to review all of the literature on role or role conflict, those concepts which are of some impor- tance to the study will be discussed. The concept of role, not surprisingly, has come up to the present with various interpretations and has had a rather uneven career. Despite its WideSpread usage as a valuable Mexplanatory concept in the social sci— enc 98 . there had been little systematic empirical investigation based on it prior to the Gross, Mason, and McEachern study of the school superinten- dency} Part of the reason may well have been that one interpretation of the Concept was in the tradition of George Herbert Mead and his theory of s . oclalization occurring by means of role taking and role playing “hile it as an extremely provocative idea in the symbolic interactiomst tradition, \ 1Neal Gross, WardS Mason, and Alexander \l. McEachern, EXplora- to\“Sin Role Analysis (New York: John Vtiley & Sons, Inc. , 1958) 138 139 this approach to role proved difficult to operationalize for research pur- poses. The more sociological approach and investigation, however, uses not the idea of role playing and role taking, but more the usage of the term as it was first proposed by Ralph Linton. 2 Role is defined by Linton as the dynamic aspect of a particular status or position in society. The present study follows this second usage and depends primarily on the work of Gross for its definitions. 4 The concern of this study is with the concept of status-role, or, as the terms will be more frequently used, position and role. Although one Cannot really separate the two empirically, for definitional purposes it is done, and it is analytically easier to begin with the term "position. " Position has been defined as "the location of an actor or class of actors in a system of social relationships "5 Thus it is essentially a rela- t1onal concept, although over time the particular position or location in the \ I 2Ralph Linton, The Study of Man (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, “C- . 1936). 3Gross, Mason, and McEachern, op. cit. 0v 4For a discussion of the development and history of the concept and an Citel‘view of the approaches used, see Gross, Mason, and McEachern, 2p. N. , chapters 1 8: 2; Theodore Sarbin, "Role Theory," Handbook of Social My, 1, ed. Gardner Lindzey (Cambridge: Addison-Wesley Publish- N Company, 1954) pp. 223—258 For an earlier summary see Lionel J. ei“Ian and James W. Hughes, "The Problem of the Concept of Role-—A 1tiel‘slurvey of the Literature," Social Forces, XXX, (December, 1951), pp. “ 49. ,_ OGross, Mason, and McEachern, op» cit. , p. 48. 140 social network may come to have an almost autonomous significance. 6 Be- cause it is relational, it must be borne in mind that no position exists without at least one related- or counter-position in terms of which it can be described. "It is a concept which assumes the existence of inter—personal relations. "7 For our purposes then, a role is a coherent set of normative expecta— tions consisting of both rights and obligations that are thought by those in- volved in the interactions being viewed, to apply to all persons who occupy the position . . ."8 It is, in Linton's terms, "the dynamic aspect of a status. "9 No position exists without such a role associated with it. There are several aspects to the concept of status-role that should be at least noted, although it is not the purpose here to attempt to give all Of the possible associated ideas. First, the relational setting under con- Sideration needs to be Specified. On this point, Gross and his associates note that in terms of a particular research interest one may be concerned with Only the focal position (which will frequently be referred to as Ego), and One counter-position (referred to as Alter). This would constitute a d , . 3 adlc model. The relational setting may also involve the focal position \ 6Ibid. , 49. 7John C. Wahlke et al. , The Legislative System (New York: John Wiley 8‘ Sons, Inc., 1962), p. 10. 8Ibid. , p. 8. 9Linton, op. cit., p. 114. 141 and several counter-positions as they relate to the focal position and be what is referred to as a position-centric model. This is very similar to what Robert Merton terms a role-set. 10 Or, it may be that the research demands a systems model that considers the role expectations among the counter- positions as well as the role expectations between each of them and the focal position. The model used should be specified clearly to avoid ambiguity. A similar specification is needed~with regard to the context or the scope of the situation in which the status-role is to be studied. That is, a position or a set of positions do not exist in a vacuum but in an on-going social system, or, more realistically, in several ongoing social systems, depending on the level of analysis. The system under consideration may be the entire society, a particular institution, club or small group, or a particular family setting, etc. "The Specification of the scope of the social System designates the boundaries of the situation within which the position 18 being studied. "11 It therefore designates the particular set of mores, values, and Other norms that are relevant to the situation being studied. \ 10Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure (Glencoe: The 5:98 Press of Glencoe, 1957), p. 369. " . . . we must note that a particular roleial status involves, not a single associated role, but an array of associated e8. This is a basic characteristic of social structure. This fact of struc- core can be registered by a distinctive term, role-set, by which I mean that Inplement of role relationships which persons have by virtue of occupying a particular social status. " llGross, Mason, and McEachern, op. cit, p. 50. 142 The definition of role being used states that it consists of a set of normative expectations. This should be stressed, for the term expectation has been used by some in the predictive sense of what actions might be ex- pected of a role incumbent. It is preferred in this instance to limit it to a normative concept, namely, those expectations that define what a given posi— tion incumbent should do. This, of course, involves a certain amount of predictability, or assumes as much, but the difference'is analytically impor- tant. The emphasis on norms also is important for to the degree that role is considered as a normative concept, role must also be viewed as strictly expectations, not as behavior. Behavior may or may not conform to the expectations, but that is a question for empirical research. Furthermore, in talking about expectations it should be noted that they are not all the same in either the intensity with which they are held or the direction of the expected action. Considering the latter point first, the nor- mal reaction seems to be that an expectation is a positive thing, i. e. , one is expected to perform a given action in a given manner. However. the Positive implies a negative as well. One is expected not to perform in a Contrary manner. In some instances it may well be that the negative is the most Salient expectation rather than its complementary positive. For ex- ample, in a time not too far past, a lady was expected _n_H.Hm::0nH .020? .502 .0532 000.5 .mfiomsnommmmz 563000000 .manmaEmm Roz Jcofiuo> .0502 "HmmmIEE new “mam AtozIHmficoO €020 mH M: @H 5H m. w m. «NH 2 w m m E <.H.O,H. I H I H H I I .. 033.33. 00: coSnEuowcH I N I H I H N N 303.3 m I m m m. H m Ht :aEmmonzoo H0 3023 H m I H H m m N Hum—p.32 H I I H m H H I onEm m Q m Q m Q m G 33732 HEM we .3 no 0a :0 we? a m: a a «2 us 3 o e m H. a m as 22 Sam 552-3530 9.82 a and E 3.30 303200 000 33:00 05 H0 «one .3 0.80805 .8803 05 “0 033m H5202 .m 0335 234 congressmen. Although this particular table does not indicate this, none of the southern congressional widows ran for a second election. When one removes the historically one—party South from consideration, the rest of the distribution is not really surprising. Republican women, like Republican men, found their strongest source of support in the midwest and were about equal with the Democrats in the north—central and northeast states. The single women came predominantly from the midwest, if it is correct to use that term with such a small number, while the married women came more frequently from the west than from any one other area, even though this is the greatest distance from the national capitol. Taking age at election by marital status, half of the married women and half of the single women were under 45 years of age, while only 6 of the \Nidows fell under that cut—off point. No married woman past the age of 55 W'as elected. Length of tenure is the last variable to be considered here in conjunction W’ith marital status. The data are presented in Table 7. The decision to divide tenure on the basis of more than one term but less than two complete terms seemed wise in view of the fact that several of the women were elected simultaneously to complete the last few weeks of One term and to the entire next session. If they served less than two complete terms, it can usually be understood that they faced only one election. If one prefers the figures in this fashion, however, eleven of the congressional “’idows and three of the other women actually did serve less than one complete 235 v S Hm um m H v m a NH HH wH maH $508 .. .. I u .. .. H m oEBHm>< no: 533585 I .. n H N v n H mBOcHB m n m. m H H m OH 5532980 .3 9502.5 H H H m m N. n H 3?me u .. .. n m .. m m @326 m Q m D m Q m Q watch. 052 magma. magma. mEhmrH. 038 52E. 0.82 Ema .. 03m 58% I 03H. 52E. mmoq mfifim 33.82 3.23 can 2.53m :3?me E 23:88 5an .Ho 25:3 mo A354 .5 £th 236 term, but the use of Table 7 makes even more dramatic the findings that very few of the congressional widows went on to make a career of the congress themselves, though the few who did tended to be long-tenure incumbents. The Republican congressional widows were slightly more apt than their Democratic counterparts to make a career for themselves. Educational Backgound: Relative to the rest of the female population of the country, and perhaps to the population at large, the women who have served in the congress have a high educational level. Particularly is this notable considering that so many of them took their seats by virtue of being the widow of a congressman, not because they were career-minded women. All in all, it tends to show the upper-middle and upper-class bias in the group- The women would not fare quite so well as a group if compared to their male colleagues, but even here the comparison is not drastically un- favorable. The general educational backgrounds of the women are given in Table 8 . 15 Almost as many of the women were college graduates as were high School graduates only, and approximately 13% had obtained a graduate degree - Vt'erner notes that in terms of college majors, the most frequently n , . . . . oted “r as education, and of the pre-mcumbency occupations, teaching was the largest single category. In this respect the women reflect the national Dictu re - \ 1 5 Werner also gives data relating to majors in college, pre— and post incu are Ebency occupations, and other political posts held. However, her data the Setal ed for all women who have served in the entire congress—-inc1uding hate, and therefore cannot be applied directly to the House and so are not included here. 237 Educational background of women members of the House Table 8. Background Members Graduated from business college 4 Graduated from teachers' college 2 Attended a woman's college, but did not graduate 6 Graduated from a woman's college 3 Attended a university, but did not graduate 10 Graduated from a university with an'A. B. or B. S. 10 Took post-graduate work at a university, but no degree 5 Obtained a graduate degree from a university 8 13 Obtained no post-high school education a Adapted and modified from Emmy E. Werner, "Women in the U.S. Congress: 1917—1964," op. cit., p. 22. Committee Assignments Due to the fact that in the early 1950's the Congress reorganized its committee structure, it is more difficult than it might otherwise have been to make any kind of a quantitative analysis of the type of committee assign- ments given to the women. Prior to re-organiza'tion there was a great pro- liferation of committees, many dealing with quite specific and minute matters, so that each member frequently sat on as many as three or more committees. Since mat time the system of exclusive, semi-exclusive, and non-exclusive Com mi ttee positions has been introduced and the limitations are a bit more severe - However, even though they will not be exactly the same, some judicj ous combining of pre—orgamzation and post—organization committees 238 and the combination of some others which all dealt with more-or-less the same type of topic can give a workable number of committees, and from as- signments to these it is possible to garner a few relevant facts, One problem that does arise and is most difficult to control in a simple counting of memberships is the fact that committees change in relative im- portance over time due to particular historical circumstances. This will simply have to be kept in mind in evaluating the assignments. No weighting has been attempted. Those committees that have been combined for the sake of simplicity in counting are the following: 1) The Education Committee, and the Labor Committee with what is now the Education and Labor Committee; 2) the Insular Affairs Committee, the Irrigation and Reclamation Committee, the Indian Affairs Committee, Mines and Mining Committee, and the Public Lands Committee with the now existent Interior and Insular Affairs Com- mittee;16 3) Rivers and Harbors with Merchant Marine and Fisheries; 4) the Civil Service Committee with the current Post Office and Civil Service Committee; 5) Naval Affairs, Military Affairs, with Armed Services; and 6) the several committees which had to do with expenditures in the executive and military departments were counted together for purposes here. 16Some argument might be made for putting Irrigation and Reclamation With Public Works instead of with Interior and Insular Affairs. As is also true with a few other cases, the choice is fairly arbitrary but seems to this author the better choice of the two. 239 The various committees on which women have served and the number of women on each of these is given in Table 9. It is difficult to discuss a significant pattern of committee assignments on the basis of sex-related interests with the possible exception of the fairly high percentage placement on the Education and Labor Committee and that on Veteran's Affairs. Even if such were underlying the assignments, it might be difficult to discern this for two reasons. For one thing, committees were not formed and named with such a sex-dichotomy in mind. For another, some of the committees with names that would not suggest particular fem— inine interests do have subcommittees in which such a specialization might take place.. The data, however, do not really allow this hypothesis to be substantiated, at least not in the gross form in which it is presented here. Another thesis does suggest itself, however, especially when one notes those committees that have had very few women serving versus those on which a large number have been seated; namely, the women have been appointed diaproportionately to the less important committees. And though the data are not presented here to substantiate this, an examination of the appoint— ments over time would indicate that the more important assignments are more apt to have come in the last few years. Two of the exclusive committees, Ways and Means and Rules, have had a woman member only in the last few years. Appropriations has only had two women members—-Florence Kahn in the 73rd and 74th Congresses and Julia Hansen in the 88th. Judiciary has had only one woman member. 240 Table 9. Committee service of women in the House of Representatives Total Number of Committee Name(s) Women on Committee Joint Committee On Immigration & Nationality Policy 1 Joint Committee On Disposition of Executive Papers 1 Joint Economic Committee 1 . Census 1 Judiciary 1 Library 1 Rules 1 Science and Astronautics 1 Industrial Arts and Expositions 1 Ways and Means 1 Appropriations 2 Coinage, Weights, and Measures 2 Enrolled Bills and Memorials 2 Immigration and Naturalization 2 Agriculture 3 Election of President, Vice-President and Representatives 3 Invalid Pensions 3 Public Buildings and Grounds 3 Merchant Marine and Fisheries (including Rivers and Harbors) 3 Woman Suffrage 3 District of Columbia 4 House Administration 4 Public Works 4 V‘Var Claims 4 A rmed Services (including Military Affairs and Naval Affairs) 6 Banking and Currency 6 ‘7 eteran's Affairs 7 Expenditures in the Executive Departments (including all of the other "Expenditure Committees") CC. 241 Table 9. (Continued) Total Number of Committee Name(s) Women on Committee Foreign Affairs 8 Government Operations 8 Education and Labor (including the Education Committee and the Labor Committee) 9 Post Office and Civil Service (including the Civil Service Committee) 12 Interior and Insular Affairs (including the previous committees of Indian Affairs, Irrigation and Reclamation, Mines and Mining, Public Lands) 21 242 and the three joint committees have had only one woman member each. Not all of the committees that have few women are necessarily important ones; some are relatively inconsequential. But those committees on which a large number of women have served have, by and large, been of less--rather than more--importance. Interestingly enough, the two committees of the current group of standing committees on which no woman has ever served are very different from each other in almost every way: The Inter—state and Foreign Commerce Committee, and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Without a comparable group of men as a control, it is impossible to tell if the women have been given the lesser assignments because of sex or whether the heavier weighting on some committees is just due to insufficient tenure. Two comments that arose during the current research project may give a clue to this however. One was from a Southern congressman who re- marked that most of the women were on the Interior Affairs Committee so that they could "look after our lakes, and forests, and streams. " He went on to imply that the women would naturally be more concerned about the preservation of beauty and natural resources. The other was the idea that came from at least two or three sources that the late Speaker, Sam Rayburn, did not approve of women in important positions. Such comments make it appear that assignments were affected by the sex variable; but whatever the cause, it is quite evident that only a very small percentage of the women have made much progress up the status ladder by committee assignment. CHAPTER VII AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WOMEN MEMBERS OF THE 88th HOUSE As a case study this research centers around twelve particular individuals, the women members of the 88th House of Representatives. The impact of their individual backgrounds and temperaments would seem too important to gloss over. Consequently, although this is not intended as a personality study or as a series of biographies, these twelve persons will first be presented individually in short descriptive statements. Each statement will be done both in terms of personal background and of district. Hopefully this will provide some degree of generalized understanding or seam of gestalt about these women that will make the rest of the study more meaningful. It will also serve to introduce some material that will be used in later attempts at generalizations. The order of presentation will be the chronological order in which they appeared as members of the House. One group of summarized data is offered at this point in tabular form, the Table of Selected Demographic Characteristics of the Districts Represented by Women. Because some of the general statements concerning their districts will be based on these data, the reader is presented with this information as basic Source material to which he may wish to refer while reading. 243 244 H62 9.2 . . . . u n .352 «:6 03.3 had: v.2. 13.: «3.3 8...: 3... v H. 0.... a a are n H. 2 H. 3 H. 2 8H 9 . H.» ...H 52. :3.» HoH.uH 3.0.2— ».3 3H.» 92.: .H.H.HH H.312 o a ...a H. H: 2.0.. 98 n ... n ..u H. 2 m .3300 .I H.552. 2.6 3.: H2..H.oH H.Ho 3H6 5v.“ 00“.: Sad H v «6 a H: 80.0 an n H H ...u a 2. fl- 3!.— . 6:33 5! H3; an.“ 30.»: ..o» .33: «no.3 Hit: 05.3 o v o o a HH 3H2... de H H o 3 a 3 G u an! . . His; as: «:6 SQ: 8nd: ..o. 023 «No.2 :1: se.: v o ed c OH :0 o n.H.m o 2 a o: 0 3H 0 n 238 . H2; .3 4.2 ooH.uH 8...: 03.3 adv one; 0.3.3 .86 SH.» H 2 ad m c ova.” ad n HH a ..H- a «H a cool . .. H.533 En. v.3.» «3.3 .36- Hi. H.8.uH 2...: 2.!- ouv; a n o... o 2 So a. «.3 u o .. o H 3 a - all: . . . H.421 9.: 3n 3..» 8..va v.3 an... .32: H.334 as...“ o n ..H. o 2 an H. o H.» v o H 2 s -a a - 32:0 . . ..:o P5 H36 8o.ou 03.“: 98 3.0.3 8a.: 812 2.1: o n as o 2 Sn o Hana H n a H: v o. a - 98.5 . . . H6... 52 ”I.“ 3.3 08;: H2: 2a.. 992:» «8.3 2H..Hu o m. D: H. HH 3;. H. can r. H. H. on a 2: n .. 85.5 . . . 33033 HS; 03.. «2.4.3 ad. «86 08.: 98.2 8%: o o a HH .. HH 3» H. 0.3 o 2 a S o a. a 53:3 . , . . H65.» v.5 3H2: 80.8 Rafi: v.3 3a.: 036" v3.3 n34; «.2 o.H. o.a 2... 3 «.H o o a o n H... a .. .63 i5 lager—88H 3 on: HUSH loci. 'ISHEU £80332...— nHuaoHocoHokH H038 Ho .32 ..o non-0:3 o :35 Rue; 3.2-3.: alt; H2 55 £33 -:o-In: BI» 3: 51H. 02:3 Ho Ho :8; Ho .68.: .920... H. Snead 2 u 853.8955 158* .3 53* inroads... ii quail # ago a I! Haul-Isaak. 3. go 183-9.500 nos-2.6m 0.3 0809: 8:330.— nooHulHBoo vans-Foo Hora-.5 6H 039—. 245 Individual Bigraphic al and District Data Dean of the women's delegation in the House in the 88th Congress was Republican Frances Payne Bolton from the 22nd district in Ohio. Born in 1885 into a proper, wealthy, and rather prominent Ohio family, she grew up in an atmosphere that emphasized a sense of noblisse oblige and civic responsi- bility. As was befitting her station in life, she was educated first at a private school in Cleveland and then sent to a finishing school in New York. While her formal education did not include college, it did include travel abroad, es— pecially in Europe. Frances Bolton's biographer characterizes her as being a rather shy and reserved girl in a family not noted for its informality or dis— play of affection. But she at least overcame some of her reserve on occasion for she and a girlfriend used to sneak out without the knowledge of their fam- ilies and make the rounds with a visiting nurse in Cleveland. From this ex- posure grew a lasting and intense interest in health problems and especially in the nursing profession. Her education and adolescence were climaxed by a very proper marriage to Chester Bolton, the son of another notable Ohio family who was later to become a member of Congress from Ohio. Though Frances Bolton had worked Closely with her husband, and was perhaps the better campaigner of the two, She was distinctly not a feminist or suffragette, and it is doubtful that she ever would have aspired to congress on her own. However, in February of 1 940 Chester Bolton died leaving eight months of his term yet to run. As frequently happened in such situations, his wife was elected to fill his unexpired 246 term. There evidently was no thought on the part of the Ohio Republican party that Mrs. Bolton would have any inclination to hold the seat beyond the compli- mentary period of the unexpired term, and she was well aware of the attitude that they bad. What they hadn't counted on was the fact that, among other things, this very attitude would help push her toward attempting to win the seat on her own. Approaching her 55th birthday and with her sons no longer needing her intensive or exclusive attention, she saw the congress as a place to attempt to work directly for some of the goals that she had been supporting through her civic endeavors. The fact that from her rather large personal fortune she could, and already had, made large contributions to the party made her even more difficult to unseat as far as the party hierarchy was concerned. Twenty-five years later she was still seated and commented in an interview that "I'm going to run indefinitely. " 1 Mrs. Bolton, still brown—haired and brisk—-almost brusque--is the mother of three sons, one of whom now sits in the House of Representatives With her, and of a daughter who died as a child. Her life previous to her taking the seat had been that of the wealthy civic-minded matron involved in Various projects for the betterment of society. In many respects she is still the living image of the "Grande Dame" stereotype. Her involvement in k 1"Enjoys 25 Years in Congress, " Indianapolis Star, May 9, 1965, See. 8 a Page 16. 247 politics, aside from helping her husband, had been limited to being a member of the Republican State Central Committee in Ohio for two years and to sitting on the National Republican Program Committee for three, though she retained this latter post until 1950. It is reported that she still practices yogi, includ- ing standing on her head, something which she originally took up both as a form of relaxation and because of a deep interest in various religions. In the Congress Mrs. Bolton has served most of her time on the Foreign Affairs Committee on which she is currently the ranking Republican member. If one were going to single out a particular and distinctive legislative interest for her it would probably be that she is known for Sponsoring legislation re— lating to nursing. This is not to imply that she has not expressed an interest in her committee work however. A great deal of time and much of her own money has been Spent in traveling and studying other countries. She has been especially interested in the affairs of Africa. In 1955 she traveled through some twenty-four African countries at her own expense, taking a fairly large entourage with her, and her detailed report is still something of a classic. Reportedly she still shows up at most of the African embassy functions, no S mall task during the busy diplomatic season. The district that has consistently sent Mrs. Bolton to congress has C311anged over the years, but today it is a growing urban-surburban area on “18 east side of Cleveland. Reflecting the fact that it is northeastern, industrial, and urban, the population includes a large number of racial and ethnic backgrounds. 248 Negroes constituted 13. 6% of the population in the 1960 census. Persons of first or second generation immigrant background accounted for another 35. 6%. In order of their relative predominance the latter group included Italians, Germans, Russians, British, Polish, and Hungarians. The relatively high educational and income level, as well as the high proportion of professionals, managers and proprietors to laborers or even to craftsmen indicate that this is a middle to upper—middle class area. This fact is born out by the housing statistics where only about one per cent of the housing is listed as dilapidated, and the median value of owner occupied residences is $19,400. Much as she may be liked, even among her friends few would classify Frances Bolton as a truly powerful person in the House or even as one of the most effective of the women legislators. With her seniority and committee position, however, she is not an unknown or completely ignored force. Next in order of appearance was another Republican, Mrs. Katharine _S_t. George--patrician, conservative, sarcastically witty, and effective. A first cousin of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Mrs. St. George has not shared many of his political philosophies, although she is considered to have a basic humanitarian outlook on life. She did. share much of the same type of eastern, upper-class upbringing and education, having been educated in private schools in this country until the age of eleven when she was sent to Europe to complete her education in England, France, and Germany. Mrs. St. George still re- flects her class and upbringing in maintaining a very stylish appearance most 249 of the time. Even her office reflects her taste, being decorated with heavy, rich draperies and smart appointments. At the time that she first was elected to the Congress in 1946, Mrs. St. George was 50 years old. Her husband, a lawyer and broker, was still living, although he has since passed away. They had one daughter. Without a doubt Katharine St. George is one of the most politically effective women to serve in the House in the 88th congress and maybe ever. The very fact that she was appointed to the Rules Committee, on which she was the second ranking Republican in 1963 is testimony to that fact. People commenting on her are rather uniformly agreed on this point. She enjoys the reputation of being a woman who thinks and operates much as the men do. Not emotional in her approach at all, she does rely frequently on a tinge of sar- casm and is reported to rather enjoy needling her opponents. Being the New York member on the Republican Committee on Committees, she is in a power- ful position to decide on Republican committee appointments. She appears to make her decisions on thoroughly political bases. Unlike Frances Bolton, who came to Congress with very little personal political eXperience, Mrs. St. George had had years of practical eXperience in politics, though it was within the party rather than in elective office. She is one of the few women to have been a county chairman for the Republican party. She had been a delegate to the national convention, and in 1956 and 1 960 served as Parliamentarian for the convention, the first woman accorded t“his honor. 250 Mrs. St. George is sometimes referred to as ”Mrs. Equal Rights Amend- ment, " giving some idea of one of her major legislative goals. She is a fem- inist, and this is probably one of the things for which she is best known, though it hardly takes a great deal of her time° The chairman of the Judiciary Com- mittee refuses to hold hearings on the proposed amendment. Having served for fourteen years on the Post Office and Civil Service Committee, many of the bills she has Sponsored have had to do with federal employees and changes in the federal civil service. \\hatever the legislation, politically her views are consistently conservative. Although a member of the minority party dur- ing the 88th congress, She was still serving as the President of the United States delegation to the Inter- Parliamentary Union, an international group from several countries having parliamentary forms of government. It is a time-consuming job, and one that does not yield a great deal of political reward, but it is one on which she rather prides herself. Mrs. St. George's district is composed of four counties just northwest of the city of New York and includes some of the exurban area made famous by Spectorsky. 2 Also included is one of the big milk—producing counties in the New York milk shed. Although the district was considered to be 52. 8% urban in 1960, only two cities had a population of over 10, 000, and each of these had less than 50, 000. In many ways it has been a district of small k 2 1955). A. C. Spectorsky, The Exurbanites (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott C0. . 251 town, established Yankee families. Recently there has been an invasion of newer immigrants: Italians, Germans, Russians, British, and Polish in the order of their relative numbers. Like the district served by Mrs. Bolton, its dominant tone is broadly middle and upper-middle class and it is growing rapidly as a suburban area. Of the two districts, however, it would seem to be the more small town and conservative. 3 Mrs. Edna Kelly, a Democrat, is third in seniority among the women members of the 88th congress. Although she was elected at a Special mid- term election to fill an unexpired term, Mrs. Kelly is not the widow of a congressman. She was widowed at the time of her initial election, however, and her late husband had been in politics. He was a City Court Justice of the City of New York. Edna Kelly had not held elective office prior to her election to the congress, but She had been very politically active in her own right. From 1944 until her election in 1949 she had served as Director of Research for the Democratic delegation in the state legislature of New York, and for a time before that She had been Associate Director. She has been, and still is, highly involved in party affairs 'of both the city and the state and serves as the Democratic National Committeewoman from New York. Her appointment to the Foreign Affairs Committee, and eSpecially to the subcommittee on Europe which she now chairs, fits well with the district R an may have been lea conservative than Mrs. St. George thought. As a Staunch supporter of Barry Goldwater in 1966, Mrs. St. George was de— ffi‘ated for re-election. 252 that she serves, for better than 57 % of her constituents are first or second generation immigrants. Most of them come from the countries under the study jurisdiction of her subcommittee: Russia, Poland, Austria, Ireland, and Germany. Where Mrs. Bolton is referred to as proper and Mrs. St. George as shrewd and perhaps sarcastic, Mrs. Kelly gets more nominations for terms such as emotional, dramatic, or peppery. As one man put it, "everybody knows who Edna Kelly is. " Although she is not a beautiful woman by most standards, she is tall and striking in appearance and not at all hesitant to Speak out, especially when the subject pertains to her district or committee. Mrs. Kelly's background is rather different from that of either of her aforementioned colleagues. Rather than attending finishing school and then traveling abroad, she graduated from Hunter College in her own city of New York with an A. B. degree in history and economics. She was also younger than either of the other two at the time of initial election having been first elected at the age of 43. Mrs. Kelly has two children, a son and a daughter, and at the time of the 88th congress She had eight grandchildren, a fact that She duly noted in her official biography. The twelfth district of New York which Mrs. Kelly represents differs in one very important respect from the two previously mentioned-~or for that matter, from any of the districts represented by the other women--it is part Of a large, urban Democratic machine and as such is considered quite "safe" for whomever wins the Democratic nomination. Covering only nine square 253 miles in the heart of Brooklyn, it has a density of over 52, 000 people for each of those miles but is losing population rather than growing. The median age of her constituents is 38 years, the highest in the state and the highest among the women's districts. Its economic base is closely tied to the gar- ment industry, though certainly it is not a one-industry area. While its in- come and houSing statistics would not put the New York 12th in quite the same "silk-stocking" category as the district represented by Martha Griffiths, the high number of professional and managerial occupations along with the other statistics indicates that this is basically a good substantial middle-class district. Not quite two years after Mrs. Kelly's entrance, another Special elec- tion brought in the fourth member of the women's group that was in the 88th congress. Representative John Kee from West Virginia died at the age of 76 while presiding over the Foreign Affairs Committee of which he was chair- man. On July 19, 1951, his 51-year—old widow, Elizabeth Kee, was sworn in to succeed him. Having served as his Administrative Assistant during his nineteen years in office, as well as having been involved in West Virginia politics for a decade prior, she was quite familiar with the district and its problems. Following the family tradition, she appointed her son James to serve as her Administrative Assistant, and during the 88th congress it was announced that she would retire at the end of the session and that James would 4 be a candidate for the seat in the November, 1964, election. * 4 James Kee was elected by a vote of72, 270 to 32 , 114 for his Republican Opponent. 