Sources of access and competence in women's political persuading, 1964–1984

This study examines political persuading, trying to influence another during a political campaign, by women between 1964 and 1984. Data for the study are drawn from the American National Election Studies surveys done during each Presidential election campaign in those years. Political persuading by women increased significantly during this period, but still lagged behind men's rates of persuading. This study explores the antecedents of women's political persuading as represented in two constructs, “access” and “competence.” Competence (education, age cohort and news media use) contributed significantly to explaining women's political persuading during this time. Access, opportunities to persuade inferred from parenting, marital, and employment status, had little effect. A path model of competence variables found that news media use contributed significantly to explaining persuading beyond the impacts of education and generation. These findings modify previous explanations of American women's political participation and suggest new, gendered approaches to the empirical study of women's political communication.

Key concepts:

• Women and politics
• political persuading
• gender and politics
• American National Elections Studies