Article
Family Ties? The Limits of Fathering Daughters on Congressional Behavior
American Politics Research
(2019)
Abstract
Scholars have long suggested that familial life can affect political behavior and,
more recently, have found that fathering daughters leads men to adopt more
liberal positions on gender equality policies. However, few have focused on
the impact of fathering a daughter on congressional behavior, particularly
in an era of heightened partisan polarization. Using an original data set of
familial information, we examine whether fathering a daughter influences
male legislators’ (a) roll call and cosponsorship support for women’s issues
in the 110th to 114th Congresses and (b) cosponsorship of bills introduced
by female legislators in the 110th Congress. We find that once party
affiliation is taken into account, having a daughter neither predicts support
for women’s issues nor cosponsorship of bills sponsored by women. Our
findings suggest there are limits to the direct effects of parenting daughters
on men’s political behavior, and that scholars should remain attentive to
institutional and partisan contexts.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2019
Citation Information
Jesse H Rhodes, Mia Costa, Tatishe Nteta, Elizabeth Sharrow, et al.. "Family Ties? The Limits of Fathering Daughters on Congressional Behavior" American Politics Research Vol. 47 Iss. 3 (2019) p. 471 - 493 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jesse_rhodes/3/