254 Like Frances Bolton and Katharine St. George, Elizabeth Kee is a mem- ber of the D. A. R. , but in contrast she also is of a distinctly different type of background and personality. She attended the public schools of Virginia and West Virginia and then graduated from Roanoke Business College. The con- sensus of opinion is that She fits very well the stereotype of the congressional widow who keeps her seat by virtue of the family name and tradition and by not alienating some vital persons in the district organization. She has not made a particular mark for herself in the congress. No one seems to dislike her-- it is just that few people seem to know that she is around. In all fairness it should be pointed out that during the 88th congress Mrs. Kee was ill a good deal of the time, but her reputation as being a very passive member predates the 88th. Her appearance and demeanor follow suit-—she appears as a non- sophisticate in a very sophisticated world. While neither of her committee assignments in the 88th congress were especially prestigious, they may be considered fair committees for her type of district should one care to use them to promote special legislation. She is third ranking member on the majority side of the Veteran's Affairs committee and is chairman of its subcommittee on Veteran's Hospitals. In addition she sits on three subcommittees of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. The district that Mrs. Kee represents iS equally as great a contrast to those already mentioned as is any other contrast noted. Hers is the type of district for which the Great Society program was designed-~literally. It is in the heart of Appalachia in a depressed mining area which lost 19% of its population in the last decade. In any of the categories reported-~income, level of education, type of housing--the 5th district of West Virginia is lower than any of the other districts served by a woman member, though this does not mean that there are not several districts in the nation overall which are equally unfortunate. The population was reported at 19. 2% urban as of 1960, but the only city over 10, 000 in population was Bluefield, which has approxi- mately 20, 000 people. Many of the people in the district have been connected with the mines, some are in the tobacco business, and a few are involved with lumber. While the median income in 1960 was $3, 869 per year, the modal income group was the "Under $2, 000" category. Less than half of the housing is reported by the census as being sound and having all plumbing facilities, while better than one in every seven houses is reported as dilapi- dated. Another member of the House passed away in 1951 also, a much younger man than John Kee and one with less seniority. John B. Sullivan died during his 5th term at the age of 54 and his wife, Leonor Sullivan, decided that she would like to follow through on his program and take his seat in Congress. However, the party organization back home had other ideas. According to Mrs. Sullivan, her husband had been somewhat‘of an idealist, and the organi- zation felt that next time around they would prefer someone who was a little easier to control. Consequently they refused her request to be allowed to 256 run for his seat in the Special election, stating that a woman could not win in that district. Instead they selected their own man--who promptly lost a solidly urban, working class district in the heart of St. Louis, Missouri, to a Republican. Undaunted, Mrs. Sullivan came back in 1952 to run in the primary. Though she claims to have been a complete novice in the speech- making department and was "scared to death, " she did well enough to win the primary over her six male opponents and went on to put the district back in the Democratic column in the November election of 1952. Leonor Sullivan is a native of St. Louis, was educated in its public and parochial schools, and took some night classes at Washington University in the city. Not married until her late thirties, she had had sustained work experience on her own, including the teaching of business arithmetic and accounting at the St. Louis Comptometer School where She also served as Placement Director. She and John Sullivan were married in 1941, and he was first elected to Congress in 1942. Having no children to keep her at home, Leonor served as his Administrative Aide and almost invariably traveled with him in his political campaigning. Despite her career type of background, Mrs. Sullivan does not fit the stereotype of the career—minded, equal-rights feminist. AS one respondent put it, "She's more decorative than being an aggressive feminist. . . . She seems to sense the limits to which She can go and still be feminine and she StOps short of that limit. " A fairly tall woman, and quite an attractive one, she is frequently described by such terms as "gracious," or "pleasant. " 257 That she is something more than just decoration, however, is attested to by the fact that more than one of the respondents placed her in the group which they would consider the more effective women politicians. She is one of the few women who is known as a real expert in a given legislative area--in this case, consumer affairs. While her legislative interests have not been at all limited to consumer affairs, they have seemed to fall for the most part into those areas which by definition could‘be considered "feminine": education for exceptional children-—both retarded and gifted; the food stamp program; equal pay for equal work. Banking and Currency is one of her committee assignments, and Mer— chant Marine and Fisheries is the other. She serves as a sub—committee chairman on each. The assignment to Merchant Marine and Fisheries itself is a fairly reasonable one since her district includes the St. Louis terminals of the busy Mississippi River traffic. On the Banking and Currency Com— mittee she is the chairman of the recently formed subcommittee on consumer affairs and is third-ranking majority member on the subcommittee on housing. Missouri's third district, which She represents, lies in the heart of St. Louis, bordered on one side by the Mississippi River and on the other by beginnings of the suburbs. Though in some respects it resembles the district represented by Edna Kelly, the figures indicate that it is more dis- tinctly a working class district with the number of laborers equalling the number of craftsmen and well outnumbering the professional or managerial 258 occupational categories. The district is 100% urban with the highest per— centage of Negroes of any of the women's districts, 16. 7%. There is an equal percentage of those of foreign stock, most of whom are German. The median level of education is not much higher than that for Elizabeth Kee's district, though the median income is and certainly the modal income cate- gory is. The economic base restS in diversified manufacturing and Shipping. Deteriorating and dilapidated housing appear to be a problem, and some ur- ban renewal projects have been initiated in the area. AS was true of a num- ber of inner cities during the decade of the 50's, the total population figure actually dropped, with a loss of 14% November, 1954, the election of the 84th Congress, brought a rather unique contingent of four new women to the House: all Democrats, all be- tween the ages of 40 and 45; and all married at the time, though they came from the widely dispersed states of Oregon, Minnesota, Michigan, and Georgia. As of the 88th congress two of the congressional careers had been terminated. So had two of the marriages. Coya Knutson, who made national headlines when her husband publicly pleaded during her third campaign, "Coya, come home," lost her seat in 1958 and shortly thereafter divorced her husband. Iris Blitch from Georgia, still married, retired after two terms, ostensibly for reasons of health. Of the two women who were still serving in the 88th congress, one was married, the other divorced. Both are known as effective and "hard-nosed" politicians though quite different 259 types of persons. They are Edith Green of Portland, Oregon, and Martha Griffiths of suburban Detroit. Again the consensus runs high when Speaking of the behavior of Mrs. Edith Green, even though the evaluations of it vary. She is, in a word, con- sidered by most to be a "tough" politician. No one doubts that she is im- mensely capable both intellectually and politically, despite the contention that her emotions sometimes impinge on her rationality. Nonetheless, She does not seem to be the kind of woman who inspires warm friendships and confidences. Despite the fact that she is reported to be quite vindictive and vitriolic if her ideas are thwarted, She is conceded by friend and foe alike to be a dedicated and determined idealist with a great sense of compas— sion for the poor and outcasts of Society. There is much that could be said about her, and much that has been, but perhaps it is best summarized in the words of one reporter who described her as a "very wary political animal, " one who is always on her guard and feels that a woman has to prove herself in a way that a man need not. By her own admission she seldom puts in less than a 70 hour work week, and in the words of one of her colleagues, "She is absolutely married to the Congress. " She was also married in the more traditional use of the word when she arrived in Washington. Pbrthe first session her husband, who had been operat— ing a trailer court in Oregon, and her two sons arrived with her. The boys, who were of junior high and high school ages remained with her. Her husband, 260 however, Arthur Green,did not stay too long in Washington, returning to the west coast to go back in business. After some time apart the separation was made legal and then finally there was a divorce. The congress was Mrs. Green's first elective office, though she had run unsuccessfully for Oregon Secretary of State on the Democratic ticket two years before. But she had always been occupationally active. She was educated in the public schools through high school and then attended Willa- mette University in Oregon for two years. In her late twenties she went back to school and took her B. S. at the University of Oregon and later did some graduate work at Stanford. Her occupational pursuits included teaching school for a number of years, working in commercial radio work, free lance writing for a few years after World War II, and serving as program director of the Multnomah County Cancer Society and finally as the Director of Public Re- lations for the Oregon Educational Association. While she is likely every bit as shrewd politically as Katherine St. George—wand indeed she is considered one of the most effective women mem- bers in the House--Mrs. Green does not diSplay Mrs. St. George's ability to view the world a little condescendingly and therefore to be a little amused by its foibles by treating it a bit lightly and sarcastically. Instead Edith Green is intense and driving. Though in some ways She is at the extreme end of the non—femininity scale, her appearance would not emphasize this. Petite in Size, She is always attractively and neatly groomed, usually in a tailored fashion. 261 In the House Mrs. Green sits on the Education and Labor Committee and has recently been appointed to the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Com- mittee. The former committee is her major interest for she is another who is identified as a legislative eXpert. Her area of expertise is higher educa- tion. In recent sessions the Education and Labor Committee has become much more active and influential than it had been for some time previously, and by the 88th congress she had enough seniority on it to become a rather influential member as well. Particularly has she used her position as chair— man of the subcommittee on Special education to, good political advantage. She talks on the floor as much or more than any of the other women, but her comments are generally related to her committee work. Oregon's third district, which She repreSents, is Multnomah County, which consists primarily of Portland. Officially it is considered to be 96. 4% urban. Largely because it does include the entire city, the district is fairly diverse in its population base except that the rural element is largely ex- cluded. Portland is a growing city, though not growing as fast as the strictly suburban districts. AS is somewhat typical of that part of the country, Port- land has a small Negro population and a relatively small foreign group. Most of these are Canadian, German, British, or Scandinavian. The edu- cational level is high with the median being high school graduation and almost 10% being college graduates. Trade is the largest single economic activity of the city. There is also manufacturing of both lumber and metal products on a fairly wide scale. 262 Martha Griffiths, Mrs. Hicks Griffiths, was the only woman lawyer sewing in the 88th congress and one of the very few women lawyers ever to serve. A native of Missouri, she met her future husband while they were both attending the University of Missouri. He subsequently passed up a chance to attend Harvard in order that they could go to law school together at the University of Michigan. As far as they know they are the only married couple to graduate together from law school and the only couple to both have been judges at some time. Since he still maintains their law firm in Detroit, they are forced to be separated during the week while congress is in session. For this reason Mrs. Griffiths returns home most weekends. When she does not do so, her husband normally comes to Washington. They have no children. Hicks serves as her campaign manager and brags that it was he that pushed her into running for office in the first place. As is true of nearly all of the women members of the congress, Mrs. Griffiths works at maintaining a quite attractive and feminine, though con- servative, appearance. AS for the degree to which she would be considered ultimately "feminine," She evokes a wider range of answers than some of the others. Some see her primarily as an effective, efficient, and hard—- working member who does not ask or eXpect attention as a woman. Report- edly She is perfectly capable of going in when the pressure is on and saying, "I'll be ifI will," as easily as any man. But while She is con- sidered an astute politician and tough-minded in the sense of not letting her 263 emotions override rationality, she is not referred to as "tough. " One fre- quently heard reference is to her vivacity or her enthusiasm, which wins her friends on both Sides of the aisle. Just as frequently comes the comment that She asks very important and penetrating questions on the floor and in committee, and that she doesn't usually Speak unless she really knows her subject. Consequently, respect for her abilities is high. Representing the type of district which she doeS--quite a high economic level suburban district with a large number of first and second generation European immigrants and very few Negroes--and still maintaining her image in the congress of being a liberal Democrat has meant some very judicious balancing of statements, actions, and votes. It has also meant that she has earned for herself on some occasions the less-favorable version of the "astute politician" label--namely, the "sneaky" or "two-faced" one. In this investigation, however, her detractors were few compared to her ad- mirers. If for no other reason, her political abilities would have to be recog- nized from her committee assignments. She has become the first woman to ever sit on the Ways and Means Committee, and She is on the prestigious Joint Economic Committee as well. Although the appointment was not of- ficially made to Ways and Means until John McCormack became Speaker of the House, Mrs. Griffiths claims that she had the support of the late Sam Rayburn for the position, and that would be no small accomplishment. "Mr. 264 Sam" was known not to favor putting women in any positions of power or authority. Perhaps partly because of her committee assignment which forces its members to deal with a wide variety of topics, she is not known particu- larly as a specialist in any one area. As far as background, education, and previous political experience is concerned, Martha Griffiths holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri, and a law degree from the University of Michigan. After gradu- ation she and her husband became partners in a law firm that also included G. Men nen Williams, a classmate in law school. This was during World War II. At the age of 28 She became a contract negotiator for the federal government and negotiated all Defense Department ammunition purchases in Michigan and, later in the war, all wheeled vehicle contracts as well. From 1948 to 1952 she served in the Michigan legislature, and in 1953 the then Governor Williams appointed her as Judge and Recorder of the Recorder's Court of the City of Detroit. She had set her sights on Congress before accept- ing the judgeship, having campaigned, over labor's opposition,to win the.Demo- cratic primary for the 17th district in 1952. In final election, however, the district remained Republican. In 1954 she came back to sweep the nomination and unseat the Republican incumbent as well. In 1959, while a member of Congress, she campaigned for a seat on the Recorder's Court again in order to be able to stay at home and still be in work that she liked. However she had always fought the image of being labor's candidate, and in this election they 265 returned the favor by refusing her an endorsement; She lost the race. Sub- sequently she decided to stay in congress. No congressional district in the country is made up of just upper or upper-middle class people of course, but to the extent that averages tell any- thing, the 17th district of Michigan comes close to being a "silk-stocking district." Of the twelve districts served by a woman in the 88th congress, it ranks highest on most of the socio-economie indicators given in the District Data Book. Listed as 97. 8% urban, it is a very rapidly growing suburban area on Detroit's northwest side. Professionals outnumber laborers approxi— mately five to one, but the highest single occupational category is the crafts— men or skilled worker. Dilapidated housing is practically nonexistent. In looking at the figures for the race and nationality composition of the district, it is composed quite a bit of the upperwardly mobile middle classes, many of whom are first or second generation immigrants. Officially 38% are of foreign stock, though the Canadian figure inflates this somewhat. After Canada, in rank order of the number of nationals, is Poland, then the United Kingdom, Germany, the U. S. S. R. , and Italy. Less than one percent of the district's population was Negro in the 1960 census. Perhaps the most widely known attribute of Florence Dwyer, Republican from New Jersey's 6th district, is her very strong campaigning record. Hav- ing first come to the House in 1956 with an upset victory over the Democratic incumbent Harrison Williams-mow a Senator from New Jersey-—She has 266 maintained a strong position with her electorate, and she herself is known to be proud of her record. In the House itself, however, there is little else that she is really known for. Mrs. Dwyer is almost always there when She is supposed to be, at least on Tuesdays through Thursdays, but seldom does she Speak out except with her prepared statements or questions. Many of her prepared statements are attributed primarily to the work of a very able Administrative Assistant who, perhaps more than is true in any of the other of the women's offices, serves as an almost co-equal and very close advisor and administrator. The evaluations of her work run the gamut from very able to ineffective, but few seem to have very intense feelings about her or her work either way. There is more of a feeling that they really are not too sure about even their own evaluations. From those that do know her, one thing that does seem to "come through," is the fact that she is a very pragmatic and practical politician—— which may be one reason why she has consistently increased her margins of victory. While Edith Green is admitted to be an idealist and to vote and act emotionally on occasion, different motivations are attributed to Flo Dwyer--though the vote is the same in a surprising number of cases. Mrs. Dwyer's vote instead is assumed to reflect the fact that even though she is a Republican, she represents an industrial, urban area and that this area is plagued by a number of problems the proposed solutions to which are usually defined as "liberal. " Because of the reputation She enjoys as being 267 a tough-minded politician about such things, she is reputed on occasion to be able to swing some other votes with her-~the men figuring that if She thinks it's politically safe to vote that way, then it must be. And Mrs. Dwyer seems to think it is safe to vote with the Democrats fairly regularly. She has backed a Department of Urban Affairs, 3 mass transit bill, increased federal standards for consumer affairs, and housing for the elderly among other things. In the Congress Mrs. Dwyer's committee assignments are the Banking and Currency Committee and the Government Operations Committee. In the former She sits on the same two subcommittees as does Leonor Sullivan; on the latter she has been particularly associated with inter-governmental rela- tions. Florence Dwyer entered congress at the age of 54. Her husband Joseph, about ten years her senior, retired from his position as a personnel and industrial relations employee with Western Electric about the same time. Though he had hoped to continue some with his own work, an operation for cancer kept him hospitalized for some time and Since then he has given up the idea of much of an active independent life in favor of helping his wife in her work where he can. Sinceleaving the hospital he has stayed in Washington a good deal of the time, and he has been known to come by the office on occasion and to watch the House in session. The Dwyer's have one son, a graduate of Annapolis, who is an Air Force officer. 268 The position of congresswoman was not the first political or elective office for Mrs. Dwyer. She first became active in Republican politics around 1936 and by 1944 was elected a delegate at large to the Republican National Convention. In 1948 She returned asian alternate delegate. Before she began running for office herself, she served as secretary and parliamentarian to the Assembly majority leader and the Speaker in the New Jersey Assembly. In 1949 she was first elected to the state legislature and served for four two-year terms there before trying for the national position. In the state assembly one of her primary interests was education, and she was chairman of its Education Committee as well as serving as Assistant Majority Leader some of the time. Her own education seems to have consisted of the public schools plus a few classes taken at Rutgers Law School after her election to state office. She is something of a traditional feminist and was the author of the New Jersey "Equal Pay for Equal Work" law, the federal counterpart of which she has consistently supported. Since public Speaking is definitely not her forte, Flo Dwyer's extreme effectiveness as a campaigner rests on other grounds—-evidently the person-to- person approach and constant eXposure. She will appear for almost any kind of a meeting, and being the only woman in a crowd apparently does not phase her. One man is even reported to have said that he was "embarrassed to be around Flo sometimes because She makes me feel effeminant. " She has a strong organization of woman volunteers, however, and is well-known and 269 easily recognized on the streets and in the stores of her district. The office sends out congratulations and sympathy cards to individuals in the district when the local papers report the appropriate circumstances, and she herself goes back to the district almost every weekend. The district that Mrs. Dwyer represents is what is sometimes referred to as a "swing district. " It is a part of the whole New York City metropolitan complex but is on the outer fringes of the area. Union County, of which it is composed, includes some of the Newark outskirts but its major population center is Elizabeth and its suburbs. Those who know the area refer to it as an industrial and working class district. The statistical indicators in the District Data Book, however, Show that in many respects it is quite like the district that Frances Bolton represents. Classified as an entirely urban dis- trict, it has grown about 27% in the decade of the 50's. Those of foreign stock make up about 39% of the population, and in order of their numerical strength are Italians, Poles, Germans, Russians, British, and Irish. Craftsmen and skilled workers are the largest Single occupational category, but they cut- number laborers by much more than they do either professionals or managerial workers. Again this would be a broadly defined middle-class district. Lest one think that all of the women members are sent by middle to up- per-middle class suburban districts-—at least those that run on their own in- stead of being congressional widows—-one needs only to review the next woman to arrive in the 88th congress in order to see differently. In 1958 Catherine 270 M3}: was elected from the 4th district of the state of Washington. She is a Republican, and while the district had been Republican, the election was a very uncertain one. The same Democratic candidate had nearly defeated the Republican incumbent in the Eisenhower—Republican year of 1956. Using the tested strategy of handshaking, handbills, and particularly detailed precinct organization, the underdog and, as she termed herself, the "reluctant" candi- date won. The Mays moved to Washington, D. C. The district that sent Mrs. May is in some ways very different from any of those detailed previously. In the first place, it is an agricultural dis- trict. The official tabulation reads 54% urban, but this does not mean big cities; it means a few scattered small towns. Trade and agriculture are the two biggest sources of economic support, though there is some manufacturing—- mostly food processing or the making of lumber products .. There is a reason- ably high educational level, but the actual cash income level is the lowest in the state. Even more telling with regard to general socio-economic status, laborers, including farm laborers, outnumber either professionals or man- agers-”including farm managers--almost two to one. Only 74% of the housing is listed as being "sound with all plumbing facilities, " and close to 6% is dilapidated. There are very few Negroes and not even too many of foreign stock. Only 16. 5% are first or second generation immigrants. Those who are come primarily from Canada. Smaller numbers have come from Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the Scandinavian countries. 271 The woman who represents this district is a very out-going mother of two high—school-age children, or at least they were such when She first came. Mrs. May was elected to the congress at the age of 44, and for her first term in office the entire family moved to the District of Columbia with her. Both of the Mays affirm that he was behind her running for office "100%" and that she would not have run otherwise. However, James May has decided that he prefers to stay at home in Yakima and tend to the business rather than to be known as "her husband" in Vi ashington. Though the opposition reportedly starts the rumor at every election that there is to be a divorce, the Mays deny that they have any ground for it. The children have stayed in Vi ashington with their mother, and at least during the 88th congress their maternal grandmother was with them as well. Catherine May's educational and occupational background is a varied and active one. Her elementary and secondary schooling was in the public schools of Yakima, the city where She still maintains her official residence. After graduation from junior college at home, she went on to the University of Wash- ington in Seattle and took a B. A. degree with a major in English and Speech. For the next four years She taught high school near home and then moved to Seattle to become involved in radio broadcasting and writing, particularly feature work and women's programs. \\hile in Seattle she met her husband- to-be at a USO. They were married in 1943; she was 28. For two more years She worked at radio writing and editing in New York City while her 272 husband finished his service commitment. From there they returned to her home town of Yakima and she retired to be a housewife——a retirement that didn't last long. She soon added the job of being woman's editor for the local radio station, then came various civic volunteer responsibilities, including being a precinct co-chairman along with her husband for the local Republican party. By 1952 he was encouraging her to run for the Washington state legis- lature. With her usual flair for a good story, She relates that She got started in politics because they did not have much money to contribute to the campaign, so, "Jim donated me--as a candidate. " She won, not only in 1952, but again in 1954 and 1956. In 1958 she went to Congress. Mrs. May is regarded by a number of people as the kind of woman who will come to be an influential member, although she is not as well known or highly regarded as some of the others yet. This may be due in part to the short time of service and in part to the fact that her party has been the minor- ity party ever Since she was elected. She has certainly solidified her position in her district. Her political astuteness is evident by the manner in which she managed her campaign to get a seat on the Agriculture Committee—-an excel— lent assignment for her district. She is also already a regional whip for the Republicans in the House. As one respondent explained it, she has a quality of endearing herself to people, and this helps in getting people to vote with the party line. "The men hate to say 'no' to Catherine unless it is really necessary. " Those who expect her to become a person of influence do not 273 state their case in terms of feminine charm, however, but in terms of her logical approach to problems and of her understanding of the legislative process and the importance of party politics. The next woman to join the ranks of those in the House is also from the state of Washington. She represents the 3rd district, which borders Mrs. May's, but she is a Democrat. Again it is not the type of district that might normally be expected to send a woman to Congress, but at least a segment of that district had been sending Julia Butler Hansen to the state legislature for years. In fact she had been urged to run for the national legislature for some time before she actually consented to do so. The district had had a popular Republican incumbent for some time and reportedly it did not seem to Mrs. Hansen that there was much chance of winning against him. It was not until his death that She accepted the challenge. The ability to think rationally and make her choices wisely from a political standpoint is part of what makes the reputation that Mrs. Hansen enjoys. She is known as more than just an "ordinary" woman. Perhaps more frequently than is true for any other woman in the House she is given what the men evidentally consider to be their highest accolade: She thinks and politically acts like a man, i. e. , she is a completely logical person. Julia Butler grew up in the northwest as part of a family that was long established in the territory. Born in 1907, She had the usual education through high school and a few years of college before going out to work. 274 After being out of college for about three years she returned, and in 1930 she received her A. B. degree from the‘ University of Vt ashington—-her subject matter areas home economics and journalism. Although she has used her journalism professionally—-and today writes her own newsletters—-the home economics has been used primarily for her and her family's own enjoyment. Once she had her degree she went back to Cathlamet and into business again—— but also into civic activities and politics. By 1936 she was county Democratic chairman of Wahkiakum County, but it was 1939 that really capped all years. It was a year that was important in many ways. For one thing Singing Paddles, her child's history of the northwest was published and won a national award. More importantly, it was the year that she married Henry Hansen, a logger several years her senior. It was also the year that she was elected state vice chairman of the Young Democrats and was first elected to the House of Representatives of the state of Vt ashington. In the state legislature, where she continued to serve until her election to the U. S» House in 1960, she was noted for two particular interests. One, educational, was perhaps a traditional concern for women, but the other, highways, distinctly was not. She served as committee chairman first of the Education Committee and later of the House Roads and Bridges Committee, as well as of the Joint Fact—finding Committee on Highways, Streets and Bridges. From 1951-1960 she was chairman. of the W estern Interstate Com- mittee on Highway Policy Problems of Eleven States. While giving some 275 indication of her leadership qualities and political know—how, these chair— manships do not give the entire picture, for Julia Hansen is one of the very few women to break the usual barriers against women leaders by becoming a part of the elected party leadership of the legislature. From 1955-1960 she served as Speaker Pro Tem of the state House of Representatives. In the U. S. Congress Mrs. Hansen was first assigned to the House Education and Labor Committee where she served on its subcommittees on Education, National Labor Relations, and the Impact of Imports and Exports on American Employment. She was also on Interior and Insular Affairs, a logical choice with her district. One mark of the degree of esteem in which she is held by the leadership is the fact that in the 88th congress, after serv— ing just one full term, she was assigned to the Appropriations Committee and its subcommittee on the Department of Interior and Related Agencies. In one sense she was lucky, for the vacancy was created by the defeat of a fellow-Washingtonian--and Appropriations is concerned with geographical balance. But she herself must be given a great deal of the credit for the appointment. Mrs. Hansen is said to be a very compassionate woman and interested in social justice, but not willing to let idealism overcome a sense of the practical. Her years of work in politics and especially her service in a leadership role seem to have made her aware of the value of cooperating with the leadership and the need for party loyalty. Consequently she tends 276 to support the party and its leadership quite faithfully--which is undoubtedly one of the reasons for her appointment to Appropriations. In other words, she will not let emotional tendencies override political logic. Put with her background in journalism and her ability to express an issue clearly and concisely-~and with her knowledge of the "ropes, "-—it is not too surprising that Julia Hansen is considered by most to be a very respected member and one who is moving up rapidly in the ranks of the more liberal Democrats-- though reportedly she doesn't like a 100% ADA rating. It does not go well in the district. Mr. Hansen, retired from the logging industry because of both age and injury, came to Washington with her, their teen-age son David, and her mother. In one of her newsletters she refers to their Georgetown home as the "decorate and do-it-yourselt“ type, commenting that this has been Henry and David's project during their stay in the Capitol. Others report that the decorate and do-it-yourself style has had very charming results. Home and business seem entirely segregated for the Hansen's. Reportedly, he never goes to the office even to see her sworn in. The district that Mrs. Hansen represents is not too radically different from that of Mrs. May except that there is a little less emphasis on agri- culture and a little more on lumbering. About half of the population is classi- fied as urban, meaning primarily smaller towns. All told there are five cities with a population of over 10,000, but most of these have less than 277 20, 000 inhabitants. Negroes are practically non—existent in the area and the 20% classified as foreign stock are: primarily Germans or Scandinavians. Both the educational and income levels are about average for the state with the median education being 11. 