Gendered Resource Returns: African American Institutions and Political Engagement

"While numerous studies discuss the importance of black churches and race-based organizations to African American political participation, few of them systematically analyze the gendered nature of such engagement. Employing data from the 1994 National Black Politics Survey, this study compares the influence of church-based activities and race-based organizational participation on African American men's and women's electoral and non-electoral political participation, and finds that 1) African American women participate less than African-American men; 2) in spite of black institutional participation the gender gap remains; 3) a liberal political orientation or households with union members mediates the gendered black institution effect; and, 4) Black institutional involvement enhances male more than female political participation. These findings have important implications for our theoretical understanding of institutional resource returns." Source: Center for the Study of Democracy, U.C. Irvine

Download PDF publication | link to online summary via eScholarship repository