4 years and the median income being $5, 801. Lumber is a major concern in the area-~both in terms of milling and manu- facturing. Food processing and transportation are of some economic impor- tance as well. Completing the group of those with whom this report will be most con- cerned is Charlotte Reid, elected at the beginning of the 88th congress. A1- though Mrs. Reid's husband never actually served in the House she is still classified with the congressional widows due to the circumstances of her initial nomination. Her husband, Frank Reid, won the Republican primary in the traditionally Republican 15th district of Illinois in the spring of 1962. However, in August of that year just before the ballots were to be printed for the regular election he suffered a heart attack and shortly thereafter died. The local Republican authorities requested his widow to complete his campaign and take his seat. Charlotte Reid had been active in various civic projects around their home town, but her involvement in politics had been limited to being the wife and daughter-in-law of practicing politicans. Frank Reid Sr. had served in the House of Representatives for a time. Consequently she had little practical background or experience for the position and was somewhat hesitant to accept. Urged by her family as well as the local leaders, 278 she was persuaded to run. Campaigning on a conservative economy-in-gov- ernment platform, she won the election. The background that she brings with her to the congress is primarily that of the charming wife of a successful attorney, but she had detoured from the homemaker role long enough to sing professionally. After graduating from East Aurora High School-~the city where she still maintains her resi— dence--she attended college for two years nearby. Her real love being music, she gave up college after two years to study voice. She received her big break on the NBC radio network's Breakfast Club, and she sang profession- ally on that program for three years under the name of Annet King. It was in fact through this that she met her husband, for her future father—in—law, then the congressman from the Aurora area, heard her sing, noted that she came from his home town, and encouraged his son to "look her up." In 1939 at the age of 25, she married Frank Reid, Jr. , and assumed the duties of housewife. The Reids had four children--—two sons and two daughters--the youngest daughter being a junior in high school at the time of her mother's election to the Congress. Again the grandparents provided the answer to the problem of the school age child, this time by moving into the family home inAurora and taking care of Susan until she graduated from high school while Mrs. Reid went on to Washington alone. When there are only eleven or twelve women to 424 or 423 men, the women are almost bound to be noticed, but it is widely conceded that Charlotte 279 Reid is probably one of those that is noticed the most. Very attractive, and passing easily for someone younger than her 49 years, Mrs. Reid has, in the words of one of her male colleagues, "won the hearts of the men." Even a member of the opposition who commented that you "wouldn't try to hold an intelligent political discussion with her," remarked on a couple of occasions on what a "charming" and "handsome" woman she was Mrs. Reid's district, the Illinois 15th, lies to the west and a little to the South of Chicago. Heavily Republican, it had gone almost 70% for Eisen- hower in 1956 and better than 60% for Nixon in 1960. While a little far away from Chicago to be strictly "suburban," it does seem to be receiving some of the overflow and grew about 27% in the decade of the 50's. The 1960 cen- sus officially listed it as 70% urban with some farming and some rural—non- farrning residents, but while one city ranges up to 65, 000 inhabitants, most run less than 20,000 inhabitants. It is another district with very few Negroes-- 1. 3%-—and its predominant group of foreign stock are Germans. The median educational level of 10. 9 years is about one year less than that for the subur- ban districts served by women, but the median income of $6,621 is third highest among the women's districts. The economic base of the district is diversified, ranging from the manufacturing of durable goods to agriculture and education. It is the home of Northern Illinois University. The housing statisticts are fairly average for the women's districts: 81. 1% of the houses are listed as in sound condition with all plumbing facilities and about 3, 500 houses listed as dilapidated. 280 Although little will be said about her activities in the later sections of this report, there is one more woman who should be mentioned and who com- pletes the list of women members of the 88th congress in the House, Mrs. Irene Baker. On March 10, 1964, Mrs. Baker was elected from the 2nd district of Tennessee to succeed her late husband as a Member of the House; she was sworn in nine days later. Having grown up in a family where politics was part and parcel of life, Irene Baker was no stranger to the game when she met and married her husband Howard. Though she had not been an of- ficial part of the office staff, she had maintained close contact with many of his activities in the House and constantly campaigned with him in the district. Attractive, gray-haired, and perhaps a bit shy, Mrs. Baker was very good about attending sessions during the rest of the term, but by not entering the primary, she let it be known early that she was not interested in retaining her seat and consequently was little involved in the work of the House during the rest of the session. Her principal legislative activity consisted of intro- ducing a few private relief bills. The Bakers had three children, all grown and married at the time of their father's death. Tennessee's 2nd district is about half urban--including Knoxville and Oak Ridge and Maryville. Most of the rest of the population is considered rural non-farm. A fairly wide range in life style and activity exists that the medians do not entirely reflect. Although the median number of years of education is only nine years of school, 7‘7, of the district's population are 281 college graduates. The median income is $4, 515, which is not high by national standards and is the second lowest among the women's districts, but it is not too out of line for the state of Tennessee. Compared to many areas of the country this is not a rapidly growing area, having gained in population only about 6% in the decade of the 50's. Laborers are about equal in number to the professionals or proprietors, and craftsmen are by far the largest occu- pational category of those mentioned in the census. The economy rests on a diverse base ranging from the federal installation at Oak Ridge to the mer— chandising of Knoxville to tobacco and some textile plants. The housing sta- tistics give an important clue to the way that many of the district's inhabitants actually live: only 60% of the housing meets the criteria for "sound with all plumbing," while about 10% is classified as dilapidated. Comparisons Among Districts If one attempts to assess the background anidistricts of these women in terms of a pattern that would be "typical" of the current group of women mem— bers of the House, there would seem to be few, if any, characteristics that cluster together as descriptive of them. However, a number of possible vari- ables will be examined individually before any attempt to generalize or eschew generalization is made. District criteria will be discussed first. The first possibility to be explored is that of area of the country. In the 88th congress the twelve women represented ten different states ranging from one coast to the other and from Michigan to the border states. There 282 were no women from the deep South, which in light of the findings of the previ- ous chapter is not surprising. There were no women from the Southwest in the 88th congress, which is a bit more surprising. The major point to be made, however, is simply that there is no one area of the country that has any sort of a monopoly on sending women to Congress. There are two women each from New York and Washington. The coastal areas are also represented by one each from New Jersey and Oregon, and in between there are women from West Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri. In terms of the type of district that might be considered a "woman's district" demographically, the findings are equally indeterminate. The districts represented range from an Appalachian rural and poor area of southern West Virginia to the prosperous suburban communities around Detroit or Cleveland to the lumbering and agricultural areas of the west coast. On another dimension, that of urbanization, they range from 19. 2%.: urban where the only city with a population of more than 10,000 has approx— imately 20, 000 inhabitants to the 100% urban districts in the heart of Brooklyn and St. Louis or the suburban areas that are more than 90% urban. In be— tween are districts where the cities range in size from approximately 2,000 inhabitants to 75, 000. Median incomes in the women's districts range from $3, 800 to more than double that amount. Education, which is normally considered to be highly correlated with income also shows a wide variation. One might 283 hypothesize that the degree of education per se could be a telling factor with the more educated population being more willing to accept the idea of fem- inine equality and thus a woman representative. But, median years of edu- cation range from 8. 5 years of school to 12 years, and the percentage of the population with four or more years of college ranges from 3. 9%,. to 11. 7%. Mrs. Hansen's district has 0. 2% Negroes in the population compared to 16. 7%. for Mrs. Sullivan, and the degree of variation for first and second generation immigrants is even greater: 1.2% in Tennessee's 2nd district to 57. 3% in New York's 12th. Some districts are growing at a phenomenal rate, such as the 53. 7% growth during the 1950's in Michigan's 17th district, while both Mrs. Kee's and Mrs. Sullivan's districts lost between 13% and 20% of their populations during the same period. Three of the districts changed less than 11% one way or the other. To select any one demographic variable, or even a cluster of them, that could be considered as highly correlated with sending a woman to congress would be difficult. This is not to say that there is not a set of factors which would distinguish such districts, but that probably one must look to other issues such as the type and degree of political organization in any attempt to identify them. Without assuming that the degree to which the women vary on any of these criteria is representative of the possible range for all congressional districts, it is possible that the variable is not random. Recalling from the 284 historical survey of all women members of the House that there were some differences between the women who served as replacements for their hus- bands (referred to hereafter as widows), and those whose political careers have been a matter of their own achievements (referred to hereafter as non- widows, meaning not congressional widows though they may be widowed otherwise), one can hypothesize that the variation in districts is due to a clustering of the widows at one end of the continuum and the non-widows at the other. If this is true, it should indicate something unique about the dis- trict where a non—widow can be elected. One could say very little about the type of district that would elect a widow to succeed her husband for there is no comparative sample of districts which have refused to do so given here. In order to check the notion that these districts may be significantly different, two by two contingency tables have been set up to compare the widows with the non-widows on the variables just listed for the total group. The median was selected as the dividing point for each criterion. As a tech- nique to test statistical significance the Fisher Exact Probability test was selected, a non—parametric test designed to deal with small numbers. The usual .05 level of significance will be considered the point of accepting or rejecting the null hypothesis. Using the table of significance levels for a two—tailed test with the right—hand marginals considered fixed at seven and five (seven non-widows and five widows) for a total N of 12, it becomes neces- sary that the interior cells fall in a pattern such that one of the four cells be 285 empty. No other distribution is extreme enough to reach the level set up for the test. Taking the variable of urbanism first, it is found that the median per- centage of urban population would fall between 70. 2% and 96. 4% for the twelve districts, or theoretically at 83% urban. Dividing the population along these lines the following table is formed. Table 11. Percent urban population of the women's districts divided by widows and non-widows (Median: 83%) Below Median Above Median Totals Non-Widows 3 4 7 Widows 3 2 5 TOTALS 6 6 12 The above distribution obviously does not meet the criteria necessary for a .05 level of statistical significance. It would therefore seem that out of the wide range of degrees of urbanism, no one pattern is typical for the non-widows as compared to the widows. Interestingly enough, degree of urbanism does not even divide the Republicans and the Democrats among the women in any sig— nificant manner, as Table 12 illustrates. Though a slight difference in the expected direction is noticeable, this distribution——even with the changed marginals of six and six——is not statistically significant at the .05 level. 286 Table 12. Percent of urban population of the women's districts divided by Democrats and Republicans (Median: 83%) Below Median Above Median Totals Democrats 2 4 6 Republicans 4 2 6 TOTA LS 6 6 1 2 To return to the comparison of the widows and the non-widows, an ex- amination of the distribution along the dimension of population growth indicates that this also is a fruitless venture. The median amount of change, based on the decade of the 1950's, would be between a positive 10. 9% and 16. 0%, or arbitrarily set as 13. 5% growth. Those districts which actually lost population are considered with those that grew less than 13. 5%. Again there is no sig— nificant difference between the widows and the non—widows. (See Table 13.) Table 13. Percentage of population growth of the women's districts divided by widows and non—widows (Median: 13.5%) Below Median Above Median Totals N on-widows 3 4 7 Widows 3 2 l cn TOTA LS 6 G 1 2 287 Neither does the percentage of Negroes in the district or the percentage of foreign-born and second generation immigrants seem to significantly sep- arate the districts which may send a widow vs. those who may send a woman candidate in her own right. Again the figures are not statistically significant at the .05 level in either Table 14 or Table 15... Table 14. Percentage of Negroes in the women's districts divided by widows and non-widows (Median: 5. 6%) Below Median Above Median Totals Non—widows 5 2 7 Widows 1 4 5 TOTALS 6 6 12 Table 15. Percentage of foreign-born and second generation immigrants in the women's districts divided by widows and non—widows (Median: 22. 5%) Below Median Above Median Totals N on-widows 2 5 7 J—h H U! W i dow s TOTA LS 6 6 1 2 288 The median income of the twelve districts that sent women to the 88th congress was $6, 194. When the widows and non-widows are segregated on either side of this median figure there is still no statistically significant difference in the districts, as Table 16 illustrates. Table 16. Median income of the women's districts divided by widows and non-widows (Median: $6,194) Below Median Above Median Totals Non-widows 3 4 7 Widows 3 2 5 TOTALS 6 6 12 The one other factor that was mentioned earlier is that of education. If a theoretical case could be made for any of these variables being factors that should divide the widows and the non-widows, this would be about the easiest hypothesis to defend. However, even this factor does not yield a statistically significant difference between the two groups with either of the measures of education used: median years of education or percentage of college graduates. In fact, Tables 17 and 18 are identical in their distri- butions, which is perhaps not surprising. While the direction of the differ— ence is in the hypothesized direction, one cannot count it as significant with an N this small. 289 Table 17. Median years of education in the women's districts divided by widows and non-widows (Median: 11. 13 years) Below Median Above Median Totals Non-widows 2 5 7 Widows 4 1 5 TOTA LS 6 6 1 2 Table 18. Percentage of college graduates and above in the women's districts divided by non-widows and widows (Median: 8. 7%) Below Median Above Median Totals Non-widows 2 5 7 Widows 4 1 5 TOTA LS 6 6 1 2 Considering all of the foregoing tests, it seems that the only statement that can be made is that if there is a wide range or latitude in the demographic characteristics of the districts that send women to the United States House of Representatives it does not appear to be due to any clustering at one end of the continuum by the widows and the other end by the non—widows. In no case was it possible to reject the hypothesis of no difference. This is not meant to say that there are not significant differences of some sort. It is simply a 290 statement that one should probably look to another type of variable such as degree and type of political organization, party factionalism, competiveness of the district, etc. On the other hand, it might well be argued that there would be no reason to expect that a district which continually sends a woman back to congress should differ from any other that does regardless of the means of her original election. If any difference would be expected at all, it might come more nat- urally between those districts that send a widow only to complete on term and those where she runs consistently for re-election. Based on the foregoing analysis, however, an estimate is ventured by this investigator that demo- graphic factors such as those considered above do not divide the groups mean— ingfully even then. Comparisons Among Persons When attention is turned from the districts to the women themselves, there are some characteristics that do seem to be true of most-~qualities that may be "typical" of the woman politician. Yet there are many ways in which these women differ rather distinctly as well. Briefly, some of these likenesses and differences will be noted as a concluding feature to this chapter. Taking the latter point first, it seems that one area of great difference is personality. Each of the women is quite different in this regard. Neither of Riesman's types, the gladhander or the moralizer, seems adequate to deal with them. Some, like Mrs. Green and Mrs. St. George are quite aggressive 291 and prefer to operate as the men do, but even they appear to differ in the extent to which they actually enjoy the use of power and privilege. Others, such as Mrs. Sullivan or Mrs. Reid are more traditionally feminine in ap- proach. Some are very outgoing like Catherine May and enjoy the easy give and take of political banter. Mrs. Dwyer or Mrs. Kee rarely contribute to the informal life. The list could go on much further but suffice it to say that the differences seem more pronounced than the similiarities in this sphere. Certainly all of the women are not avid crusaders for the things in which women are supposedly interested: family, education, he alth, etc. , though many have expressed some interest in these areas at times during their careers. Even in their own family lives they vary, though none follows the cultural patterns of a family-centered existence while serving in the Congress. But where it might be eXpected that at least each would be unencumbered by family in the sense of being widowed or divorced and having no young children, even this does not hold entirely true. Perhaps the thing which is most similar about their family lives is that all of them are a-typical of the usual cultural ideal. A few things about them are strikingly the same however, particularly when one considers the congressional widows separately from the non-widows. For one thing, each has been married at some point. Another point of sim- ilarity is age. Each was past the age of forty when first elected to the House, and most were nearer the age of fifty. .A—" 2”" 292 A third point to notice is appearance. Certainly the women vary just as much as the men do with regardsto such physical characteristics as height, weight, facial features, etc. But as is probably also true of male politicians, one is struck by the generally similar impression created. They are a neat, fairly conservatively but tastefully dressed and coiffed group of women-- attractive but not stunning. None would be likely to win a beauty contest with the possible exception of Charlotte Reid, but none is decidedly disfigured or unattractive. They are acceptably representative of the taste and values of the American upper-middle class. More significant than their appearance is the fact of previous experi- ence, both educationally and vocationally. The educational level of the entire group is higher than that of the female population of the country as a whole. All are at least high school graduates or the equivalent thereof. In fact, all have had at least a few courses byond the high school level. It is of particu- lar interest to note that the widows and non—widows divide rather distinctly along this issue with those women who made their own way into the House being the more educated. Of the seven non-widows five have at least bac- calaureate degrees, one the upper-class finishing school and travel, and one, Mrs. Dwyer, only a few law courses. Of the widows' group Mrs. Bolton has an education similar to Mrs. St. George's, but none of the others are college graduates although all have had some specialized training beyond high school. Two are business school graduates and one had two years of college plus Special musical training 293 The difference between the two groups is even more pronounced when one considers whether or not they had worked outside of the home or their husband's office prior to running for office themselves. Of the non-widows, all except Mrs. St. George had been vocationally active in their own right in addition to holding various political jobs. All, including Mrs. St. George, had been highly active politically in their home states. Four of the seven served some time in the state legislature and another, Mrs. Kelly, was as- sociated with the legislature as a research director. Of the congressional widows group, however, none are listed as being vocationally active after marriage except for helping in their husbands' careers. How one predicts which of the congressional widows will attempt a career of her own in the House may be a hard task. But it seems quite safe to predict that the woman who fashions her own political career is the woman who has always been active and working at responsible jobs. Moreover she has likely begun her ascent by active participation in state politics; quite possibly she has already won election to her state legislature. CHAPTER VIII ANALYSIS OF THE DATA At this point attention will be turned to the six areas specified in the statement of the problem as being of importance for the adequate political performance of the legislative role. Committee Assignments The first of these areas to be discussed is that of committee assignments and committee work. The statement in the earlier part of the report was to the effect that equal treatment with regard to committee work meant being given committee assignments which are of value to one considering his constituency and/or which are prestigious; hav- ing an opportunity to move up to one of the three exclusive com- mittees in line with regular seniority and geographical consider- ations; and above all, not being arbitrarily assigned to the weak and politically less significant committee positions and forced to remain there. In the literature review it was noted that committee assignments are of major consequence and that one's committee may well determine just how effective one can be in the House. Obviously someone must serve on the less-prestigious and less-politically-rewarding--—but still necessary-~com— mittees. The point in question here is simply whether or not the women are disproportionately on them, and kept there. A further consideration is whether 294 295 or not the committee assignments are at all related to the type of constituency one serves. Again, there will not always be an exact fit between the district and a committee, if for no other reason than that most districts are diverse enough that no one committee could possibly be of use or interest to every segment. But certainly some committees are better for a district than are others. A congressman from the heart of Brooklyn would find the Agriculture Committee of little political value. There are two major sources of blockage to complete acceptance in the committee system. First is the arbitrary refusal on the part of those respon- sible for committee assignments to consider women for important committees. The second is that some women do not bring with them the suitable background requisites to compete for the top committee posts, e. g. , they do not know enough about finance to be of use on Appropriations or Ways and Means; they are not lawyers and therefore are not eligible for Judiciary (all of whose members are lawyers by tradition); they know little about military affairs, highway and building construction, or even about politics, and hence block themselves from important positions. In point of fact, of course, work on any committee requires a specialized knowledge, at least some of which must be acquired after joining the group; but a good basic background in knowledge of the area is a major help in learning. The previous chapter on the history of women in the House indicates that the area of committee assignments may well be an area where some blockage does occur, or at least has occurred in the past. It is suggested, then, that 296 the first step should be to look at the actual situation and note if the women are underrepresented on the good committees, and if so, to look for those conditions which might be the cause or source of such blockage. Quality of Committee Assignments If we look first at the committee assignments in the 88th Congress and divide them by exclusive, semi-exclusive and non—exclusive committees, for the eleven women who have committee assignmentsl, it would be difficult to substantiate the charge that women are categorically blocked in their com- mittee assignments because of their sex. As Table 19 shows, there was a woman on each of the three exclusive committees. 2 One woman, Mrs. St. George, served on both an exclusive and a semi—exclusive committee, and three women--Mrs. Dwyer, Mrs. Green, and Mrs. Sullivan--served on both a semi-exclusive and a non—exclusive committee. Only two women, Mrs. Reid and Mrs. Kee, were not on at least a semi—exclusive committee. 1 Mrs. Baker was not assigned to a committee. 2It probably should be pointed out, however, that this session was the first in history when there was a woman on each of these three committees, and for that matter, the first in history when there was ever a woman on Ways and'Means. The reader is referred to Chapter II, pages 13-14 for a general discussion of the types of committees. 3The fact that Mrs. Reid and Mrs. Kee had no assignment on either an exclusive or semi-exclusive committee may indicate something about their astuteness as politicians, but it cannot be said to be due to their status as women. While Mrs. Reid's only committee was a non-exclusive one, the same was true for fourteen men. Mrs. Kee held two committee posts, both on non-exclusive committees; so did nine men. 297 Table 19. Committee assignments of the women members Committee Woman Member Subcommittees Exclusive Committees: Appropriations Hansen .. Rules St. George Ways and Means Griffiths Semi-exclusive Committees: Agriculture May Banking and Currency Sullivan Dwyer Education and Labor Green Foreign Affairs Bolton Kelly Post Office and Civil Service St. George Non-exclusive Committees: Government Operations Dwyer Dept. of Interior and Related Agencies No subcommittees on committee No subcommittees on committee Forests Livestock and Feed Grains Poultry Family Farms Research and Extension Consumer Affairs—-Chairman Housing Consumer Affairs Housing Special Education-~Chairman All committees--ex officio Europe--Chairman Special Subcommittee for the Review of the Mutual Security Programs State Department Organization and Foreign Operations Manpower Utilization Census and Government Statistics Intergovernmental Relations 298 Table 19 . (Continued) Committee Woman Member Subcommittees Interior and Insular Affairs Kee Territorial and Insular Affairs Mines and Mining National Parks Reid Territorial and Insular Affairs Indian Affairs National Parks Merchant Marine and Fisheries Green Fishers and Wildlife Conser— vation Sullivan Panama Cana1--Chairman Veteran's Affairs Kee Hospitals—-Chairman Of these five semi-exclusive committees probably the most important are the Education and Labor Committee and the Agriculture Committee. Recent legislation that has come through Education and Labor includes increased federal aid to education and the majority of the "Great Society" programs. Agriculture has been for some time, and remains, a very influential commit- tee. The increasing number of federal employees, however, makes the Post Office and Civil Service committee one which is of quite some significance as well since nearly every congressman has a sizeable number of such em— ployees in his district, and they form a vocal lobby. Foreign Affairs is of distinctly less importance in the House than its counterpart in the Senate. 299 ConstituencLInterests and Committee Assignments If one looks at the committee assignments from the viewpoint of the con- stituency interests of the women members, there were very few cases in the 88th Congress in which the committee assignments were grossly inappropriate, though sources indicated that a few of the women would have preferred another assignment. It is fairly obvious that the exclusive committee assignments are always of political use, even if the subject matter is not directly district- related, for a congressman can easily see to it that the needs of his district are not neglected if he sits on one of these committees. For one thing, these three committees have importance for nearly every Member in the House. Rules, of course, has tremendous influence over almost all legislation. Ways and Means and Appropriations are responsible not only for the economy at large and the tariff in general but for many smaller bills that affect particu- lar projects and particular industries. On a strictly quid pro quo basis the members of these committees are in a position to have their favor curried and therefore subtly, or otherwise, to pressure their own legislation through the other committees. Particularly is this true for the Democratic members on Ways and Means since they also sit as the Committee on Committees for the Democrats. Added to this is the fact that the member can go back to his district and campaign on the fact that he is important enough to be placed on such a committee-~and this helps. In the case of Mrs. Hansen and the Appropriations Committee, the fact that she sits on the subcommittee that is concerned with the Department of 300 Interior gives her an added advantage since so much of her district is tied to the lumber and tourist industries. Examination of the other assignments reveals that for the most part, they also are of use to the constituents. For example, Catherine May sits on the Agriculture committee. Her district is the leading agricultural district in the state of Washington and has a large number of commercial farms that raise sugar beets and grains. In fact, Mrs. May campaigned for election originally on the promise that she would get a seat on the Agriculture Com- mittee if elected. One of the things that has marked her as a good politician to many is the manner in which she pursued this appointment once she had won. At first glance, Banking and Currency seems to be one of those commit- tees which is general enough not to be closely related to anyone's district in particular. It can, however, be of special interest to an urban district. Both Leonor Sullivan and Florence Dwyer sit on the subcommittees on Con— sumer Affairs and Housing. Each of these subcommittees in some respect gives the woman member a chance to use her personal knowledge in a manner advantageous to the group since there are some aspects of purchasing and housing that one might expect them to be more sensitive to than a man. How— ever, even on a strictly constituent basis there is a directly related concern. Consumer problems are always of concern to the urban dweller who must purchase everything needed rather than being able to produce it. Also, the urbanite is exposed to a wider variety of possible purchases. Enough “ 301 knowledge of "how to buy" in order to get the most from resources is valu- able knowledge, and barring this, protection from dangers which he does not foresee is especially valuable. A constituency such as Mrs. Sullivan's-- and to some extent Mrs. Dwyer's--is proportionately high in relatively un- sophisticated persons. These are the people who need consumer protection laws the most. Consequently, the committee assignment does make some sense in terms of constituency interests. Housing is something of concern in an urban district whether it be a growing suburban area where the problem is expansion or the declining cen- tral city where the problem is more that of trying adequately to house the aged and poor. Both Mrs. Dwyer and Mrs. Sullivan have an additional committee assign— ment. In the case of Mrs. Dwyer and her assignment on Government Oper- ations, the particular benefit to a given constituency is vague, though the subcommittee assignment on Intergovernmental Relations might not hurt a representative from a district in the large eastern megopolis area where people are very conscious of what the federal government can do for them when state and local subdivisions have difficulty. Mrs. Sullivan's second assignment is perhaps more directly district-related. Bordering the Missis- sippi River, her St. Louis district involves her with problems of shipping, river safety, pollution, etc., and, consequently, with the legislation that It is probably comes before the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. stretching a point, however, to suggest that her subcommittee appointment 302 on this committee has much to do with her constituents directly. She is chairman of the subcommittee on the Panama Canal, and it is on these af- fairs that the bulk of her time allotted to this committee is spent. As'far as a constituency is concerned, the Education and Labor Com- mittee has recently involved itself in a wide enough range of legislation to make it fairly plausible for almost any kind of district except for a strongly conservative rural one. However, Mrs. Green represents Portland, Oregon. Moreover, she came to the Congress with strong labor backing, an important factor in any Democrat being placed on this committee. Through the years she has managed to maintain fairly strong support from her local labor move- ment, though for a time much of organized labor nationally was less enthusi- astic. 4 Yet in the committee her major concern has been with education rather than labor, and in particular with higher education. She has three colleges within her district, Reed, Lewis and Clark, and Portland State, so that higher education is a major constituency concern. Mrs. Green's record has proved her to be a fairly consistent ideological liberal and her district--a fairly diverse, but on the average quite well edu— cated one-—has been willing to support her on this program. Education and Labor, of course, handles a great deal of legislation that divides liberal 411) 1958 Mrs. Green and four other Democrats on the Education and Labor Committee worked for a modified version of the labor bill which became known as the Landrum-Griffin bill rather than opposing it completely as labor wished. It was several years before some of the national labor leaders would deal with her again. 303 from conservative on domestic issues. Whether such legislation is directly applicable to constituency interests or not, at least the constituency is one which allows and supports her position on these issues. To a degree, her assignment was probably more a case of her district being a "safe" district than of its being directly involved in the legislative interests. Undoubtedly her own personal background in the educational field had some impact on her selection of this committee. Then, as was noted previously, the Educa— tion Committee has long been a favorite slot for women members. The Foreign Affairs Committee in the House has not been a politically strong committee, especially lately. Among other reasons, it has had weak leadership. More than that, foreign policy is so largely an executive function that there is little the Congress can do in the way of direct legislation in this area except to control appropriations and hold hearings to focus public opinion on an issue, and most of the legislation dealing with appropriations is not channeled through Foreign Affairs. The committee's counterpart in the Senate, Foreign Relations, has somewhat more influence because of the Senate's power to "advise and consent" on treaties and executive appoint— ments. Yet, to the public, Foreign Affairs still has something of a glamorous sound to it, and a member with a high percentage of foreign immigrants among her constituents may find that it has good political appeal. Both Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Bolton, but especially the former, have such constituencies. It is also the committee from which the congressional members of the United 304 Nations delegation are apt to be selected, and both Mrs. Bolton and Mrs. Kelly have served in this capacity-Fan honor that goes well with an urban, high-immigrant district. Elizabeth Kee's appointments to Veteran's Affairs and Interior and Insular Affairs would not have been inappropriate from the point of view of her Appa- lachian constituency, although they might not have been the most useful or important combination possible. Partly because of its depressed economic conditions, West Virginia as a state has reportedly sent a large number of its men to the armed services and takes a good deal of state's pride and interest in its veterans. Furthermore, by far the largest single industry in Mrs. Kee's district is mining, and by virtue of her service on Interior and Insular Affairs she sat on the subcommittee on Mines and Mining. In fact, it would seem that the only person among the women members whose committee appointment in the 88th Congress bore little or no relation- ship to the constituency that she served was Charlotte Reid of Illinois. From a midwestern mixed rural and suburban area just to the west of Chicago she was placed on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee and on its subcom- mittees on Territorial and Insular Affairs, Indian Affairs, and National Parks. None of these things are of direct concern to her district. The fact that the 88th Congress was her first term, combined with the fact that she herself was a novice in politics and that her district is solidly enough Republican that she stands less in need of a "good constituency" assignment, all lead one to suSpect that this was one assignment made on the basis of an extra 305 body and an extra slot. Her blockage appears to have been less the fact that she was a woman than that she was at this point in time an inexperienced politician with little professional and educational background to make her a "natural" for any of the more prestigious committees, and probably little understanding of the ways to campaign for them. Apprenticeshimn Committees It may be worth noting that six of the eleven women had previously held some other assignment than the one they held in the 88th Congress. Frances Bolton served on three committees in the 76th Congress before beginning her climb up the seniority ladder on Foreign Affairs in the 77th. These were the committee on the Election of the Vice-President and Representatives, the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, and Indian Affairs. Foreign Affairs, despite what has been said of it earlier, was politically an improvement. Florence Dwyer spent her initial term on the Veterans Affairs Committee before moving to Banking and Currency and Government Operations. Again, though the latter two are not as prestigious as some others, they are gener- ally given precedence over Veterans Affairs in that regard. Edith Green's situation has been a little different. She has served on Education and Labor throughout her time in Congress, but along with this service has had one term on Interior and Insular Affairs and two on the House Administration Committee before taking on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. 306 Of the three women who were on the exclusive committees during the 88th Congress, it is interesting to note that they too served an apprenticeship, but their former committees were good beginning committees for the most part. Mrs. St. George had served on Post Office and Civil Service for most of her eighteen years in the House. In addition she served one term on Government Operations and two terms on Armed Services, giving up the latter to go on Rules. Martha Griffiths started out with the same double assignment that Florence Dwyer held in the 88th, Banking and Currency and Government Operations. And Julia Hansen's first term she had the combina- tion of Interior and Insular Affairs (which, again, was of use to her district), and Education and Labor. In general it is assumed that assignment to one of the exclusive commit- tees is preceded by anywhere from six to ten years service on some other committee. How do the women do on this score? It took Katherine St. George fourteen years to get to the Rules Committee, somewhat above the average. Martha Griffiths served eight years before being promoted to Ways and Means, a quite standard time period. But the surprising one was Julia Hansen who served only two years, or one term, before being placed on the Appropriations Committee. This was much less than most men serve. Therefore, again on the basis of the situation in the 88th Congress, it is not possible to "prove" that the women have had to serve longer apprenticeships than do the men--though it is perhaps instructive to note that these three top 307 appointments have been of recent origin, and perhaps equally to the point, the two Democratic ones have come since John McCormack has been Speaker of the House, rather than Sam Rayburn. Personal Characteristics and Assigiments Two other points seem worth exploring in the process of describing the committee. situation as it exists: can one distinguish between the women who are apt to gain the better assignments from those who are not-—or those who do not--and, do the committee assignments seem to reflect the idea of the cultural bias or interest of women in the more traditional feminine areas? With regard to the first point, four possible distinguishing character- istics come immediately to mind: party affiliation, congressional widows versus non-widows; amount and type of education; and whether or not the woman served in any previous political office. Two or three of these categories are likely to overlap a bit, but the numbers are not large enough to try anything like partial correlations. The first possible dividing factor, party, seems to have no discriminating potential. Of the three women to serve on the exclusive committees, two are Democrats and one a Republican, but the Republican was the first of the three to be so appointed. Of the seven women to hold semi-exclusive committee assignments, three are Democrats and four are Republicans. And in the non-exclusive category, there are four Democrats to one Republican. 5 of the two who hold only non—exclusive positions, one belongs to each party. 5Women who hold two posts are counted twice. 308 While it is difficult to prove anything statistically because of the small numbers, the trend is interesting when one compares the congressional widows with the women who have made it on their own. Non-widows hold each of the three exclusive committee positions and five of the seven semi-exclusive posts. No woman who has reached the Congress on her own has only a non-exclusive committee position, while two of the four widows are thus assigned. In fact, four of the six non-exclusive committee positions are held by the widows' group. The two widows to hold a semi-exclusive committee position are Mrs. Bolton and Mrs. Sullivan, and it is of interest to note that in their election pattern they are more like the non-widows than they are like the other two widows. Both Mrs. Bolton and Mrs. Sullivan had to challenge their local party organizations to be allowed to keep, or even obtain, their seats. This was not true of Mrs. Reid, nor, as far as this author knows, of Mrs. Kee. Consequently, it is suggested that the kind of initiative and drive that makes a woman challenge the system is likely to carry her further in terms of the legislature than is true of the woman who is more of less placed there by her district organization. Surprisingly, the kind of previous political experience does not seem too closely associated with the kind of committee assignment, although it un- doubtedly has a connection, and at the extremes in terms of previous experi- ence it has a fairly obvious relationship. All of the non-widows had participated in politics previously--as would be expected--either by holding public office or party positions. Four of them 309 had served in their state legislatures-—Dwyer, Griffiths, Hansen, and May. Of the other three, St. George had been a county chairman for the Republicans for some time, and Mrs. Kelly had worked in the state legislature as well as in the state headquarters of the Democratic party. Mrs. Green is perhaps the most marginal, but her connections with the party had been substantial enough that she had been Democratic candidate for Secretary of State in Oregon the election before she ran for Congress. None of the four congressional widows had held office on her own nor even really been active in political affairs except through her husband's work. 6 However, two of them, Mrs. Kee and Mrs. Sullivan, had served as their husbands' Administrative Assist— ants. All of them had campaigned with their husbands. Again taking the three top positions, two of them went to women who had served in a state legislature--Hansen and Grifmhsmand undoubtedly Mrs. Hansen's rapid promotion reflected the fact that she had learned a great deal about legislative politics before ever coming to the House, in addition to the fact that she had made some key political contacts during her state career. Mrs. St. George, with no legislative experience prior to her entrance to the U. S. House, served for a longer time there before being promoted to Rules, but she had served in party positions and again undoubtedly had some vital 6The only partial exception to this would be Mrs. Sullivan. After her husband's death, when she was denied the opportunity to run in the special election to fill his seat, Mrs. Sullivan came back and worked in another congressional office for a short time. 310 contacts and general political experience. Among the others, however, the pattern is not clear cut, except that Mrs. Reid, with the least experience also probably has the least consequential committee post. Mrs. Bolton and Mrs. Sullivan have appointments more or less commensurate with those of Mrs. Dwyer, Mrs. Kelly, and Mrs. May. And Mrs. Kee, who officially had more experience than Mrs. Bolton, is on what is probably a less important set of committees. Dividing the group by the amount and type of formal education yields re— sults that are nearly as mixed as the previous analysis. Not even the extremes hold completely. While Mrs. Griffiths with her professional degree is on an exclusive committee, so are Mrs. Hansen with a BA. and Mrs. St. George with a finishing school education. Among those on the semi-exclusive com— mittees, the range is from Mrs. Green and Mrs. May, who both have done graduate work, to Mrs. Dwyer, who has only a few courses on law past her high school training. Also in this category are Mrs. Bolton and Mrs. St. George of the finishing school tradition and Mrs. Kelly with a BA. The non-exclusive assignments run the same range. Out of these various possibilities, then, the one that seems to differentiate the most, and even it is not entirely predictive, is that factor that can be called the professional politician factor. Those women who have made politics their own career and have been elected without virtue of family name and associa- tions seem the most likely to make the committee system work to their ad— vantage in terms of general importance and constituency interests. 311 Feminine Interests and Committee Assignments The other factor to be considered is the one of whether or not the commit- tee assignments reflect a so-called "feminine bias. " Have the women been appointed disproportionately to committees on which the concerns are such as are frequently associated with women's interests culturally? By referring to Table 19, one can conclude that this question is an equally difficult one to prove. Six of the subcommittees are the very most that could logically be considered to be concerned with subject matters about which women are the- oretically especially interested. Most obvious are the Consumer Affairs and Housing Subcommittees of the Banking and Currency Committee; the HOSpitals Subcommittee of Veterans' Affairs; the Special Education Subcommittee of Education and Labor; and possibly the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee. The latter, especially, is tenuously included on the list only because Mrs. Reid reported that she was asked to serve on it because it was felt that "I could definitely contribute something as a woman--thatI would have feelings from a 'woman's heart' that . . . 7 would be valuable. " Some of the more cynical among political observers at least question the sincerity of the gentleman who made such a statement as a reason for the committee assignment. On the basis of this same reason- ing, which to this author is a shaky rationale for "women's interest," one 7Charlotte Reid, Address to the Ladies Luncheon of the 5lst Annual Meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, 1963, p. 3. 312 might concur with one of the southern congressmen who saw the subcommittee on National Parks as falling in the same category when he remarked that the women were ". . . mostly on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee where they look after the lakes and forests and streams. . . ." This would raise the total of such subcommittees to six out of the 23 held by women. Special Education is included, but again with some question, because it deals mostly with higher education, international education, and particularly such problems as construction, finance, and administration. Such are not usually associated with the women's concern in education. Actually, much of the work done on these subcommittees has little rela- tionship to traditional feminine interests. The Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, for instance, is also the subcommittee that handles legislation re— lating to the minting of money, and by far the most of its time during the 88th Congress was taken up by such legislation. Even the Hospitals Subcommittee is involved with many things besides the humane treatment of ill veterans. However, even if one includes all six of these subcommittees under the heading of "feminine interest committees, " which to this author is not entirely warranted, they still constitute only about one—fourth of all of the committee assignments, and only in the case of the Banking and Currency Committee and the National Parks Subcommittee are the assignments doubled. This figure of one-fourth does not even take into account the fact that we have no subcommittees listed for three of the women as Mrs. Bolton sits ex officio 313 on all Foreign Affairs subcommittes, and there are none on either Rules or Ways and Means. Nor does it consider the Joint Economic Committee of which Mrs. Griffiths is also a member. If one counts the number of women, instead of the number of Subcommittees, then the number of women conceivably involved in areas which are of especial feminine interest would be five out of eleven or close to half. However, one cannot consider that these subcommit— tees constitute their full-time, or even their major, interest. Each has other committee assignments as well. Emphasis on feminine affairs, at least as far as committee appointments are concerned, does not seem to be a major resource in role modification. Nevertheless, it may be used as a form of justification for committee assign- ments that have relatively little political logic. Summary What, then, does all of this say about the matter of role modification and stress? It was mentioned that blockage could come either from the men not accepting the women or from the women not being prepared to participate. If we take the two ideas separately, it seems that both types of blockage exist to at least some degree with regard to the very important area of com- mittee posts. Mention was made that neither of the Democratic women on the top posts received her appointment until after the office of Speaker had passed to John McCormack, although Mrs. Griffetlsclaims to have had the support of the late 314 Sam Rayburn in her bid for Ways and Means. She may have, but it would have been considered the unusual, rather than the usual, pattern for him to follow. Observers of the House-~both members and press--agreed that Mr. Sam really did not approve of women in the Congress, much less on the good committees, and the situation would have to be rather drastic before he would support such a move. His own southern heritage and bachelor status were probably as much the reason as anything else. Speaker McCormack, on the other hand, is evidently considered to be less biased in this regard. The resistance to women in some committees where there was a great deal of in-group solidarity and camaraderie, the tradition of the stag dinner, etc. is evidence that there is still some external blockage from the men on this score. It is most likely to come on those committees that have low turn— over and high morale and prestige. In short, it is most likely on the so-called "better committees." As for the internalized blockage represented by a lack of previous experi- ence or knowledge, there does not appear to be any distinction between men and women in the House. While it was not possible to establish any hard and fast connection between educational level and/or previous political jobs and committee assignment, there does seem to be some evidence that those with the greater degree of political experience may be in a better position to cap- italize on it than those with less or none. But this is no different a situation than a man faces. Taking the group of women as two subgroups, the non- widows are not noticeably less prepared than the men for competition for 315 committee posts, though the widows by and large are at a disadvantage. The women do not have as high a percentage of lawyers among them as the men do, which may mean that as a total group they are less prepared to deal with complex legal and legislative problems. To the degree that good committee posts are a matter of astute political campaigning, some of the widows lack experience in these skills and have the disadvantage of a relatively unrelated background. In these cases where such blockage is a part of their own behavioral record, they appear to respond to the stress situation, at least temporarily, by reducing involvement rather than by attempting to gain the additional needed knowledge to obtain a good committee seat. That is, they reduce involvement in the sense of attempting to gain a seat on special committees, not necessarily in their attention to the work of the committees on which they do serve. And, in fact, this may be the only realistic pattern to follow. For the more distinctly political women the assignments are such as to suggest that their general approach to reducing stress has been to work at removing blockage rather than reducing involvement. What are the resources which have been used? Taking the extreme case of the exclusive committees rather than attempting to look at each case yields a great deal of information. 8It is interesting to note that the two women who have been elected to the House since the 88th Congress by means of regular election, not as widows, both are lawyers, both are currently married, and both have school age children: Patsy Mink, Democrat of Hawaii, elected to the 89th Congress in 1964, and Margaret Heckler, Republican from Massachusetts, elected to the 90th Congress in 1966. 316 A closer look at Mrs. Griffiths, Mrs. Hansen and Mrs. St. George shows two or three things in common. The first resource that comes to mind is that of using the already existing rules and precedents of the House to good advantage. One such tradition is that of the assignments of some seats on a geographical basis, a factor that held true in at least two of the three cases involved here. Traditionally these seats belonged to the states these women represented. Consequently, to let someone from another state have them would have hurt other representatives from these states. This would have run the risk that that seat might never be returned to the state, a factor of no small consideration. Therefore, effective competition was cut to a much smaller group, those of the women's own party and state who might be interested. Each woman also had been around the political arena long enough--either in the House or in state politics, or both--to know personally some of the key people of her own party who could influence those who eventually made the decision. Furthermore, each had been around long enough to have proved herself capable dnnstering the subject matter and at the same time of being able to get along with men in a work relationship. In other words, they were all professional politicians who had "won their Spurs" and thus were in con— tention for some of the rewards which go with this. Each was also widely re- garded as articulate and logical. Another factor that helped—-and that seems to be true for most women who make a career of the House-~was the degree to which they had made 317 their districts secure for themselves and the party. Although both Mrs. Han- sen and Mrs. Griffiths had had fairly close races in their initial elections, both had consolidated their gains so that each could be considered fairly in— vulnerable at the polls and thus have latitude in decision-making in the com- mittee. Mrs. St. George customarily won with a safe margin as well. Finally, there are some Special factors that played a part in particular cases. For instance, of the Michigan contenders for the seat on Ways and Means, Mrs. Griffiths had the advantage of the support of the committee chairman because of her views on some of the upcoming legislation. More- over, she had been a government purchasing agent and was thus somewhat acquainted with the subject matter of tariffs and had served her previous committee life on Banking and Currency. Mrs. Hansen had stood firmly with the leadership in an earlier factional dispute and therefore was considered trustworthy by them for such a key position as Appropriations. Neither is she an emotional ideologue, and Ap- propriations tends to select people who show a "very responsible" attitude toward the spending of federal money. As one of the longer—tenured members of the New York Republican dele— gation, which by virtue of size carries a large number of votes in the Republican 9The topic of re—election is taken up more fully in the later section deal- ing specifically with that, but as was mentioned previously, Mrs. St. George was defeated in 1964 for re-election. 318 Committee on Committees, Mrs. St. George was in a good position to push her own candidacy for Rules, especially given the way in which the Republicans assign seats. Furthermore, she too was a case of the "right" attitude on legislation as far as the Republican leadership was concerned-~conservative. In other words, it appears that the women who are appointed to the bet- ter committees make use basically of the same resources as do the men: being re-elected consistently by a safe margin, having the "right" attitude to please the party leadership, having a variety of professional contacts through years of experience, and having sufficient, and sufficiently successful, experience to be classified as "professional" politicians. Above and beyond this, some of the attributes mentioned more specifically under the section on informal relationships may be considered relevant here as well: logical think- ing, articulateness, etc. But occasionally, as was the case with Speaker Rayburn, there may be some form of blockage where the only thing to do is withdraw to some degree from involvement and wait patiently for a break to come. The resource of "feminine interests" seems not to have played a very major part in most committee assignments, and to the extent that it did, it seems, at least superficially, to be a case of using it to reduce involvement in other committees. In one or two cases it may have been nothing more than rationalization on someone's part; in other situations there may have been I an interest in such matters intrinsically but one that would have been given up for a chance at some other committee. 319 While some of the women may have devoted attention to special interests as means of reducing their hope of‘gaining more prestigious committee as— signments, there is little or no evidence that any of them, except perhaps Mrs. Kee, reduced the involvement or interest in their committee work in general as a means of relieving general stress. Informal Relationships Another area that has been cited as being essential if one is to really "get ahead" in the legislature is that of the informal group structure. The original statement of the problem put it this way: Involvement with informal groups, friendship cliques, the struc- tured smaller-sized groups such as the classes, the DSG, the prayer—breakfast group, and even the lobbies; being accepted as an equal in these. Blockage in the matter of informal relationships—-whether imposed ex- ternally by the men or felt internally by the women--is very simply a matter that such relationships run counter to the usual middle and upper-middle class mores. Especially when one is dealing mostly with married people, the norms of society allow for informal friendship groups among men, others among women, and in the mixed situation, among couples. In general, in- formal activities among adults of both sexes when the spouses are not a part of the group are considered somewhat questionable. This is a pattern sancti- fied by tradition and reinforced by the general acceptance—-however much it may be decried--of a double standard. To a great degree, the resistance to 320 removing such a block appears to depend largely on how committed people are to the concept of the difference between the sexes embodied in the double standard. The usual assumption by those who remark on the issue is that the men have more to gain by upholding it than do the women. Consequently, one might well expect that the blockage will be more a matter of external masculine resistance than internalized discomfort on the part of the women-- especially on the part of those women who have already violated the feminine side of the standard by choosing and working for a political career on their own. Following the previous pattern of development, the first step will be to look at the situation as it really exists as nearly as can be determined, and then to look for the resources used to lower the stress level. The data gathered on these problem areas of the informal structure are largely impressions from the interview protocols and vary somewhat. How- ever, it seems that the major area recognized as one that could make a differ- ence would be the initial area--friendship cliques and the small informal study groups. In the case of the more structured groups or the lobbyists, the social mores of the country at large are now sufficiently broad as not to make this a serious problem. Besides, the style or manner of lobbying has changed rather radically from the days when wine, women, and song were the major ways to a member's voting record-~if indeed such days every really existed. 321 Lobbflng To begin with the last aspect first, it must be remembered that lobbying is still a viable trade in Washington, but, as was mentioned in the literature review, it has become less of a personal matter and more of a matter of supplying the member with information, statistics, speech-writing and re- search services, and these sorts of pragmatic benefits. (Campaign funds might also be considered a pragmatic benefit!) Many of these services are available to any member who will let it be known that he is interested; and sex is an irrelevant attribute here. It is true, of course, that the legislative representative probably has a better chance of gaining a hearing for his or- ganization if he knows the member personally. In the case of the women this may present him with more of a problem than it does with the men. He can stop by the office for a formal call without violating social mores but it may be a bit more difficult to establish the same sort of informal relationship. Even this may well depend on the member and her own personality, however, for one of the women members reported that she was very good friends with some of the lobbyists who had major interests in her committee or district and that they often played cards together in the evenings. On the other hand, the Administrative Aide of another woman of the same party com- mented that most of the lobbyists that came to their office paid only a formal call and left, a fact that he attributed to it being too difficult to be on really friendly terms without violating the social mores. Considering the two women, 322 however, it would not be out of line to guess that it is a matter of personality rather than sex per se. Although there are not usable answers for all of the women on the ques- tion of lobbying, among those answers available, by far the most common impression was that they were lobbyied much less than they expected. All but one of the women who commented on the situation at least implied that they thought they received much less pressure than the men did. The other one simply commented that she did not know that they treated her any differ- ently from any one else. Those who felt that they received comparatively little lobbying did not indicate that the technique involved was any different, except as one woman commented, I suppose . . . that you would hardly send a man flowers or per- fume, or would you send a woman a pipe or a tobacco pouch. They would use different kinds of gifts. Other than that I doubt that there would be much difference. I really don't know. I've never been lobbyied very much. Perhaps it was as well summed up by Jessica Weis, who served from 1958- 1960, as anybody when she said, Curiously, the lobbyists pretty generally leave us alone. I keep expecting them to come in and make a quiet pitch for their bills, but from my personal experience I am sure that we are not ex— posed to the same pressures as our male counterparts. 10 There is also the fact that some of the legislative representatives are themselves women, especially for groups such as the Business and Professional 10Jessica Weis, "Organizing the Women," Politics U.S. A. , ed. James M. Cannon (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co. , Inc. , 1960), p. 173. 323 Women, the nursing profession, etc. In two cases, both Republicans and both widows of former congressmen, the Administrative Aides indicated that they felt that the women's groups made a special effort to come to the woman mem— ber with their programs. The others who responded to that question gave a flat "no" to the idea that they were lobbied any more than the men were by such groups. "After all, " it was explained more than once, "there aren't enough women here to pass a bill by themselves. "11 The legislative repre— sentative from the national office of the Business and Professional Club cor- roborated that attitude. Structured Small Groups The formally structured small groups, such as the freshmen clubs within each party each term, or the state delegations, or the prayer group provide no problem as far as membership is concerned. The women are, as a matter of course, automatically members of some of these, and some have been given the largely honorary position of secretary. These groups, however, are really closer to the formal than the informal end of the continuum. At least two women have been members of the Democratic Study Group-- Julia Hansen and Edith Green. Here membership is not automatic. But again this is a definite group with set goals and membership per se does not indicate how involved with the operations a given person may be. 11It is interesting to note, however, that the leather industry managed to get the women members to introduce a bill to eliminate the excise tax on handbags. 324 There is no question that the woman will be invited to the dinners and cocktail parties given for the committees or delegations to which they belong by various interest groups. Whether they go or not is another issue. None of the current group seems to have much of a reputation for being particularly social, except, perhaps, that Mrs. Bolton is noted for going to most of the African embassy affairs. None seem to be a regular part of the usual Wash- ington cocktail circuits. In fact, two of the male Administrative Assistants, one Republican and one Democratic, mentioned that they very often sat in for the woman member at the special group dinners. There are a few cases, even in groups such as these, where sex can become a thorny issue. Commenting on the fact that her committee had been accustomed to having a stag dinner once a month before her appointment, one Republican woman stated that she had resolved the problem by going for a short time and having a drink with them and then leaving before dinner so that they "could have their fun. " This is not the only committee with such a prac- tive, and reportedly some male members on one committee that is noted for having very close and amiable in—group relationships put up quite a protest before accepting the idea of a woman in their congenial male preserve. Informal Friendship Groups The greatest difficulty, however, seems to come in the informal friend- ship groupings, and here the opinions vary widely, both with regard to the importance of such relationships and the degree to which a woman member 325 can be a part of them. Indeed, the facts indicate that there is variance. Some few of the women-«very few-«were named as being acceptable to the men in almost any situation that would be of political concern. Others of the women, by their own admission, felt uncomfortable even stopping in the cloakrooms. But the general impression left is that no woman is as completely acceptable in all situations as a man might be. There are an unknown, and probably shifting, number of small groups made up of friends and acquaintances that meet more or less regularly to discuss current legislation, general politics, and whatever else comes to mind. These are informal and may meet in one of the offices, at a local establishment, or in a home. Though some people questioned seemed to know nothing about any such group, others of this investigator's respondents reported belonging to such. No indication was given that any of the women are a part of these on a regular basis. There is also a traditional gathering known as the Board of Education where the Speaker and some of his chosen associates, frequently including the minority leader, gather after a day's session in a special little room deep in the heart of the Capitol to compare notes, have a drink and perhaps plan some strategy. The title comes from the habit of frequently inviting new members in a time or two--both for the purpose of teaching them some bit of House lore or norms and of learning from them their reactions, attitudes, etc. The minority leader's counterpart of the Board Room is known as the 326 12 Clinic. The men queried on this agreed that the Board is someplace that the women are not apt to be invited. The one woman questioned about it directly--a Democrat with a number of years of tenure in the House--had never even heard the term! None of the women denied that the men do meet toegher informally and that the women are not particularly welcome-—and indeed are not invited often. However, some of them discounted the number and importance of such meetings as far as their impact on legislation was concerned. When asked whether this would constitute a form of blockage for her, one Demo- ' cratic woman who holds a good committee post, commented: First, there are less of those kind of sessions than the average person would think. There's really not much of the smoke-filled room sort of thing. And secondly, I've never been refused per- mission to attend any meeting I wanted to because I was a woman. There is much less discrimination here in the legislature than for instance on American Airlines executive flights! Her answer, however, does not deal with the informal, spontaneous gathering as much as it does a planned meeting, and thus it begs the issue. Another equally reSpected Democrat, when asked whether there was any problem because she could not go to the gym or be a part of other such in— formal groupings, replied: Oh, they may learn something of the bill that way, but a lot of that becomes available anyway. They don't really decide that 12At least this was the designation while Charles Halleck was Minority Leader. 327 much there. If there is anything essential said, some man comes up and tells you. Most of them would be better off back in their offices reading the bills and studying them. As for those sessions that are defined as primarily social and all-male, one of the other women seemed to feel that this was not at all crucial as far as legislation was concerned. "These are things it didn't occur to me to want to do. " She then went on to add: They don't ask me to the gym or to their poker parties. I do play bridge with them. There is a group of us who play together quite a bit. At parties I sit with them and nobody thinks this is peculiar. I think that their camaraderie can sometimes help them, but there are a great many legitimate ways in which we can keep up with such things . . . Included in her list of ways to keep up was the cloakroom and sitting together on the floor. Sometimes knowing their wives was a possible way of being "in. " A congressional widow, who was no longer serving by the 88th Congress, but who had been noted as a very effective member in her own right during her tenure, commented that she thought that the widows might have something of an advantage because they had known so many of the men informally for years. As she put it, in her own case she had danced with them since the 1930's. Not all of the women seem to feel free to stay in the cloakrooms or join the men on the floor or in the cafeteria. Another widow who was no longer serving seemed to speak not only for herself but for some of the others when she said that the women would tend to be together in groups of two or three on the floor and that they would not join the men unless there was a special 328 reason to do so. 13 "In the dining room we would all join a table with the women. If one were looking for a 'chair, the men would always be very much gentlemen and offer you one, but there was usually a table where the women went. " Another of the widows spoke in a similar vein when she said that she knew that she could go into the cloakroom, but that she felt a little funny about it and was careful about whom she sat down next to, adding, "Maybe I' m just a touch too old—fashioned. " Maybe she was. Or maybe it was a case of not having been around long enough. According to one source it had only been in the last five or six years or so that any of the Republican women at least began to feel free to stay around the cloakrooms. Several of them, especially widows, had been in Congress for years before putting in much of an appearance there. Certainly not all of the women felt so inhibited. It would seem to be, as one stated it, ". . . a matter of personality and the capacity to articulate. Whether or not a woman makes her way quickly and permanently may depend on her power of articulation-~such as whether or not she can give a quip when one is needed to break tension or when she comes in. " In going back over the protocols, it seems that the term "informal group- ing" was used in two rather distinct ways that it would be well to distinguish, 13From many days of watching from the gallery, this investigator found this statement hard to verify. Seldom does she recall seeing more than two women together on the floor, and the much more frequent pattern seemed to be that each of the women sat either by herself or with a group of men. 329 for they would possibly have different consequences. The meanings of the answers to the question of whether'the women are included makes sense only when seen in context. , The type of informal situation that has been the principal concern in the discussion to this point is that in which all parties are seen basically in the colleague and equal relationship. In this case any women who might be in- cluded would fit into the existing male pattern and the attraction between the sexes, or appreciation of the difference, is not an important part of the basis for sociability. There is, on the other hand, a recognition made by some of the men that certain of the women are sought out or included on occasion because they are attractive women. But in these situations there is not the same idea of the informal, yet working, relationship. One gets the impression that the interest is more strictly social. The woman who fits into the former category of relationships is probably best typified by one of the Democratic women--a non-widow. In commenting about her, her male colleagues used such phrases as: she's entirely rational; she doesn't take things personally; she's logical; she's trustworthy; and she doesn't try to take all of the glory. Beyond that, according to one source, she will sit down and smoke with the men, maybe take a drink, and maybe even "cuss a little. " "She doesn't put a damper on the men when she's around. " .M A __- l 330 In broader terms, those women who were mentioned most frequently as the ones the men would accept in the informal political network were from the group of women who had made their own way into the political world and had won their seats on their own, who had worked with men for years in men's occupations-~and particularly in state political situations--but who were not constantly on guard about being discriminated against. The woman in the 88th Congress who probably best epitomized the opposite type of acceptance was Charlotte Reid. Mentioned frequently for her charm and attractive appearance, the men indicated that they enjoyed talking to her, but, in the words of one, "you wouldn't try to have an. intelligent political discussion with her." Another, however, a fellow Republican rather than a Democrat, put a political cast to his statement. He mentioned that Mrs. Reid was a member of the subcommittee on national parks that was considering a bill to make a national park of a lakeshore area that already contained some summer homes. As this respondent put it, people from many districts were concerned because they had summer homes there, and so the members representing those dis- tricts would go to see Mrs. Reid (the lowest ranking minority member on the committee, and a freshman legislator without previous political experience) to talk all of this over. In the short time here she has won the hearts of all the men, and they will go to her and talk over the problems of their districts that might have to do with her committee work. She is very cap- able and has her feet on the ground, and she is also very personable 331 and has become very effective in a very short time. The fellows are anxious to talk with her about problems. There is no reluc- tance on their part.. Or take, for example, the statement reportedly made by one of her committee colleagues when he was asked about her progress in committee business: "Don't you worry about her. We'll take care of Charlotte. " The men varied in the degree to which they assigned any importance to the fact that a woman could not be a full-fledged part of an informal political network, but to a man they seemed to make the assumption that she would not be. A few, who at first stated that they thought that the right kind of woman could be completely accepted, later admitted that she could not be accepted quite like they could. Of the nineteen answers that can be used with the ques- tion of how important the lack of such complete association would be, eleven of the men felt that this was definitely a handicap, while eight were inclined to view it as less of a problem than many would suppose. However, two or three things are interesting to note in looking over the answers and who gave them. One is that those who saw it as a problem tended to be much more emphatic in their answer than those who felt that it wouldn't really matter much as far as legislation was concerned. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that of the eight that felt that the informal network did not help accomplish that much in the legislative process, seven were Repub- licans and the one Democrat was a freshman. One suspects that each speaks from his own experience, and in a Democratic-controlled congress, it may 332 be that the informal network doesn't help the Republicans nearly as much as it does the Democrats. It may also simply reflect the tighter party discipline which reportedly exists among the Republicans. A third point of interest was that many of the men insisted that the women probably enjoyed some advantages that offset some of the disadvantages of being excluded. They thought that the women could form their own group--or that they probably had formed their own group. (This, in point of fact, was patently untrue except, perhaps, on one or two feminist issues.) Or they stated that the women are treated more courteously; the men are chivalrous with them and will not attack their ideas like they would another man's; or, that really it is seniority that counts in getting things done for the most part, and they can build that like the men. Even among those who professed to find the informal relationships a matter of great importance to themselves, the feelings varied in intensity as to how important they saw it for a woman. One southern Democrat, when asked about the importance of the informal relationships in general stated that he thought they were . very important! Tremendously so! I know a couple of my own bills or things of interest to my district that were finally worked out down in the game room. And it is at this point that the women are at their greatest disadvantage. But then he added that chivalry should help balance it out. 333 Another Democrat, from a northeastern urban area, agreed that he thought that this would be where the'women would have the most problems. "They just don't completely fit in. " Take an instance when you have a bill coming up where you had not expected a roll call vote and someone calls for one. Then, partly because of this informal contact business you have people who rely on your judgment and trust you on some things, so you can call and ask them to get to the floor in a hurry, etc. , perhaps to an extent that a woman could not. He also expressed the idea, however, that as far as getting legislation through was concerned, a woman with a subcommittee chairmanship was in a better position than a man with a lot of friends but without the chairmanship. A moderate midwestern Republican, when asked about the importance of the informal relationships, said that he thought that the literature probably exaggerated the importance of this. However, on the higher levels of leader- ship it might be more important and thus be a problem for the women as they would not likely be invited to such things as the Board of Education. But he, too, brought up the idea that if a woman could become the chairman of an important committee the informal network would have to let her in, adding besides, there isn't that much that really might exclude her. They might tell an off-color story or two, but nothing worse than that. I've seen Katharine St. George and Catherine May in some of these informal groups, and there was no hesitation about accepting them. They joked along with the men. But it was the male Administrative Aide to one of the women who probably summed up the negative side best when he said, 334 No woman can quite make it. The power structure doesn't operate that way. So much of the power structure is built around the golf course, the bar, over cards, in the gym shower room, etc. I don't think that the best or most able of women can ever get to the inner circle where there is complete acceptance. There are always some differences. Particularly is this true among the southerners; she is not there accepted as an equal. Where the men may banter and tease around about an issue--"Hey, Joe, what do you mean by adding that amendment; trying to break the country?"--sort of thing, with her they just say, "Why certainly, Mrs. , F I'll think about it. " But they don't! They give deference, but they don't give any real attention. . The consensus of the men who were interviewed appeared to be that the as" 1;. women were not really "in" on the tetal informal network. However, they added that some were much more nearly "in" than others, and those that were were the ones that had modified their behavior in the generally "male" direction by breaking across part of the double standard. As a general rule the women who really wanted to were becoming freer to stay in the cloakrooms or join the men on the floor, or join them in the informal situations. The informal groupings might serve several functions for the men that as of yet they do not serve for the women (intrinsic satisfaction from the association, emotional support, etc. ). Their chief functional concern for the women was assumed to be in the matter of passing legislation; and in this area some exclusion from the informal groups would not have to deter the women too much. They could count on chivalry to help some, though the women tended to discount this as being of any great worth for the most part; they could form a bloc of their own, though by and large they have not; and more than that, they would really get the most legislative power by showing 335 their worth in committee and thus gaining respect for their abilities; by doing their homework and by gaining seniority and its concomitant power. However, the point where many of them paused to consider, the impact of the informal structure most seriously was on the matter of leadership. The leadership has traditionally operated through informal methods. Summary To return, then, to the schema with which this analysis was begun, it .4“ J n— i“-" ~ seems that in actuality there is some blockage from each of the sources men- gm mg tioned: the men's attitudes toward social relations and the women's own hesi— tation at violating the general cultural norms. The degree to which this is the case varies among both the men and the women. Invariably, however, the men feel that there are certain kinds of social actions that have been and are acceptable for men but have not been for women. They find these enjoyable and profitable contacts for themselves and evidently do not see themselves changing their habits of association so that in all cases these informal gatherings would be acceptable for "ladies" in the Victorian sense of the word. If the women are to be a part of their informal groupings in these work—related situations, the women will have to conform to the ex- pectations that they hold for a colleague. This does not refer basically to things that may be risque so much as it does to her not expecting special favors and chivalrous treatment and allowing them to relax about their use of language, etc. Even then it is dubious that women would be accepted by 336 all men in their informal groupings. Some indicated that they would find it uncomfortable to have a woman around who acted like a man. Particularly does it seem that the southerners, with their tradition of chivalry and greater distinction between the roles of the lady and gentlemen, may not wish to accept women into the informal political network, a point that will be emphasized and substantiated later in the section on leadership. -. -.L— -A—B --TI' Among the women the attitude of hesitancy, or internalized blockage, i seemed most prevalent among some of the widows and least present among mun-m ‘.I"" 1.. n those women-who had worked for years on an equalitarian basis with the men. Whether internalized blockage or not, by our definition, the attitude on the part of the woman that she was bang discriminated against and cheated seemed to antagonize the men and increase the blockage and resistance on their part more than anything else. Among those resources that did seem to be used with some effect is the adoption by the women of those standards of behavior commonly followed by the men. Particularly did it seem that traits such as an emphasis on rationality and logic, not taking things personally, willingness to put in long hours, and not being too Victorian about speech, smoking, or drinking which might be carried on in her presence, broke down many of the barriers to acceptance in the informal work relationships-~tliough they might not make her any more desirable as a social companion, and indeed might mitigate against it. Previous experience in working with men seemed to help as did the ability to judge just 337 how far one might push without upsetting the then-prevalent norms: for ex- ample, going for a drink before dinner, but letting the men have their stag affair at the meal. The resources used to reduce involvement had to be used by all of the :sarr All seemed to accept the fact that there were certain While it . 4. women to some degree. kinds of associations that were culturally assumed to be all-male. if might be politically advantageous to be included, these were simply informal groupings whose first purpose was not necessarily political, and to which the women would not be invited--and for that matter, that they would not necessarily wanttogoto. As stated by one woman " . it'doesn't occur to me to want to. . ." It is of interest to note that the hypothesis that they would reduce their need for involvement by forming an all-feminine bloc does not seem to be borne out. But at least a number ofthem seem to have reduced involvement in this sphere by narrowly defining the fuctions of these groups to which they do not belong; they talk about them primarily in terms of very direct and overt political value and then emphasize ways in which as much can be accomplished In other through other channels-—like sitting in the office and studying harder. words, they tended to define these groups as relatively non-essential--though perhaps helpful and interesting--for the major job at hand. Leadership Advancement to leadership positions of some sort, either formal or informal, or both, being allowed the almost automatic leadership 338 whit comes with the increased seniority on a committee and es- pecially when one reaches the point of being ranking member; being given a chance to learn the parliamentary skills necessary before one could conceivably reach for formal elected leadership positions; being given a chance to work up to chairmanships on subcommittees which handle important legislation at least some of the time. So reads the initial statement of the problem dealing with leadership. It is a topic most easily approached by breaking it up into its several parts: the r formal positions of committee chairmanships, the elected party leadership, and the matter of informal leadership. ‘ _.—‘v--:.-1r.‘.“* * “r , Committee Chairmanships As was mentioned in the earlier section on committees, the matter of seniority has thus far been treated as a sacred tradition, 14 and no suggestion was even heard that it should be revised if the potential chairman were a woman. And in fact, when speaking of the problems raised by the informal relationships between the sexes, some of the men volunteered the idea that the best way for the women to gain power and get their legislation through was to get to be a chairman of a committee or subcommittee. Though only one woman has served as chairman of a regular standing committee (Mary Norton, Labor), several women have served as subcommittee chairmen and during the 88th Congress four Democratic women held such positions: Edith 4 1 The 89th and 90th Congresses and their willingness to violate the rule >f seniority in the case of Adam Clayton Powell is newsworthy in large part lecause of the tampering with seniority. 339 Green, the Special Education Subcommittee of the Education and Labor Com- mittee; Elizabeth Kee, Hospitals Subcommittee of the Veteran's Affairs Com- mittee; Edna Kelly, Subcommittee on Europe of the Foreign Affairs Commit- tee; and Leonor Sullivan, the Subcommittee on Panama of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries and the Consumer Affairs Subcommittee of the Banking and Cur- rency Committee. Although it is not a legislative committee, Martha Griffiths was appointed chairman during the 88th Congress of the Fiscal Policy Sub- committee of the Joint Economic Committee. This leaves Julia Hansen the only Democratic woman without any subcommittee chairmanship, hardly indi- cating discrimination. Mrs. Hansen's appointment to the Appropriations Com— mittee was begun only during the 88th Congress and it will undoubtedly take many years before she could hope to gain such a chairmanship there. The Appropriations Committee is one of those which is notorious for the fact that its members come back year after year--very seldom defeated, and without much idea of what the word "retirement" means. The fact that there have been no more women who were chairmen of full committees is due basically to the fact that so few women have ever acquired sufficient seniority to come anywhere near the top ranking positions, which in turn is undoubtedly related to the age at which most of them first come to the Congress. The question that arises next is whether a woman can actually claim the power that goes with the position. Can she take the leadership informally as .,-. .A.--_.__- -o .- . h»- m L 340 well as holding the formal office? Or is she a "front" for someone else? Evidence, hard evidence, available here is meager, but it would seem to be, as one man put it, "a matter of personality. " If the four cases of legislative subcommittee chairmanships are taken, in two of the cases leadership seems to be resting very definitely with the chairmen: Edith Green and Leonor Sulli- van. In the case of Edna Kelly, no one made any comments one way of the In. ”4'.- other, and Mrs. Kee, it would seem, does not exert much leadership. ___.A _—-. , Mrs. Green, especially, was noted for using the prerogatives of her . .AIL . .4‘35 ‘1; office to gain her political ends. Some rather controversial and important legislation has come from her subcommittee in the 87th and 88th Congresses; and in the words of one of her colleagues, "She doesn't hesitate to round up support. She is a master politician in that respect. . . . She can be ruthless. " Another respondent noted that she had changed from doctrinaire partisan to one who is much more selective. The cooperation of the Republicans is something that she has courted and won. To go back a little on that, Kennedy sent up an omnibus education bill which contained federal aid for all levels, etc. She believed that she could never get enough votes to get that bill out of her committee. But she could get a part of it, so she managed to get it split in such a way that the Republicans would vote for that part. A less sanguine view of the same sort of action was that by one man who com- plained that she "conspired with the Republicans to gut the bill. " Be that as it may, there is little doubt that §_l_i_e_ does it. No one else pulls the strings for her. 341 Another means of checking the same sort of behavior is to note the Congressional Record. While realizing that the Record is not an actual ac- count of all that is said and done on the floor of the House, most of the actual conversations are verbatim, and even the inserted speeches and material in the Appendix may be indicative of some things. If nothing else, the M indicates style of operation. One indication of behavior is simply the quantitative counting of column inches. Looking first at the total amount of space, the two women with the most space used in the M are Leonor Sullivan and Edith Green, with 3, 662 inches and 3, 378 inches respectively. In each case the largest single category of space allotment was that for matters relating to the subcommittees of which they are the respective chairmen. In Mrs. Sullivan's case, 2, 009 inches of the total 3,662 (55%) were in some way related to committee matters; with Mrs. Green the number was 1, 219 of the 3, 378 inches (36%). The total number of column inches used by Mrs. Kelly makes her fifth in rank among the women, behind Mrs. St. George and Mrs. Dwyer. Again the largest single category of inserts and speeches for Edna Kelly was in the area of her committee work on foreign affairs: 448 inches. 15The decision to call a particular Speech or insert "committee" or "dis- trict" was particularly arbitrary in the case of Mrs. Kelly given the high per- centage of foreign immigrants in her district and the fact that her committee assignment deals with the things of interest to many of them. Consequently perhaps an additional 100 inches or better might conceivably be placed with the committee materials. However, it was decided that Speeches simply re- lating the virtues of a particular country on the day commemorating its inde- pendence, or such related types of material, were probably primarily for the benefit of the constituents since there was no evidence of their relating to a particular piece of legislation. .(s—u ..-._- . I. 342 The case of Mrs. Kee is different, in part undoubtedly due to illness during much of the 88th Congress. She is last among the eleven women in terms of volume of Space used, and perhaps more indicative of her work with her committee, none of the total 92 inches that she used was directed toward the work of the committee on Veteran's Affairs at all, let alone her subcom- .._. mittee. More telling than simply the amount of Space used, however, in terms of noting the type and degree of leadership, is the content and type of action that ruiflluu- ' '.i ~ I. V the M shows. Mrs. Green, Mrs. Sullivan, and Mrs. Kelly vary here to quite a degree. At one extreme is Mrs. Sullivan. In her case nearly the entire 2, 000 plus inches is taken up by formal Speeches and prepared state- ments, most of which were not delivered on the floor but were simply inserted in the 13391111. They are, for the most part, highly factual, explanatory state- ments relating to some problem before her subcommittee on which there had 6 evidently been some question.1 Only once, when she attempted to add an 16It was during this session of Congress that relations became so strained with the nation of Panama that the subject of abrogating the treaty between the countries was headline news. Mrs. Sullivan, stating that she was acting in her capacity as the chairman of the subcommittee on Panama of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee used several pages of the Record to explain the operations and fiscal structure, etc. , of the federal corporation which actually owns and operates the canal and to argue that it was imperative that the U. S. retain control. In addition she inserted several shorter pieces relating to the Situation in general. 343 amendment to an appropriations bill, was she involved in actual discussion on the floor of the House with regard to matters on Panama-—and in that case the amendment was ruled out of order as not germane. The only other times she was involved in actual discussion with regard to her committee work were also attempts to amend or to question one or two other pieces of legis- lation that she felt would have the indirect effect of raising consumer prices. This was not legislation reported out of her Consumer Affairs subcommittee however. The Consumer Affairs subcommittee did account for a fair amount of the Space consumed, but again most of it was a matter of formal reports having to do with the mint, the shortage of coins, the inscriptions on coins, or the striking of commemorative medals of various sorts. There were also copies of a few speeches on protective consumer legislation. Mrs. Sullivan did not serve as floor manager for any bill of any consequence from her com— mittees but neither did any one else. She did not really get involved in more than a short exchange of words a few times as far as actually speaking in debate was concerned. Yet it could be argued that in the sense that She was taking the leadership in committee affairs by taking the initiative in stating the case and providing information requested, this is a form of leadership appropriate to a chairman. Mrs. Green, on the other extreme, served as floor manager for three rather controversial bills reported out of the Education and Labor Committee: 344 the bill amending the NDEA Act, the Higher Education Facilities Act, and the so-called Juvenile Delinquency Act. 1 In each case she controlled some time, answered charges and questions, opposed or acceded to amendments, and in no way allowed the potential powers of her position to be eroded by someone else. Not only did she Speak out when her own bills were under discussion, but on other bills that dealt with the matter of education in some form, though assigned to another committee, she was often in the middle of discussions. ' ...o-.-lhau .1 1‘ A; .——.r She did, of course, follow the time-honored custom of inserting formal y‘f if: speeches and statements in the m, but these accounted for a small per- centage of the total amount of space used. The procedure taken by Mrs. Kelly falls somewhere between the other two women. She did not serve at any time as a floor manager for legislation which had come out of the subcommittee which she chairs, though she did speak on the floor about legislation which involved embassy and consular facilities abrmd, legislation handled by another subcommittee on which she sits. She also Spoke on a resolution stating the sense of Congress with regard to payment of dues by member nations of the United Nations during that crisis, and bills relating to the authorization of foreign aid. Those Speeches that she actually gave on the floor-—or gave a part of and then extended for the Record--have documentation, but Mrs. Kelly does not seem in the habit of Mrs. Sullivan of using these means to include any great amount of information designed basically for the enlightenment of her readers or listerners. In— serting editorials, statements by "experts," and general observation materials 345 is much nearer her usual style. On one occasion she did announce the begin- ning of a new series of open hearings to be held by the subcommittee on Europe and to list the witnesses. Though this may be a subjective judgment on the part of this author, it would seem that little in the sense of real "leadership" would be attributed to Mrs. Kelly on the basis of the findings in the Congres- M 22:9,. sional Record, though it might indicate that She is a fairly active member. ,. r u. "eh-.- As was mentioned earlier, judging strictly from the Record, there is \An..}: ~ nothing to indicate that Mrs. Kee has exerted leadership-«or even shown ‘13?“ 7 ‘ activity--in the 88th Congress. It must be admitted, of course, that the type of committee on which one sits and the relative urgency put by the administration on certain types of legislation will determine to some extent the degree to which one is able to act as Edith Green has been noted to act. On the other hand, since committee assignments are not random, and Since the Speaker has a fair amount of dis- cretion as to which committee a bill will be given for consideration, the assign- ment of one woman to undertake this task is, to a great extent, a reflection of the degree to which her leadership abilities are recognized by the rest of the House. 17 7For one example, the bill dealing with loans for optometry students was assigned to the Inter-state and Foreign Commerce Committee rather than the Education and Labor committee. In this case it would seem that the as- signment was connected to the fact that Mrs. Green was opposed to the setting up of a new and separate loan agency of the federal government, preferring to cover such students under the existing NDEA program, which for some reason the Administration did not want. The Administration evidently felt that if it wished a bill, it was wiser not to assign it to her jurisdictions-and found a pretext to do otherwise. 346 To return to the matter of expressed opinions with regard to the informal leadership that goes with the committee positions, several men commented that if Katharine St. George were to succeed to the chairmanship of Rules, she would without a doubt be included in the inner circle of leadership. She would be the chairman in fact as well as in name. At least three of the Demo- cratic men voluntarily mentioned that Mrs. Hansen was the type of woman who could "make it" to the leadership, possibly even the elected party leader- ship, and certainly in terms of committee chairmanships. Yet when asked ‘51-?” about Mrs. Bolton, who would be chairman of Foreign Affairs Should the Re- publicans organize the House, the men were much more evasive and vague and the opinions were less emphatically positive about whether or not she would serve as the leader of the committee in fact as well as in name. Elected Party Leadersh_ip Asking the men about the possibility of a woman being elected to the floor leadership of the party brought about a different set of responses than had the question relating to committees. Of the nineteen cases where the men stated an opinion on the matter, fourteen of them were very negative about the probability of such an occurrence, though most did not rule out the pos- sibility someday. Even the five who could be considered on the affirmative side generally about a woman's chances included a few reservations. One midwestern big-city Democrat who was certain that "of course they could make it, " later injected the thought that they would have to wait until the 347 older men were out of office. Another western Democrat who thought that a woman might make it through the Whip organization hedged a bit when asked if this meant she could go clear to the position of floor leader or Speaker. Actually, separating the men into both a negative and affirmative group is fairly arbitrary, for even those who said that they saw no reason why she could not become a part of the leadership, saw no immediate probability of it happening. L- .. Ali . The statements relating to the idea of a woman in the leadership had 1W" some rather interesting variations. One man put it in terms of statistical probabilities: the women compose such a small minority of the total member- ship that the probability of one of them being in the top inner circle of seven to ten persons would be by chance most improbable. He also added that in his opinion most of them were just mediocre anyway, just as the majority of the men would fall in that category. Two or three of the men suggested that the reason was that the women did not want the positions in leadership--remarking that they could not think of any of the women who had made a bid for the job. Probably the most open about his own feelings was one Southern congressman who stated that "I wouldn't want too many women in the legislature—and for the same reasons I don't think that a woman could move into the elective House leadership, nor _s_l_1_9_t_1_1_d_ she. She is different and brings something different with her-— and it just wouldn't be good." When pressed to describe what it was that 348 made her different, be either could not or would not analyze it except to com- ment that it was the same reason why he thought that a woman should not be a President! The one most common reason given was stated distinctly by four of the men and hinted at by two or three others; the matter of informal relationships. One of the long-term Democrats put it this way. There is a certain amount of togetherness and camaraderie that exists among the men, including the cloakroom idea, where the women just don't quite fit in. It's a kind of joking relationship. A woman couldn't get the votes on an informal basis that would be necessary for whomever would be Speaker or one of the top three jobs. Perhaps because they are politicians and not apt to get caught saying any- thing that would categorically indict the ladies, not many of the men gave any "reasons" why women should not hold the position, but a few expressed per- sonal reservations. One west coast Democrat felt that "the thing that probably distinguishes the women from the men more than anything else is that they tend to be more subjective, and this would make it hard for them to be leaders. Above all, a leader must be objective." Another, a southern Democrat, thought that they were too tenacious-~by which he meant that a man could be reasoned with and rationally convinced to change his mind while a woman, once convinced of the rightness of something, was another matter: "Where a man majority leader might not like your position, he would curse you out and forget it. A woman would keep after you if She thought her position the right one." mmtJbflvl. I4 _' 1“ - um 349 But perhaps the best summation of the whole issue was that by one Repub- lican who said that, knowing the mood of the House, he did not think any woman was likely to get to the leadership positions except by seniority--"not so much because of the informal situations as because there just still exists the feeling among the men that this is a man's job and it should be reserved for men. " And, as another man added, "in caucus there are more of us. " In general the women tended to echo the men's understanding of the Situ- ation-—it is not an impossibility, but in the immediate future it is unlikely—— though overall they may have been a bit more optimistic. Those that offered explanations as to why it had not come yet offered about the same ones: no one is trying for the job; there just are not enough women yet; no woman has that kind of seniority. 18 18The seniority question as far as elected leadership is concerned is an interesting kind of alibi considering the facts: Carl Albert, the current Demo- cratic Majority Leader was elected Whip after being there only eight years and majority leader after only 15 years; Joseph Martin became minority leader after 14 years of service; it took 17 years before John McCormack became majority leader; Charles Halleck became majority leader with only 11 years of seniority; and within a year of these statements he was unseated by Gerald Ford who was beginning his 17th year in the House. Leslie Arends was elected Republican Whip after only 10 years in the House. By the end of the 88th Congress, seven of the twelve women then serving had at least ten years of seniority. But there was no suggestion that there would be a woman in any of those positions within the foreseeable future. Given the small number of women with even this much seniority, the relatively few positions available for the taking, and the infrequent turn-over in those positions, it is not sur- prising--statistically or otherwise-—that no woman has served in this position in the past. It seems a little less reasonable, however, to assume that the cause for her not having such a position is simply or even basically a lack of seniority. 350 The same question about the likelihood of women in the elected leader- ship was put to eleven women--six Republicans and five Democrats and in- cluded one Republican woman who had served in the House previously. Two of the women did not respond. Of the eleven, two Democrats and three Re- publicans saw it as a distinctly future event if at all, regardless of whether the women were interested or not. Their comments were: "Someday this . ’1. ‘ u. gnu-Ar ‘ may come, but not in the immediate future . . . there is too much prejudice. " "It would not be inconceivable, but I assume that you would have a woman u—--." n ”I ': ‘ vice—president before this occurs." "Not yet, there aren't enough women. " F: "Probably not in the foreseeable future--if nothing else, because of the seniority system. " "I can't see it coming in a long time. " The other six were less willing to admit that it was an impossibility, though no one suggested that it was at all imminent. One Republican said, "Why not? But I don't know of any women who are trying for the job." A Democrat echoed her "Why not ?", adding that "I believe there would be no obstruction if she meets the qualifications. "19 One member without much seniority was the most hopeful, stating: "I would say that it is very likely that a woman could move up to any of the positions to which you refer through leadership ability and in the course of seniority. " One woman, noted for 19 . . . . Unfortunately this was one of the written interv1ew schedules so there was no chance to ask what was meant by "qualifications." 351 being one of the more feminine members of the contingent, took a little differ- ent tack, neatly avoiding a direct answer in the process, but giving a rather interesting sidelight on how a woman might handle the job. She pointed out that since you cannot force a man to accept a woman for leadership or any- thing else, you have to sell the individual person and her worth and show that she fits the qualifications better than anyone else—-certainly not the civil rights demonstration sort of approach for women. Instead of blustering up and trying to overpower the men, you go up and sit beside them and talk to them and show them that you need their help. Whether that would work as a leadership technique, however, is at least questionable. Three of the women volunteered the example of the state legislatures as proof that it could happen, i. e. , a woman could be Speaker, majority or minority leader. Although it has not happened oftenthere, it has occurred on occasion. In fact, Mrs. Julia Hansen served as Speaker pro tem of the Washington legislature-~a fact which was duly noted by one woman. Perhaps, in terms of the subjective angle of opinions, it is best to leave it with the statement by one of the women who refused to speculate on the length of time it might take before it came, but felt that it would just be "another first" when it finally happened. There are a few objective behavioral criteria that can be checked that might have some implications for the movement of women into the leadership positions. One such indicator is whether any of the women are a part of the '1' .' .’ *z-v‘ ‘ -‘ '17" 352 regional whip system; another is whether any of those of the majority party are ever asked to sit as chairman ofdthe Committee of the Whole House or whether they are in any sense a part of the policy-making groups within their own parties--though the official listing of these committees may not be a totally accurate indicator of influence. The Regional Whips are those members who are the "contact men" one step below the Whip in the organization. Each is responsible for all of the members of his party in a given geographical region of the country as far as knowing how they will vote, the degree of certainty they feel about their decision, whether they will be in the city on a given day, etc. These are the people who do the leg work of the whip organization and are responsible for much of the personal persuasion. Being a Regional Whip in no way assures one of any claim on the Whip's position should this be vacated, but it would be a good place from which to make a bid. Selection as a regional whip may be only a tribute to one's diligence and perserverance, but to some degree it might be considered indicative of the fact that one is at least a minor part of the party councils. Two of the Republican women held such positions dur- ing the 88th Congress: Catherine May and Katharine St. George. Opinions vary among the observers as to the degree to which this indicates their status and the degree to which it is simply a matter of added responsibilities and headaches with little chance to be in on the decision-making or even strategy discussions. watttflllni‘. ‘ J“ . 353 Sitting as Speaker pro tern or Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House is not only a mark of the fact'that a member is in the leadership's favor but is basically necessary if one is to learn the techniques and skills involved in parliamentary procedure. A person must have these if he is ever to move into a position such as Majority Leader or Speaker. To be completely denied this opportunity to learn and practice is to be denied one of the prerequisites of ever moving up. According to legend at least, women were never assigned to sit as speaker pro tem or Chairman of the Committee under the reign of Speaker Rayburn except, perhaps, during, a roll call or an afternoon session of allotted time for speeches to which no one was listen- ing. One of the women commented that as far as she could recall, even with the change in Speakers, a woman had yet to preside over debate on a really controversial bill. From the available data it is impossible to tell if any of the women or the men in the matched sample sat temporarily as Speaker pro tem. The only time that an official record of this is kept is when the Speaker will be gone for an entire day's session and a replacement is made by formal motion. Such a designation normally goes to the Majority Leader, and none of the sample under consideration, either male or female, was honored with this type of distinction. Data on women sitting as Chairman of the Committee could be ascertained as far as number of times was concerned, however, from the House Journal. 354 To attempt to determine whether or not the women were categorically dis- criminated against in this area a matched sample of men was selected for comparison, matching as nearly as possible on party, committee, subcom- mittee, tenure, and type of district in that order. Two men were selected for each of the women, making a total of 22 men. Remembering that only members of the majority party would be eligible to serve in this capacity, one finds that three of the six Democratic women served one time each as Chairman during the 88th Congress. Of the matched sample of twelve Demo- cratic men, six served at least once-—an equal percentage in terms of the number of people involved. The three women were Mrs. Green, Mrs. Grif- fiths, and Mrs. Sullivan. However, when one considers the total number of times served rather than the total number of individuals involved, it is discovered that of the six men, three served more than once: two, Charles Vanik and Clement Zablocki, served twice each, and James Roosevelt sat three times. It seems that as an over-all group the women may be slightly under—represented, though the numbers are too small to prove statistically significant. A comparison that does seem to indicate an even greater discrepancy is that between the men and women on the number of times they were appointed as conferees to the House-Senate conferences to reconcile differences in the two versions of a bill. Since the matching of samples was done on the basis of committee and subcommittee, the subject matter of the bill should not 0 355 affect the distribution. In all, four of the eleven women were chosen as con- ferees, two of them twice each, for a total of six such opportunities. Of the twenty—two men, twelve of them served at least once and among them they have a total of thirty—one conferee appointments. Six of the men served twice each, and four served as many as four times each. The null hypothesis of no difference between the man and women with regard to such appointments The -.'v' is not statistically supported. When each group is divided even on just the .‘o 1w! . simple basis of those who have not served at all versus those that have served one or more times--without taking into account the total number of appointments-~the distribution is such that the probability of it occurring by chance is less than .001. See Table 20. Table 20. Comparison of appointment as conferees in 88th Congress; the women members and a matched sample of men Never Appointed One Appointed or More Times Totals Women 7 4 11 Men 10 12 22 Totals 17 16 33 X2: 13.82, 1 degree freedom p< .001 356 The one other area that will be checked for indications of the degree to which the women have moved up in the circles of leadership are the official party committees within the House. These include the two Committees on Committees, the Democratic Steering Committee and the Republican Policy Committee. f The Republican Policy Committee, for which there is no direct Demo— 1| cratic counterpart, became more important after 1959 and the election of ‘E Halleck to the Leadership than had been true for some time prior. This com- , mittee consists of a group of thirty-four Republicans elected to represent various regions of the country as well as someone from each of the last five freshman classes and the party leadership. Meeting once a week the members discuss legislative proposals and may vote to recommend a party position. Later, all House Republicans are informed of the actions taken and the reasons. In terms of representation, Frances Bolton and Katharine St. George both sit on the Republican Policy Committee, as do three of the men from the matched sample, only one of whom was originally picked as a match for either Mrs. Bolton or Mrs. St. George. The women seem to be fairly represented here. On the Republican Committee on Committees one finds two of the men from the matched group and Katharine St. George, again indicating substantial equality. The National Republican Congressional Committee, which is the campaign committee for the Republican House candidates, has no women members on it; however only two of the matched sample of men are there Either _ 357 On the Democratic side of the aisle the Committee on Committees is the Democratic membership on Ways and Means and thus Martha Griffiths serves in this capacity, though the first woman to do so. Simply by virtue of the manner in which the matched sample of men was selected at least one and only one of them would also be a member of Ways and Means. Therefore a comparison in this regard is rather invalid except to point out that one woman has made it to this position and its access to leadership. Three of the Democratic women sit on their party's Congressional Cam— paign Committee as compared to none for the Republicans. Edith Green, Martha Griffiths, and Julia Hansen are all members, and in this case they distinctly outnumber the men from the sample. Three out of six of the women are serving while only two of the twelve men are included. However, as is also true of the Republicans, this committee--except perhaps for its chairman, who does sit on the Steering Committee--is not really a part of what would be defined as leadership per se. One position that is officially listed as a part of the House Democratic leadership and is filled by a woman is that of Secretary of the Democratic Caucus, a post held by Edna Kelly. In and of itself, however, this does not mean much. The Democrats have not used the caucus for years except for their organizational meeting at the first session. Consequently, neither the chairman nor the secretary of the Caucus have much to do on that basis. Since John McCormack has become Speaker, however, there has been some— what of a move to revitalize the Democratic Steering Committee. This group 358 includes the elected party leadership and the chairman and secretary of the Caucus plus eighteen regional representatives. Its function is primarily to "cooperate and consult" with the leadership, giving a forum for the rank and file to express their feelings; but its suggestions are not binding on the leader- ship. What this means with regard to Mrs. Kelly's part in leadership is dubious . Summary As an overall review, then, it seems that some women are accepted as leaders at the middle ranges of the Congressional structure, especially when House norms such as seniority or a state's right to representation are in their favor. As subcommittee chairmen, and probably as committee chairmen, some will gain recognition as leaders in fact as well as in name; others never will. But those who use this power skillfully seem not to be challenged simply on the basis of sex. To the extent that they do use the chairmanships as a lever, they may find themselves in a position to demand the ear of the leader- ship on other issues as well. Women are represented on each Committee on Committees and on each party's major policy discussion group. But, it seems, they are not considered seriously for the top—party elected leader- ship, a fact that the women themselves recognize. As for the matter of resources and stress reduction, the pattern indicates some reduction of involvement as a resource on the part of most of the women who have been around long enough to be realistic about the possibility. But 359 reduction is somewhat selective; it applies to the elected party leadership primarily. They are unwilling to admit categoric defeat in any other sphere. The resources used to help in this reduction of involvement are probably many and varied, but one that seems to apply to those women who appear most likely to have leadership aspirations is to transfer this to areas where leadership is more available such as the committee system or perhaps gain- ing control of the state organization and having influence over patronage matters there. It seems to be more a matter of displacement than "giving up." The general resources mentioned in the previous sections also apply of course: adopting the standards of behavior and thinking usually associated with men, and previous experience in vocational roles that are male dominant. Overcoming or removing blockage is a matter of committee assignments and tenure plus those characteristics already noted as important for reducing blockage in the matter of committee assignments and informal groups-—those characteristics of intellect and personality that would benefit a man as well. Given the use of the committee system, this time as a means instead of an end, it is not surprising that the same names reappear as did in the earlier section as those women most adept at removing the blockages to full par- ticipation. Constituency Interests In the statement of the problem the issue of constituency was stated with particular emphasis on the problem of whether the women can get equal 360 treatment for their constituents as compared to that which a man can obtain. Do the people who elect a woman get cheated with regard to the kinds of errand-boy services which have come to be expected from congressional offices? It is a very legitimate question or concern, but a difficult one on which to gather much behavioral data in this limited a study. However, at least certain general indicators may be noticed. Patronage One of the first things that becomes evident when one is concerned about patronage is that there are not too many jobs, and most of them are small. Each office does have a few service academy appointments on a regular basis. Other than that patronage is limited to some postmasterships, rural mail carriers, and census workers, etc. A member has his own office staff ap— pointments, but these hardly come under the title of patronage. The Senate has by far the better graSp of the two houses on the patronage matters with its right of giving or withholding consent on executive appointments and its tradition of senatorial courtesy. Occasionally, however, a member of the House may be able to put himself or herself in the position of having some authority on patronage matters if he or she has major control of the party machine in the state, or, as with Edith Green, manages to guess which way the political fortunes are apt to go and cast an early lot with the winners. Mrs. Green is reported to have had rather close control of Oregon patronage during the Kennedy administration due to‘her early support of the Kennedy candidacy in the state and her help in the Oregon primary. 361 There seemed to be no hint, however, that in terms of the standard patron- age positions that are associated with the job that anyone makes any difference between the men and the women. These are simply positions to be filled and as far as the Congress is concerned, their distribution goes to whoever holds the position. Pork Barrel funds are another matter. The only information to be pre— sented here is highly impressionistic and subjective, but the gist of it is that in accordance with the usual matters of which party holds the majority and which party controls the presidency, etc. , the women fare no worse, cate- gorically, than do the men. By the same token, some women are better at claiming their plums than are others, as is also true with the men. One small example is the matter of the pilot programs under the food stamp plan. The bill, written by Leonor Sullivan, set up forty counties and three cities to be used as demonstration areas or pilot plans. These areas would receive federal funds to administer a program of food stamps rather than following the pattern of direct distribution of surplus foods to welfare cases. Under the direct distribution program the local authorities had to bear the administrative cost of the operation though the federal government supplied the food. Not surprisingly, Mrs. Sullivan's own city of St. Louis was one of those selected for the trial. Two other large cities were selected: Detroit and Cleveland. It may be questionable how much Republican Frances Bolton had to do with the fact of Cleveland's being chosen, but her area was 362 included. Multnomah County, Oregon, which is to say Portland, was the only area in Oregon to be included? Multnomah County is Mrs. Green's dis- trict. The only county in the state of Washington to be included came from Mrs. Hansen's district. Two of the West Virginia counties were in Mrs. Kee's district. Even if one excludes Mrs. Griffiths, whose district is not officially a part of Detroit even though it is in Wayne County, it still means that out of the approximately fifty representatives who had food stamp plans in their districts, five of those representatives were women--a much higher percentage than the women have in the House as a whole. A study of the Appropriations bills covering several years of capital expenditures would be of interest, but this was impractical as a part of this limited a study. Such a study would involve some difficulties in determining whether or not the women were relatively equal in their receipt of federal funds, for many projects involve more than one district and include help from the state's senators and other government officials. Case Work Another important means of aiding one's constituents, aside from having a new post office or federal project in the district, is through what is commonly called case work. Probably the most important mail that comes to the congres- sional office is that which touches on the relationship of a constituent to some phase of the government. "Denied a favorable ruling by the bureaucracy on a matter of direct concern to him, puzzled or irked by delays in obtaining a 363 decision, confused by the administrative maze through which he is directed to proceed, or ignorant of whom to write, a constituent may turn to his con— gressman for help. "20 The Brookings study goes on to report that in the vast majority of cases this is handled by the staff, often without the member seeing the request until it has been checked out and a letter in reply needs his signature. However, there is general agreement that when a member personally does the calling that the response is more likely to be favorable than when this is simply left to a staff person. It seems to be the feeling, though, that most members do not have the time to intervene personally. Some even question the ethics of it, feeling that their added influence might cause an agency to play favorites. How do the women rate on this score? The general impression is that, if anything, their constituents probably get better service than do the men's-- not because the various agencies of the government play favorites with the women but because the women are more apt to intervene personally--and be more persistent. And the men are not the only ones to hold this view; some of the women do themselves. Such personal attention to case work is not true of all women of course. Those women who tend to think and act like the men in other areas seem more inclined to delegate these functions as well. Com- ments to the effect that they delegated nearly all such matters to the staff 20Charles L. Clapp, The Congressman: His Work as He Sees It (Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc. --Anchor Books, 1964), p. 84. . 364 were heard about both Mrs. St. George and Mrs. Hansen for instance. The same was true of Mrs. Dwyer's office, though she is probably the most con- stituent-conscious of the women in some other ways. Reportedly her office sends appropriate cards or momentos for practically every personal event noted in the papers from her district: births, graduations, weddings, anni- versaries, special honors, etc. Hard data as to how much the women intervene is hard to come by, but the proto’cols taken from all of the women interviewed plus the administrative aides who had previously worked for a woman member produced four women who were explicitly mentioned as doing much of their work themselves. Two of these were congressional widows and two were women elected on their own. Three were Democrats and one a Republican and they came from vari— ous sections of the country. It does not seem possible on this basis to even hazard a guess as to the type of woman who might be more apt than another to take such an active interest. Another type of data lends at least tangential support to the idea of the women's greater interest in their constituents. These are the responses given by the women to the question of what they found rewarding about the job as compared to the responses given by the men to this same question. If the women respond much more in terms of case work than do the men, this might indicate its greater relevance for them and thus infer a greater attention to case work whether or not a greater amount of intervention. 365 Nearly all of the members of Congress who were interviewed were asked what type of rewards the job provided for them that made up for the many difficulties of finance, time, separation of family, etc. The question was open-ended enough to elicit a wide variety of answers, but upon grouping them into general categories it is interesting to note the differences between the men and the women. With reference to the matter of case work the hy- pothesis does seem to be supported. Of the fourteen women for whom there is an answer to this question, eight listed some reference to case work as a basic reward. Typical of their statements is the following: I don't know how many hundreds of my district constituents have written on an assortment of problems, such as the one case in- volving an amputation where he needed an artificial limb. Through the office we were able to get one for him. The personal satis- faction of seeing these things happen is a great personal reward. . . They exhaust all of their resources and finally they sit down and write their Member of Congress and state their case and on many of these we can do something. This is a very rewarding experience and restores my faith in democracy. It still isn't so big that a little man can't write and get some help from us. Or another: Or, It is a personal thing. It just makes you feel so good to have someone come up to you that you don't know from Adam, and say that something you were able to do saved him and his family from some bad situation. It just kind of warms your heart. finally: There is this deeply human thing of being in a position to help people. Call it power maybe, but I don't feel that it is me, it is the office. But it is fun to help people work out their prob- lems by using the office. 366 The interesting comparison is that not a one of the twenty men even touched on case work per se as a source of rewards to him. Testing this by means of a simple chi square test indicates that the probability that both sets of respondents come from the same population is less than .001. See Table 21. Table 21. Constituent case work volunteered as a major reward of the office Yes No Total Men 0 20 20 Women 8 6 14 Total 8 26 34 X2=11.9, p < .001 However, to the degree that the introduction of private relief bills is a measure of interest in constituents, there is no discernable difference between the men and the women. Comparing the eleven women with the twenty-two men of the matched sample, it was found that during both sessions of the 88th Congress the women introduced a total of 111 relief bills; the men introduced 263. This means that the ratio of men's bills to women's is almost the exact 2 to 1 ratio of group under consideration. This, of course, is no measure of the degree to which the member personally took an active interest rather than just having his staff handle the matter. 367 Summary In returning to the basic schema'of stress, blockage and resources, it is suggested that there is no reason to believe that the women have much diffi- culty in fulfilling role obligations in this area. Stress, as defined for this paper, would seem to be fairly low. The only place where it may be that the women suffer any discrimination or face many barriers with regard to the matter of constituent needs is that of federally-funded projects of various sorts, and here we are confronted with a simple lack of information. The small amount of other patronage and the routinization of much case work with the general sensitivity of the government agencies to almost any congressional call, has made a search here for Special resources somewhat irrelevant. What is suggested instead is that emphasis on constituent needs, and par- ticularly on case work, may be a very important resource in lowering involve- ment in other areas. If one is not allowed in the informal groups, one can justify it by spending more time on case work and thus not have time for such informal gatherings anyway. Case work can also serve as a resource for re-election for the woman who is ill at ease in public campaigning. Very conscientious attention to mail and case work can create much good will when one's constituents are not as much on their guard about "politicians" and thus reduce the amount of campaigning needed later to carry the next election. 368 Specialization The issue of specialization is a key one for any legislator since it relates so closely to committee appointments, attention-gaining issues, possible power in the House, and sometimes even to re-election. It is especially of concern in the study of the women because it. has to do with a possible major resource for women members who may be denied access to the traditional means of power. In fact, a key hypothesis derived from the literature was that women would use a specialized interest in areas relating to the home, morality, child welfare and education, or perhaps health, as a means of justifying their being in politics, i. e. , that by emphasizing an interest in these areas they would lower their personal involvement in power, leadership, and other closed as- pects of political life. A variant of the theme is that, whatever the particular issue, they bring a "woman's point of view" to the question. The Statement of the Problem section of this paper put it this way when indicating this as a possible area of important role stress: Becoming a specialist and being accepted by one's peers as a recog- nized expert in this--or these--area(s); gaining the right to choose, to some extent at least, the area in which such specialization takes place, though recognizing that specialization is in great part dic- tated by committee and subcommittee assignments and thus is closely related to #1. Certainly there seems no reason to deny that at least some women can become recognized as experts in a given area. Mrs. Green is frequently noted as a specialist and very knowledgeable person in the field of education. In the area of consumer affairs one of the persons best known is Leonor 369 Sullivan. Besides this, probably few, if any, of the men could successfully challenge her as one of the most knowledgeable persons on the operation of the U. S. Mint. Not all of the women have gained this type of recognition, but for those who earn it, it seems not to be denied. Several ways of "tapping" the question of specialization would appear possible. One, already considered, is to notice the committee and subcom- mittee assignments. Another is to notice the type of legislation the women introduce; a third to analyze the Congressional Record for the public image they project. More directly, most of the women were asked if they felt there were limitations on specialization for them, or, if they were expected to specialize in any given area. For comparative purposes the men interviewed were asked the same questions with regard to the women. In addition, both men and women were asked about the possibility of presenting a "woman's point of view. " The findings, while somewhat impressionistic, are not with- out some provocative aspects. Committees and Specialization The matter of committee needs to be settled first, since so much of specialization is theoretically committee related. A quick reference back to the section dealing with committee assignments indicates that the data are not sufficient to support the hypothesis that women either ask for or are as— signed committees on the basis of a feminine cultural bias. While such as— signments may, on occasion, be the case, it seems almost as likely to be a matter of rationalization as the actual cause when it does occur. 370 However, it is possible that the women may not abide by the House norm of confining themselves to committee or district interests and instead spend time and effort on these other kinds of issues. Or perhaps they can find within whatever committees they serve an opportunity to relate their legislative interests to these particular topics. One means of checking this idea is simply to note the number or type of Special issues with which any of the women are associated in the general comments of other people. Out of the eleven members of the entire 88th Congress there were three or four instances where common reference established the idea that a woman member was noted for a particular inter- est other than regular committee interests. One was Mrs. Bolton, who has taken an active interest in the nursing profession all of her adult life and in the Congress has been a watchdog for their interests. Another was Mrs. Sullivan, whose interest in and work on consumer affairs predated the cre— ation of that subcommittee which she chairs; in a related field, she is also known for her long fight to establish the food-stamp program in place of the direct distribution of surplus foods. Mrs. St. George has been closely associated with the movement for an "equal rights" amendment to the constitution, and to a somewhat lesser degree with her work on the Inter- Parliamentary Union. In terms of specialization and expertise one can include Mrs. Edith Green on the issue of Education, even though this is also her committee assignment. 371 nglslation and Specialization One might argue that if, indeed, the women do not confine their Spe- cialization to the subjects of their committees, then one would expect them to introduce less of their legislation so that it would be assigned to their own committees than would be true of the men. To investigate this possi- bility the matched sample of men was again used, and for all the eleven women and the twenty—two men the bills introduced were categorized by whether or not they were assigned to a committee of which the person sub- mitting. them was a member. Both groups were then divided on the basis of whether or not a plurality of the bills they introduced were assigned to one of their own committees. The results of this comparison, as shown in Table 22, are not statistically significant at the . 05 level. Therefore one cannot reject the null hypothesis of no difference on the basis of this infor- mation. Table 22. Committee assignment of bills introduced by committee member- ship of Sponsoring member , Plurality of Bills Plurality of Bills Assigned Not Assigned Total to Own Committees to Own Committees Men 13 9 22 Women 5 6 11 Total 18 15 33 x =.14 p>.05 372 Another means of noticing differences between the men and the women with regard to variations in intereSt would be to check whether or not the women disproportionately Sponsored bills assigned to certain committees, such as Education and Labor, or maybe Banking and Currency because of the Consumer Affairs Subcommittee, etc. , while the men submitted their bills to Ways and Means or Judiciary. As a test of this hypothesis all of the committees to which any bills were submitted by any of the thirty-three persons in the two groups were ranked by number of bills submitted by the men. The same was done for the women and then the Spearman rank cor- relation was determined. Using this as an index of agreement of the degree to which the men and the women sent bills to the same committees, the data indicates that the women are from no different a population in this regard than the men. The Spearman rank correlation was a strong. .95. (See Table 23.) A further attempt to test the idea of difference in legislation Sponsored led to the classification of these same bills introduced by general subject orientation rather than Simply by committee assignment. A list of twenty- four categories was settled upon ranging from agriculture, banking, and business to bills dealing with the Special problems of youth. Admittedly the classification was somewhat subjective as to which category might best typify a given bill, but the same general criteria were applied to the men's bills as to the women's. With the bills ranked by subject matter rather than 373 Table 23. Ranking of committees in terms of number of bills introduced by men and women . Committee Men's Rank Women's Rank Difference Ways and Means 1 1 0 Judiciary 2 2 0 Foreign Affairs 3 6. 5 3. 5 Education & Labor 4 3 1 Interstate & Foreign Commerce 5 5 0 Banking & Currency 6 6. 5 0. 5 Post Office & Civil Service 7 10 p 3 Interior & Insular Affairs 8. 5 8 0. 5 Rules 8. 5 9 O. 5 Agriculture 10 4 6 Public Works 11 11 O Veteran's Affairs 12 13. 5 1. 5 Merchant Marine and Fisheries 13 12 1 House Administration 14 13. 5 O. 5 Government Operations 1 5 1 6 1 Armed Services 1 6 15 1 Science & Astronautics 17 17. 5 0. 5 Appropriations 18 19. 5 1 . 5 District of Columbia 19 17. 5 1. 5 House Un-American Activities 20 19. 5 O. 5 Spearman Rank Correlation == . 95 374 by committee referral again the Spearman rank correlation was used as an index of association. In comparison to the . 95 of the previous test, the correlation this time was . 44, an indication that the subject matter interests of the two groups are less alike than might be expected simply on the basis of the committees to which they were assigned. Table 24 gives the rankings and differences in ranks. An examination of the rankings that differ the most is interesting as well Since if our hypothesis about Specialization is to be supported there are certain kinds of interests that Should be higher for the women than for the men--and to a great extent it is in areas such as these that the biggest dif- ferences came. Seventeen ranks was the greatest difference and came with those bills related to business where for the men the rank was fourth but for the women twenty-first. The second largest difference came in the ranks accorded bills which might be classified as "feminist" issue bills, e. g. , equal pay for equal work, the equal rights amendment, etc. Bills dealing in this area were eighth in total volume for the women but twenty- second for the men. Other large differences in the rankings were on legis- lation dealing Specifically with youth--thirteenth for the women and twenty- third for the men——and on banking issues--ninth for the men but nineteenth for the women. One further test was conducted to note whether these differences in subject matter interests seemed to be related to the expected cultural bias of women's interests. In this instance a chi square test was applied by 375 Table 24. Ranking of bills by substantive orientation in terms of number of bills introduced by men and women Subject Men's Rank Women's Rank Difference Miscellaneous 1. 5 4 2. 5 Foreign Affairs 1. 5 5 3. 5 Taxes & Excises 3 9 6 Business 4 21 17 Imports & Tariffs 5 2. 5 2 5 Politics & Congress. Reform 6 5 1 5. 5 Civil Rights 6 5 15. 5 9 Civil Service 8 11. 5 3 5 Banks 8: Coins 9 19 10 Welfare - Great Society 10 10 0. Labor 11 . 5 1 5. 5 4 Education 11. 5 2. 5 9 Social Security 13 6 7 Medicine & Research 14 23. 5 9. 5 Public Works 15 7 8 Agriculture 16 11. 5 4. 5 Veteran's Benefits 1 7 23. 5 6. 5 Morality & Religion 18 19 1 Consumer Affairs 19 1 5. 5 3. 5 Federal-State Relations 20 1 5. 5 4. 5 Military & Intelligence 21 22 1 Feminism 22 8 14 Youth 23 13 10 Urban Problems 24 19 5 Spearman Rank Correlation = . 44 376 dividing the subject categories into so-called "hard, " "soft," and "neutral" categories and comparing the men and the women. The results of this test are shown in Table 25. Table 25. Emphasis on "Feminine Interest" areas in legislation by men and women "Hard "Soft Legislation"1 Legislation"2 Neutral3 Total Men 269 170 214 653 Women 101 99 69 269 Total 370 269 283 922 X2=11.35 p < .01 llncluded were the areas of agriculture, banks and coins, business, foreign affairs, labor, tariff and protectionist legislation, federal-state relations, urban development problems, public works, military. 2Included were civil service, consumer affairs, education, aid to the disabled and elderly, feminism, youth, welfare or "Great Society," morality, religion, patriotism, and medicine and medical research. ' 3Included were "miscellaneous," congressional reform and politics, taxes, civil rights, and veteran's benefits. The rationale was less that these were strinctly "neutral" than that there could be valid reasons for putting them in each of the other categories, such as the fact that the category "taxes" included a large number of bills dealing with the dropping of particular ex- cise taxes to benefit certain classes of people, etc. Including taxes in the hard category would only have strengthened the finding already noted, though this would have been balanced out by also including politics and reform in the "hard" group. 377 From the evidence shown in Table 25 it seems that perhaps the cultural bias is born out. Using a rejection region of . 05, the null hypothesis is rejected, thus lending substantiation to the idea that overall the women do differ from the men in their legislative interests and that this difference does come because of their increased concern with issues such as education, consumer affairs, welfare, morality, etc. Once this finding is discovered another question then comes to mind as to whether or not this bias is a result of one group of women rather than the other. More particularly, are the widows the group that brings about the heavy weighting in favor of such legislation while the non-widows fall more into the categories like the men. The data do not support this hypothesis at all. In fact, the distributions are very similar. An interesting point to note, however, is the ratio of the number of bills introduced by the widows and the non-widows. The comparison is between four widows and seven non-widows, or not quite a two-to—one comparison. (Mrs. Baker is again excluded because of her short stay in the Congress.) The ratio of bills introduced, however, is approximately four-to—one, indicating that the bulk of the legislative load is handled by the women who are more nearly political professionals in their orientation than the widows. Congressional Record Another source of possible information as to degree of Specialization is to search the Congressional Record, and many of the subjective impressions 378 already presented about the individual women are a result of the perusal of the “pages of this document. More'tc'ohcretely, however, the items and con- versations attributed to each of them have been clipped and categorizedand then measured for amount of Space used. Though admittedly a crude measure this, too, may indicate some things about the interests of those who make the insertion. The first step was to separate those things that had to do with either committee or district interest and categorize these separately. Following this, the remaining material was further subdivided into the following group- ings, ranked here in terms of the volume of space (measured by column inches) used: miscellaneous, political topics and congressional reform, civil rights, foreign affairs, eulogies, welfare (and more particularly the food stamp program, all of which was inserted by Mrs. Sullivan), the work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (inserted by Mrs. St. George), feminism, and morality and character. In addition, separated out from the miscel- laneous category, there were minor amounts on education and the nursing profession. To the extent that these categories are comparable to those used in talking about the bills, the district and committee material would be considered a part of the "hard" interest area, as would foreign affairs. Actually, not until one gets to the bottom of the list are there those topics that our hypothesis on specialization suggests should be typical of the women's interests. Surprisingly, perhaps, except for those women who Sat on the committees to which these topics could be related, little was 379 inserted on education, welfare, health, consumer affairs, or even pension plans and concern for the elderly. ‘ In fact, only Mrs. Sullivan branched out beyond her own committee interests in these areas. Looked at from another direction, if one considers how many of the women had something to say about a given topic rather than the number of column inches used, the listing does not change much in rank order. Using slightly more than half of the women, six of the eleven, as dividing point, there are six topics on which "most" of the women had something to con- tribute. District interests and eulogies are the only two that include every- one; in the area of committee affairs all except Mrs. Kee and Mrs. Reid inserted something which could be so defined. Feminist issues attracted comments by eight of the eleven, and the generic category of politics claimed six. In addition, the miscellaneous group included something by ten of the eleven. In other words, it would be difficult, strictly from this type of rough measure, to say that the women are particularly interested in the so-called feminine areas as opposed to any other, especially when one considers the fact that the 3399351 Appendix is so easily available for comment of any Sort, whether relevant to any particular piece of legislation or investigation or not. Merely as an aside, comparison was made here between the widows and the non-widows as was done in the matter of bills introduced. In this instance the widows contributed approximately the percentage of the total space used that would be expected by their percentage of the population under 380 consideration. The figures were 4, 993 inches for the four widows to 10, 749 inches for the seven non-widows. The Women's Own Perspectives When asked directly whether or not they felt that there were certain areas in which the women did specialize or were expected to by the men, the women rejected out of hand such a categorical assertion. None of the women would admit that there were any areas where a woman would abso- lutely be denied permission to work if she were interested enough to prove herself. Furthermore, they were at least hesitant to state that the women gravitate to the social issues any more'than the men, though there was some variation of opinion here. One Republican woman commented that the people back home get the idea we are here as social workers-- that we are for all the welfare programs and interested in juvenile delinquency, etc. We are interested, but so are the men. We are also interested in the broad-based programs as well which keep this country strong. I wouldn't think that as a group we are narrow in our interests. Another Republican eXpressed it this way. . . a woman brings to her service in politics some Specialized interest in what we call social welfare legislation that involves health, and schools, and ethical matters. Not that a man isn't interested, but the whole field is so huge, and he comes from a background where his interests have evolved through his profes- sion. So it is probably a true statement a woman does take a deeper interest in these fields--at least originally. So much of the time may not be taken in that original interest though. I can't image a woman being successful in Congress if she narrows her interests to these fields. If she wants to be 381 accepted on the basis of her qualifications--and we all want to run as experienced people-~then she has to take the very same responsibility as the men, having a wide interest in all bills and not limiting herself. . . . Witness the record about com- mittees. I would have loved to be in HEW, but I asked for because of my district. My people expressed an interest in this, and I was fortunate enough to get it. A Democrat from the same section of the country corroborated her views when she said that she felt that the women were perhaps very socially conscious of, and interested in, the programs as they would affect individual people; but, when it came to one's involvement in the legislature, this did not make that much difference. Citing her own varied legislative background as an example of what happens in the actual situation, She went on to note that this meant involvement in many areas for most women. As for being allowed to participate, she felt that "If she has a good basic background and education and knowledge, and if she reads and is open-minded, She can under- stand legislation in any field. " Affirmation of this viewpoint came from a Republican woman who had spent much of her legislative career on committees that definitely were not of the social .welfare type. Asked whether the men seemed to feel that She had no right to be there, she said, I never felt this. Never felt it at all . . . . In fact, I felt that the men bent over backwards to study my point of view and my poisition and my district. I have found no resistance on the Committee, and as you know, I am a high rank- ing member of that committee and well might have felt such an attitude if anyone were going to feel so. 382 A variation of theme expressed by two women, both Democrats, was that while the women were not necésSarily expected to specialize nor kept from any area, they personally had no desire to become involved in areas such as military. But this was stated simply as a personal preference, not a mandate or description for the other women. Nor does it seem that the women were just being overly optimistic about the degree of freedom they have in their Specialization interests if one can judge at all from the men's comments. Eighteen of the men reSponded to the question of whether they felt that there were any special areas where the women would not be accepted by the men as Specialists. Or, in some cases the question was interpreted by the men as meaning were there any areas where the women were expected to Specialize. Out of the eighteen, only four would admit any "special interests" at all, and even they were equivocal. One first-term Democrat stated that he thought that the only area of negative consequence would be defense; that when women talk about defense, "the men feel that that is a man's world. " On the other side, a midwestern Republican thought that they WEE: not necessarily that they should be, more interested in the "social welfare thing." But he would not go so far as to say that they could not be accepted in any other area. The other two who saw some problem were both Southern Democrats of some standing, one with several years of seniority. Both posed the issue in the manner of the man mentioned just previously, 1. e. , the women were--as a 383 statement of fact--more interested in the welfare area or "looking after the lakes and forests and streams." One of these two then stated that while he could not at the moment think of an example of an issue where a woman's opinion would 395 be accepted, he still thought that on occasion this would be the case. In comparison to these limited statements the other fourteen men, and by inference from some other statements one could add a fifteenth, were un- willing to admit that the men expected the women to be more interested in one area than in any other, nor did they think that they necessarily were. The exception to this would be the statement by a couple that probably the feminist legislation such as equal pay for equal work would not have been passed without the support of the women, and this was expected of them. The responses ran commonly in the direction that "it is an individual matter; the kind of background one brings helps determine his or her interest." Or, "It depends so much on your committee." Thus, considering the situation from the viewpoint of verbalized responses, it appears that there may be a slight tendency for some of the women to specialize in the areas culturally ascribed to them, but that this is less a matter that they are expected to do so by the House than that a few of them so choose for other reasons. And the men seem to reflect this attitude as strongly as the women. It seems that there may be enough vestiges of the idea to suggest that for some women this type of Specialization 384 may well be a resource. But it would certainly seem unwarranted to gener- alize to all women on this basis. Before leaving this area, however, it is wise to examine the responses to one related question that, it is suggested, has some relevance for the matter of specialization. This is the question of whether the women bring in general a different perspective or a "woman's point of view" to their work even if the work itself is not highly specialized. Is this, perhaps, the manner in which the resource comes into play? Again including the interview protocols of three of the former women members of the House, only two of thirteen women stated that they did not think that the women brought any different a vieWpoint to legislation than did the men, and even they qualified that a bit. Four others gave quite a qualified "yes," to the question, and most added some note of explanation. Beginning with the negative first, one Democratic woman stated her feelings thus: I reject the philosophy that a woman member looks at the issue any differently than a man. I think that they are all great Amer- ican issues. If you suggest that a woman is more concerned about the education of her children you are slandering the male. If you suggest that the man is more concerned about war and peace you are slandering the female. I don't think that the vast majority of American women separate them and take a different View. Eyen she, however, later commented that having a woman on a committee was valuable because they sometimes caught things that would not. occur to 385 the men-~like including opportunities for girls as well as boys in the Job Corps program. Her colleague in vieWpoint, also a Democrat, was less definite and applied her statements merely to herself. Her feeling was that she, person- ally, did not particularly bring any "feminine viewpoint" into play. The thing which you bring to it is the experience which you have had. My experience has been that of a man. My background is much the same as theirs--though perhaps I have a little more variety than many of them. . . . On the hearings dealing with ADC I presume that if I said something I would probably get something of a "woman's vieWpoint" in, for you do speak some- what from experience. But in most areas here they don't take a "woman's view." Your opinion is valued as an eXpert, not as a woman or a man. A Republican woman who took a more qualified view of the situation said that she felt that perhaps there was a little difference. "I think that the women are more idealistic, and more stubborn. " But later on she indicated that perhaps people overrate the sex difference. In her mind it was probably more of a personality difference. Distinctly on the "different" Side of the argument was one Democratic woman who commented that she had argued this several times with some of her feminine colleagues who felt that they were representatives in a neuter sense and thought as the men did. Personally, she said, She felt that she did bring something of a woman's point of view--a difference of some sort that was good for balance. Some of the women here begin to think and act like the aver- age man would act when they get here. I can't do that--and 386 see no reason why I Should. I'm not a man, and I don't think this is our function. I think that a woman thinks differently, acts differently, feels differently. . . . It is when you bring together the thinking and the two different types of thinking that you bring out the best in ideas. We have different problems at home, and we are aware of different things. The differences that the women reported bringing to their legislative work were those commonly ascribed to the sex: they are more idealistic, and'perhaps less realistic; they are more tenacious and more committed to principle rather than being willing to settle for the pragmatic solution; they are more concerned about how something will affect an individual, a humane approach, and they are more apt to approach things intuitively and even emotionally. Not all of the women mentioned every one of these traits, but all were mentioned at least once. Perhaps as a summarizing statement one might use the comment by one Republican who put it thus: If there would be any difference between viewpoints of a man and a woman serving in the field of public office, I would sup- pose it would be in the area of motivation. Of course all of our answers are so personal-wand I can't crawl inside the minds of my feminine colleagues--but . . . most of us have been mar- ried at some time and a lot have children. I have been inter- ested in good government because of my children, though this is not meant to indicate that a man doesn't care as much. Probably for a woman her early interest and motivation are because she joins groups in the community which have to do with the welfare of her community and that have to do with her children. She cares about the kind of a city her children are going to grow up in. In the home she sets the moral standard for her children because she is with them most. She feels the impact of trying to bring them up as honest and courageous people and with a cleancut view. When She sees people who 387 would seem to negate by their actions and efforts the things she and the church have been trying to teach, this may become the spark of why she runs for public office . . . In reSponse to the same question, the men were a little less agreed as to whether they thought that the women brought any different point of view than the women themselves were. Nine of them said that basically they would agree that probably this was so; eleven said "no. " Several qualified their answers to the point of its being difficult to classify them. Frequently the qualifications were in the sense of saying "Yes, in general. But Mrs. doesn't fit the model." If nothing else, the lack of certainty expresses the idea that there is no one pattern which all of the women follow. To a greater extent than was true for the question on specialization, both the men and women agreed that probably the women would bring some different perspective to the legislature, but not all agreed even here. It seems a reasonable assumption that for many of the women, at least on occasion, the idea of giving "perspective" or a needed balance may serve as a source of personal support in pursuing her goals. Furthermore, to the extent that the men agree with the state- ment it may be that kind of attitude that would reduce some blockage by legitimating the women's being there. And it suggested here that this does occur. To end on a negative note, however, one might best beware of the attitude of one southern gentleman, who may or may not represent more than 388 himself. He felt that a few women are needed around for decoration if for nothing else. He added that-there may even be a need for as many as one to a committee, but beyond that their separate contribution fails to add much! Re-election The last of the areas to be considered as an important role aspect where stress might occur is that of re—election. The importance of this as a stress point evolved out of the research itself; consequently there are comments available from 6nly the last few of the men interviewed. There were some comments by the women's staff members on their elections, but not in a form directly applicable to this issue. An attempt to tackle the issue through election statistics, however, yielded some useful data, even though the data are such that one must infer most of the social relationships behind them. In the statement of the problem re—election was mentioned in the fol- lowing fashion: Being subjected to no undue strain or pressures with regard to re-election, i. e. , not having to face election odds substantially greater than would be true for a man of the same party in the same type of district. The pertinent point that arises out of the research in this area is that despite the reported cultural bias against electing women, it would seem that not only do the women not face any greater difficulties than a man in being re-elected, but that they may even be at somewhat of an advantage. 389 The one man to whom it was possible to talk that had had the experience ‘ of running against a woman was most emphatic about the fact that it handi- capped the manl (His vieWpoint may have been colored by the fact that he was defeated by the woman in that election and only later made a comeback.) However, he emphatically felt that even when the man is the incumbent, he is put in an awkward position. The male candidate must be very careful to maintain his own image as a chivalrous man and as a protector of the weak and defenseless, a difficult task while attacking a woman. Moreover, he must be careful that nothing that he or a staff member says about the indi- vidual candidate can be interpreted‘as a "Slam" against women as a group. In many ways this is the most difficult problem of all. Five of the other congressmen were asked if it would make any differ- ence to them if the candidate opposing them for their seats were a woman. Only one said that he thought that he would have an easier time defeating a woman than he would a man. He attributed this to the cultural bias against voting for a woman and to the fact that a woman would not be able to campaign in all of the places to which he would have access. What he obviously did not know was that the women members state that there is no place of any political value where they cannot go to campaign--including the bars. He felt that it would make no difference in his own method of campaigning to be opposed by a woman. It might be noted that he was a first term member. 390 The other four men were much less anxious to face a woman opponent. Another first-term member noted that a woman had both advantages and dis- advantages, citing in particular this same anti—feminist bias in the popula- tion. However he too was aware of the fact that one has to be "so very care- ful" in canpigning against a woman. "You can't say anything bad about her. It is like cross-examining a woman on the witness stand. You can get in a great deal of trouble if you are not careful." This same view was expressed by the other three men, all of whom said that if faced with the necessity of campaigning in such a Situation the major strategy would be simply to ignore the woman. One of them commented that he usually used a great deal of humor in his campaigns, including witty little digs at his opponent. With a woman opponent this would not be at all possible, and it would distinctly cramp his style. It is one thing to ignore your opponent if you are the incumbent and can base your campaign on your record. However, if you are the challenger, the political norms require that you Show why the present incumbent is not doing a good job. This means that you must attack in some fashion. Con— sequently the comments made by these men would have an even greater sig— nificance in such a situation. You must attack in some fashion, but you must be extremely careful about it. The recognition that this is a difficult position to be in has lead the opposition party on occasion to deliberatly nominate another woman in hopes 391 of negating sex as an issue. However, a woman candidate has never been successful against a woman incumbent. The election figures themselves give some support to the hypothesis that a woman incumbent is harder to defeat. In order to test this hypothesis that the cultural norms give her an advantage in later elections, it was de- cided to compare the women with the matched sample of men on the per- centage of the total vote received in the initial elections and in the succeed- ing elections. The assumption is that the greater the total percentage of the vote, the less successful the opposition and the less successful the op- position, the more secure the incumbent. Fifty-five percent of the vote was chosen as the breaking point between close and safe elections. Table 26 shows the number of close and safe elections for both the women and the men, tabulated separately for initial and subsequent elections. Table 26. Competitiveness of the elections by initial and subsequent elections for men and women Women Men Close Safe Close Safe Total 50%-55% 56% plus 50%-55% 56% plus Initial Election 5 5 13 8 32 Subsequent Elections 5 63 26 107 201 Total 10 68 39 116 233 2 x =29.60 df=3 p< .001 392 The data in Table 26 make it clear that by far the majority of elections are not closely contested for either'men or women and that for both men and women there is a higher percentage of close elections at the initial election than is true thereafter. Though the figures are really too small to say much, it is worth noting that the women did not have a higher percentage of close initial elections than was true for the men, contrary to what the literature would lead one to expect. However, the major point of the hypothesis is that after that initial election. the women are more apt than the men to be elected by a "safe" margin. The figures lend support to this idea. If our assumption is correct, the opposition finds it more difficult to campaign against them than against a man. In terms of the schema, then, it would seem that once in the Congress blockage in the area of re-election is no more severe for a woman member than for a man. Defeat is always a possibility, of course, and no member can afford to let his political fences get too badly out of repair. However, in noting the resources that can be brought to bear on this problem of main- taining one's seat, there seems to be a definite resource available to the women that is not to the mamthe cultural norms of masculinity and being a gentleman. In many of the other areas the cultural norms have seemed to be a source of blockage in their own right; but here they seem to be a re- source. In addition to this a couple of other resources should be mentioned. One is the careful attention given to case work by a number of the women. 393 This can serve as a very valuable election resource. Another is the fact that several of the women are noted for their extensive coverage of the district in person during the campaign. If one wants the position at all, one can hardly afford to use resources that would reduce involvement in this area of legislative life. Not surpris- ingly, the women's resources here remove blockage. CHAPTER IX SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS It is finally necessary to attempt some overview of the entire study and to note what light the data may shed on the questions as originally con- ceived. To do so, however, means that it is necessary first briefly to re- state the problem and hypotheses and to follow this with a general summary of the data and their relevance for these questions. Statement of the Problem In very general form the question asked, or the problem posed, was that of what may happen to an achieved role when it is filled by persons whose ascribed characteristics make them a—typical of the usual group of recruiteeS: A little more Specifically, the question was raised by the in— creasing number of women who are currently moving into positions in the occupational and political world that have generally been held to be male positions by virtue of the cultural values. Do these women simply accept the role expectations for the position and attempt to live up to them, or do they create a new position that in some manner amalgamates the two sets of expectations? What is the effect on the total system into which they move? 394 395 In order to explore this question a case study was made of one such position that has long been associated with norms of masculine behavior, that of the Member of the United States House of Representatives. An assumption was made that those women who do hold this position are at least minimally motivated to meet the role expectations so that they can maintain the position. Therefore in the analysis the focal point of interest was the manner in which the ascribed position either produced blockage to full performance of the political role or in some way facilitated its per- formance. When there was blockage, a further point was to note what social or cultural resources were used to remove the source of the blockage or to reduce the involvement in that area of the role. The general schema of analysis involved the selection of six vital areas of role performance for this position. In each of these areas the factors that might cause blockage to full participation by women members were investigated. To the extent that such blockage was found, and yet the active incumbent would be motivated to participate, stress was assumed. The research, then, centered on the matter of looking for social resources that would lower stress by either lessening the desired involvement or by re— moving the blockage. The resultant combination of these resources would determine to a large degree the direction of patterned role modification. The hypotheses drawn from the literature were few. However one resource hypothesized to be very basic was that of the recombination of the 396 role in such a way as to emphasize the traditional feminine interests on social concerns such as the home, morality, child welfare, education, etc. With this emphasis it was further hypothesized that other resources that would be used would be those that would primarily reduce involvement rather than remove blockages. On a more abstract plane, and drawing from the role conflict litera- ture rather than the more substantive political literature, the rather contra- dictory hypothesis was made that the severity of the sanctions that could be applied for lack of conformity to a role expectation would be a key variable in determining the direction of role modification. If more severe sanctions could be applied for violation of the political role than for not fulfilling fem- inine role expectations, the modification would be more in line with the usual definition of the political role. Related to this was the idea-—stated as an assumption rather than as an hypothesis--that if roles would be ranked in some hierarchical fashion, then for the lesser—ranked position the expec- tation violated would have to be much more nearly central to the status to elicit sanctions severe enough to counter—act sanctions of lesser expectations for the higher-priority position. Moreover, it was assumed that for women who deliberately chose to remain in congress, the political or achieved role would take precedence over the traditional conception of the feminine role. Thus it was hypothesized on this basis that the women would attempt to re- move blockage rather than reduce involvement. The sanctions would be 397 stronger for violations of achieved role expectations, at least until one reached the very basic level of sexual identification. The question is thus a matter of which basic hypothesis the data sup- port the most strongly. To answer this a brief summary of the findings is presented. SummagLof Findings To summarize this great variety of data within a single framework is difficult at best. In some regards it is made more difficult by the fact that much of the analysis is of necessity a wet hoc analysis and therefore subject to greater question than is true in a strictly experimental design. Nevertheless, certain points do seem to stand out sufficiently to be worthy of generalized summary Statements. The plan is to look first at the type of blockage that exists, then at the resources used. From that point it is proposed to compare these find- ings with the stated hypotheses for this study and to note the areas of agree— ment and disagreement. Blockage The first consideration is the amount and type of blockage encountered. Here two points are evident. One is that there are a variety of factors that do seem associated with blocking political progress, and these differ from one woman to another. The other is that generalized blockage against all 398 women is less than might be expected from the literature. Most of the blockage seems to be internalized,‘su;ch as an attitude of deference toward male authority or by a lack of background experience. Areas where generalized blockage exists for all of the women, at least to some extent, were the informal network of colleague relationships and _ «the related party leadership. In these areas the consensus was that the wider cultural norms of friendship and camaraderie within sex lines, as well as the norm of male dominance, made it impossible for any woman to be completely accepted as an equal or as a likely leader. Some of the men were more willing than others to accept their feminine colleagues, but all agreed that in general some barriers still existed. It is also worth noting that while no woman has the access to the informal groupings that the men do, the women were not all treated the same in this regard. Those women who most nearly fitted into the masculine set of expectations, i. e. , did not make the men change their own Colleague relationships greatly to include them, were the most apt to be included. Those few women who were most feminine were accepted on another basis on occasion, as women, but not in the usual informal network. Women who fell somewhere in between seemed least likely to be included in any kind of friendship group. In terms of the schema, they faced the most blockage. There was also some difference among the men with regard to their views of the women's place in the legislature as a whole as well as in the 399 informal situations. Most refused to be caught categorically admitting to any prejudice against the women, but two or three of the Southerners did indicate that the women occupied a "special" place, or performed a "special" function in which they were acceptable, but that in general their value was questionable. Some others, in pointing out particular women whom they felt were "not like the others" showed some degree of a residual stereo— type that might indicate that they, too, are not accepting of most women. On the whole, however, there were not enough men who expressed this type of feeling to cause serious blockage by sheer numbers. The bigger problem was that some, like the late Sam Rayburn, held influential positions so that their power may be disproportionate to their numbers. This type of blockage Shows up empirically in the lack of opportunities to sit as Chairman of the Whole Committee, or to serve as a House conferee, and to some extent in less prestigious committee assignments. Looking at the characteristics that the women bring with them that cause blockage, it is immediately apparent that the same problems do not apply to all. In fact, it would rather seem that some of the women now have practically no blockage from this source, though they may have had on some occasions in'the past. Moreover, in a generalized way it can be said that it is the congressmen's widows who have more difficulty in this regard than the non—widows, though there is at least one exception. The fact that some of the women have made it to positions of some influence and power is evidence that not all women face unsurmountable blockages. 400 The most obvious forms of behavioral blockage that the widows bring with them are the lack of political experience, the lack of previous experi- ence in working with-technical and intellectual problems, a lack of experi- ence in working with men on a colleague basis, and in some cases, the lack of an education commensurate with most of the men. Perhaps as much of a block for some of the women is the attitude that as women they should not attempt to emulate the men's activities and that they should defer to them. This latter is more speculative than supported by any particular piece of empirical datum. Resources The variety of resources used to reduce stress was as great as the number of different types of blockage. Yet certain patterns do seem to appear. One thing did seem very evident: of those resources that might be used either to reduce involvement or remove blockage, the latter were much more frequently used. Even some of the resources that had originally been hypothesized to reduce involvement usually did not reduce it for the total legislative role but only for some specific aSpect of it. For instance, it has been suggested that extraordinary personal interest in case work may Serve to reduce the stress of not being allowed to participate in the informal network, but there is no evidence to suggest that it reduces involvement in other role sectors. 401 It had been hypothesized that some of the women would emphasize being liked and admired as charming women in such a large group of men, and that this would serve to make them less concerned by a lack of actual power. It could be a withdrawal resource. This role concept is closely allied to what Barber called the Spectator role. However, such a resource is notable by its absence as a general pattern. Perhaps two women in the 88th Congress could be said to have used this as a resource, Mrs. Reid and Mrs. Kee. But even here Mrs. Reid was reported to be making some attempt to reduce blockage by learning the necessary skills for more gen— eral participation. An interesting sidelight here is that two or three of the women were singled out by the men as using their charm to break down political barriers or to remove blockage, not to reduce involvement. It was not implied that this was a deliberate scheme on their part or underhanded in any way, but that because they were charming, the men liked to cooperate with them when possible. One such statement was that about the men hating to say "no" to Mrs. May when she called them in her capacity as regional whip. Mrs. Sullivan received the same type of accolade. Being especially interested in the so-called feminine interest areas again was hypothesized to be a resource used to reduce other involvements by most of the women. Most, it is true, did seem to have some such inter— est; however it was not an obvious stress reduction pattern. For one thing, 402 though the women introduced more bills in these areas than did the men, these still were not a majority of the bills introduced by the women. There— fore, it can hardly be said that they emphasized this because it allowed them to forget other areas. Another consideration is that, while overall the men may not be as concerned--in terms of their total interests-—in these areas as the women, many of them are still highly involved in issues such as social welfare, consumer benefits, and morality. These are issues of moment in the contemporary legislature regardless of sex. To say that concern with them is "withdrawal" from the role as a whole would be unwarranted. One area that does seem to have some degree of emphasis among the women that it does not have among the men, and from the viewpoint of the observer might well seem to be a resource to reduce other involvement, is the personal interest in their case work shown by several women. Consider- ing that none of the men mentioned constituent problems as a part of the rewards of the job, while more than half of the women volunteered such a statement, it is suggested that this may Be an important resource for some women. The fact that a few of the women who are generally considered the most effective in the men's terms were Specifically noted for delegating this function rather than handling it themselves reinforces the idea that added emphasis on case work may be a resource for lowering involvement in some other areas of the legislature. It may serve also as a psychological resource to reduce the stress related to not fulfilling the feminine role completely. 403 Emphasis on the constituent need is emphasis on the particularistic and hu- mane; it is doing what a woman is culturally expected to do. Among the most important resources for removing blockage discovered in this study was the ability to take full advantage“ of the structured universal- istic rules and the traditional mores of the House. Particularly did it seem of value to base one's claims on the traditions of seniority and of geographi- cal considerations. Another such set of traditions centers around the posi- tion of subcommittee or committee chairman or being a member of a group such as the Committee on Committees. The rules of the House have de- veloped without making special allowances to exclude minority members. Now too many people have a vested interest in maintaining these norms to worry about a few other people using them to advantage as well. Chivalry has been claimed by some men to be a resource for wom- en . . Occasionally a woman has agreed. Since themen are less apt to attack a woman or her ideas openly, chivalry may serve to aid in removing some blockages. However, for this very reason chivalry is of dubious value as a resource to remove general blockage that is in the way of politi- cal advancement. The men are less apt to put a woman in a central or contro- versial position if they know that they have to maintain the cultural norms against attacking her or her ideas. However to the woman who can make full use of other resources to be sure that she is not sidetracked, chivalry may be found to be useful. 404 As was noted when talking about re-election, the situation where the norms of chivalry seem to be of most benefit is not in the House itself but on the campaign trail when the women member seeks re-election. In that case it is the opposing candidate for office, who by virtue of his position needs to be able to attack the incumbent if he hopes to win, who finds him— self in an unfair fight where he must be chivalrous for his own self-image but finds that this aids the woman candidate. Another resource that the women do seem to use to full advantage is that of putting in long hours of hard work and a distinct segregation of roles between office and family. Again this is the type of resource that many of the men use as well, and it works in either case. For those women who do have families with them in Washington, going home to a completely dif- ferent role aspect of wife and/or mother may be a good break--a source of relaxation--if one has had competent help during the day with those tasks that traditionally are the responsibility of the woman of the house. The women with children seem to have met this situation by a heavy reliance on the extended family. Grandparents who serve as mother substitutes are an important resource in their own right. It is further suggested that both age and marital status are resources that can serve to break barriers or remove some blockage that might other- wise be associated with serving in this normally male position. Age serves this function in at least two ways. The first is that the woman who waits until later in life to enter the congressional career has the 405 most demanding of her family responsibilities behind her. Her children will at least be in school and thus not demand the constant attention of pre- schoolers. If she waits until near age fifty, as has been the modal pattern, most of her children are likely to have already graduated from high school. Thus she has had the personal satisfaction of fulfilling the requirements of the central female role--the family woman-—and will now be more free to take on other responsibilities. Therefore it is a resource both psychologi- cally and in terms of available time and energy. Furthermore she can justify her involvement--and many do—-by a concern for the future of her children and grandchildren. The second manner in which age serves as a resource is related to the phenomenon noted by Parsons when he comments on the two basic alter- natives to the feminine role. The younger woman is associated with the idea of the glamour role and sexual attraction; the more mature woman with the humanistic pattern. The humanistic pattern, while sex—related, is not a role that emphasizes sex per se; it emphasizes the idea of the woman work- ing with others, both men and women, to accomplish a stated social objec- tive. The expectation that the women in the House will act in this role, as befits their age, makes accepting them as colleagues an easier task. Being currently or formerly married functions as a resource in re- moving blockage in much the same manner as the just-noted factor about age: it defines the relationship between the woman and her male colleagues 406 in a more a-sexual or neutral fashion. This is more true of those currently married than of the widows or divorcees, but even having formerly held the status has some effect. For the woman herself it serves as a resource in that her status as a woman has been validated. This reduces the number of available sanctions for non-conformity to the feminine role. While marriage may have its positive function in relationship to ad- vancement politically, it must be noted of course that it may be a stress point itself if husband or other family members are discontented with the woman's activities, or if adequate help in running the household is not avail- able. However it would seem that women with these difficulties either do not make it to the congress in the first place or do not last long there. They are not particularly represented in our sample. Finally there are the resources that serve to remove blockage toward progress for either women or men: a good education; previous political and/or vocational experience; the ability to speak in an organized, articulate fashion with a properly modulated voice; intelligence; the ability to be at ease with many kinds of people; a competitive Spirit; and the sense that this is a job worth doing. This list is not exhaustive, but it is suggestive of the characteristics that some women do lack in their backgrounds due to the usual cultural ex- pectations for women. However, the range of acceptable role patterns for women is widening sufficiently that these are no longer truly unusual for 407 a woman. To the degree that this is so, it bears witness to the fact that in terms of resources available, perhaps one of the most important single resources to these a—typical position incumbents is the generally ambiguous state of the cultural role for their ascribed status as women. They are still among the avante garde of the role-changers, but they are not as unique and suspect as once was the case. And not only are other women accepting new role definitions in a changing Society, but so are the men. Because of this these women are allowed to maintain some of their culturally feminine characteristics without having to accept the total traditional role. Especially can they be feminine in the areas of appearance, teasing and banter, and the smaller chivalrous acts. Because of change and the associated ambiguity of norms, they can be selective regarding role definitions. Hypotheses Of the two basic hypotheses which were originally suggested as guide- lines for the study, it would seem that the data lend more support to the idea that the women attempt to remove blockage and participate fully than that they primarily specialize to avoid other involvements in the role. It would not be unexpected that the women who ran on their own should be ori- ented toward complete involvement in the political role. Less expected was the finding that most of the congressional widows preferred an active political playing of the role to the Spectator orientation suggested by Barber. Judging by their re-election patterns and constituent concerns, all except 408 Mrs. Baker were high on willingness to return. Of the other eleven, all except Mrs. Kee, and perhaps MrSZJ‘Reid, would be counted high in legis- lative activity. The initial assumption was that this means a higher priority is placed on the achieved role expectations than on the traditional feminine ones. The hypothesis suggested that the factor responsible would be sanctions. The- oretically, sanctions for violating traditional feminine norms would have to be relatively greater than those for violation of the political norms in order to make the women reject the political expectations. At this point the analysis becomes quite interpretive and subjective, yet the author would argue that indeed there is evidence to support this hypothesis. In actuality, even if the women held the two roles in nearly the same personal preference, the men in the congress have comparatively little with which seriously to sanction the woman who chooses not to play the usual feminine role. There are several reasons for this. The first is related to the simple little courtesies that are part of the usual cultural pattern between the sexes. Theoretically, the men could refuse to grant these to women who were being "non-feminine," and in our definition this could be called sanctioning. How- ever, to withhold these attentions is to damage the man's self—image as a friendly, chivalrous person as well. Men in public life seem especially sensitive to these appearances and therefore not likely to use this as a sanction. very widely. 409 Another factor which makes the men unable to apply significant pres- sure is the segregation of roles and the fact that these women have families at home with whom they may play the accepted female role. With the excep- tion of Mrs. Sullivan-—who does emphasize a feminine attitude in the congress-- each of the women has some family, though not all live in Washington. Some have a husband alive, others only children and/ or grandchildren. But if colleagues do not accept them as women, this does not prevent the family from filling this need for them. Their colleagues in the House cannot ad- minister the final sanction of denying their femininity in the face of this. Again, as has already been noted, the age at which most of them come to the House means that they no longer expect the same type of sexually— interested attention from the men. The lack of it would therefore not be as punishing as might be expected. And finally, the fact of placing some addi- tional emphasis on the nurturant or social welfare aspect of their work--both through legislation and case work--could be a self-validation of their social status as women. This the men cannot take away. Severe sanctions for not 8 abiding by the traditional feminine norms, ' then, do not seem to be readily available to their male colleagues. Where their male colleagues are able to sanction effectively is in the realm of the political role. They can provide or prevent good committee assignments; they can help or hinder legislation; they can make the women a part of the interesting activities inherent in the job or exclude them from 410 any such involvement. What seems to be more threatening to the women than not being treated chivalrously is not being included in the congressional activities. To be officially a part of the group but not to be accepted by one's peers on a working basis is to be a marginal person. This, it is suggested, turns out to be an important sanction. The rewards of the job are sufficient in many respects to make the women want to stay. There is the sense of being a celebrity, of being "in" on the making of history, of exercising power. But to stay without actually being included may be painful, especially for competitive persons. Consequently, the ability of the men to withhold resources for removing blockage is a sanctioning power. With it they can make the women conform in many ways to the expectations held for any in- cumbent of the position of member of congress. It is not suggested that the men do this deliberately as a sanction, but to the degree that they include the women in their circles who act primarily as members of congress, they do reward. And not only do they reward-—or, by implication, sanction those who do not so act——they bring about a great deal of conformity to the political system. Conclusions and Suggested Research Conclusions It is not appropriate to attempt definitive general conclusions from an eXploratory case study. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to Show how the data may bear on more general propositions that are a part of the disciplinary 411 tradition and to indicate where the findings may lead in further research. Consequently the general issues raised earlier will be considered. One issue was whether the occupational or political role itself is modified in any basic fashion by the incumbency of a different type of person, e. g. , when a woman holds a position normally assumed to be masculine,'is the role greatly changed? Or, in other words, are ascribed characteristics more important in determining role behavior than the traditional position expectations? The answer itself seems to be a modified one. Some be- haviors are dictated by the traditional ascribed norms; others seem to be very little affected. Certainly the women of today are a different type of feminist than the women of the earlier part of the century who refused to admit to any difference at all. In general, however, the behaviors in which the traditional norms are voluntarily followed on the job are not related to, or at least certainly not detrimental to, the performance of the political norms. It is true that in some basic areas the sexual identification is there: appearance, teasing and bantering, careful attention to outward conventions and propriety where any hint of scandal might arise, plus playing the more traditional role at home or in social circles. Yet where the norms of the two positions conflict, it seems that modification is less apt to occur in the achieved role than in the ascribed--providing the women have some choice. At least this seems to be true for those who have striven hard to obtain the position, i. e. , the non-widows. 412 A related point to note in this regard is that the type of woman attracted to such a position while it is still a‘ very unusual one for a woman is likely to also be very a-typical in terms of the cultural definition for her sex. On such grounds one might not expect these women to modify the role in a very feminine form. A case for further research would be the question of what might happen once they have been accepted enough that the position is no longer considered strange for women. This could well be a different situ- ation in that once the position is defined as normal for women, then the traditionally—minded persons might be attracted. They, in turn, might modify the role more drastically in the traditional direction. In terms of . the present situation, however, the conclusion is that the presence of women incumbents in the political role in no way indicates any major changes in the operation of the political system. Whether it would be a case of greatly modifying the usual practice or not, it would seem that the theory of democracy is not being upheld very well with women in office at least in one very important respect. Theoreti- cally democracy demands a confrontation of candidates to debate and defend their views so that the public can decide between them. If the commonly reported practice among the men of ignoring the women in a campaign is indeed true, this is hardly conducive to debating and defining the issues for the benefit of the public in the ideal democratic pattern. Whether the ideal actually occurs when two men challenge each other is, of course, an empirical 413 question, and one which research suggests would be answered in the nega- _l (‘t tive. Another point, or general conclusion, is that the more eXplicit expecta- tions seem more likely to be followed-~and seem more easily sanctioned-- than the ambiguous ones. In a context as structured as the U. S. House of Representatives, expectations and rules of the game are fairly explicit. The rules for fulfilling the ascribed role are much less certain due to a variety of other social changes. Consequently it appears that the more certain norms will be followed first, especially if those explicit norms are related to a very specific goal. What this seems to suggest, along with the Gross, Mason, and McEachern study is that there is not a general societal consensus about role expectations even for very basic roles. Consensus is much more likely in the structured and specialized formal organizations. A final set of conclusions to the study may be particularly significant if these women are the avant grde that they think themselves to be. Tradi- tionally the female role was a fairly continuous one from childhood to adult- hood--at least as contrasted to the discontinuous situation of the male. This could be so because the adult role was centered around one particular con- cern and only that one. Thus girls could be sure of what they were going to be doing as adults and learn it in the home situation where they Spent much of their time anyway. What these women have done is to adopt instead the male pattern of a very segmental role set where one has two, three, or 414 more basic statuses and they do not necessarily blend into one another or all center around the same concerns... Thus the occupational sphere becomes a neutraluand many times now a non-prepared for-—segment of life to a degree that the homemaker role can never be. To the extent that such a pattern of occupational roles comes to the fore, then there may be associ- ated pressures within society to consider some other ideals besides the sexually-attractive (or beatnik) young woman as a valued alternative pattern. Even speculation as towhether this is apt to happen, given other societal pres- sures, is beyond the scope of this study however, though it might be an inter- esting topic to pursue in the question of the changing role of women in society. Further Research Possibilities Leads for further research are indicated in a number of the findings here. Three in particular are suggested. The first follows very directly from the concerns about role modifica- tion, and refers back to a question already raised in the conclusions section. The present study concerned a group which constituted a very small percentage of the total population of the House. In that situation they tended to conform rather than greatly modify the role. The hypothesis suggested here is that if the percentage of women in the role were raised significantly, then they would be more apt to act as a group and more apt to modify the role to be concerned with those issues generally associated with the sex. The suggested reasoning is first that in the present type of situation one's position is too ...1'.’ |. ,.I.11l.l.\.. \I‘IIIIJ 1.... u. . LII-3.31%"! ...rW‘l iii.» If. lllf All. ...II. a. 415 insecure to greatly challenge the system and worry too greatly about bring- ing the values of the rest of the group to the fore. Secondly, the type of woman attracted to the position in this Situation would not likely be in the majority in a much larger group. Therefore, it is suggested, the propor- tion of a-typical incumbents may be the variable worth considering in role modification. A second suggested area of research would be to reverse the focus of this study and to note the impact of the achieved political role on the tradi- tional ascribed role. As was noted, all of these women at least had been married. An increasing percentage of the women in the congress seem to be relatively young women with families. While the men may segmentalize their roles, traditionally they do not have to change character greatly be- tween them. Can, and does, the woman who is an authority figure in the occupational world change that orientation in her own home, or will she find it necessary to play the dominant role there as well? This is particularly a problem with a position such as member of congress where not only the family relations but official protocol on how to rank the husband becomes a problem. It could also be a problem with women in positions such as school principals. Where does power reside in such a marriage? And what would be the effect on the socialization of children in such a home? Finally, it is suggested that even in the basic problem of the matter of adjustment and socialization to the role under study here much mere thorough 416 research is needed in a social-psychological direction. Role stress and role conflict as concepts have their roots in that tradition and in order to fruit- fully add to the literature of which they are a part, some data of a social- psychological nature is needed. men in the area of sanctions, which in this paper were assumed, the findings would be more meaningful if it were known that what was being considered a sanction here was actually perceived as such. The research could be strengthened by some measurement of whether in fact one position were given priority over the other. And, it is suggested, knowledge of attitudes toward feminism, femininity. and toward men would add a dimension to the study that it was impossible to give here. The author suggests that the hypotheses would remain much the same, i. e. , sanctions and rewards would be key factors in determining action, but knowl— edge of the respondents own perceptions of the situation are needed to push beyond the descriptive factor of how the roles have been modified to some better understanding of why they have changed as they have. SELECTED BIB LIOGRA PHICAL ENTRIES Books and Public Documents Allyn, Paul, and Greene, Joseph. See How They Run: The Making of a Congressman. Philadelphia: The Chilton Company, 1964. Bell, Wendell, ,Hill, Richard J. , and Wright, Charles R. Public Leadership. San Francisco: The Chandler Publishing Company, 1961. Breckenridge, S. P. 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