I’m not sure this is entirely capturing the issue. To take one example, Howard Dean appears to have a stable marriage, but the fact that his wife planned to continue her own career as a doctor rather than just being a politician’s dutiful wife was much remarked upon in 2003-2004. I’d lean toward the general phenomenon being less about signalling one is not divorced or adulterous, and more about the fact that traditional ideas about gender roles are still pretty well-ensconced in 21st century US society. (Note that the husbands of female US politicians are not subjected to an equal expectation of following their candidate/officeholder wives around.)
(Note that the husbands of female US politicians are not subjected to an equal expectation of following their candidate/officeholder wives around.)
I’m not sure how true this is. Bill was a major force during Clinton’s campaign, and when you look at Britain Denis was pretty clearly a dutiful husband to Thatcher. I don’t have much data about the legislative side of things, though. Looking at Paul Pelosi, it looks like he might choose to stay in the shadows to leave more room for Nancy in the spotlight, but also looks like he’s active in business now (rather than being full-time support).
I know among business executives, women’s husbands are employed full-time about 75% of the time whereas men’s wives are not employed about 75% of the time, so I’ll believe those expectations exist in general, but those seem like the sort of expectations I would expect to be weaker in politics.
I’m not sure this is entirely capturing the issue. To take one example, Howard Dean appears to have a stable marriage, but the fact that his wife planned to continue her own career as a doctor rather than just being a politician’s dutiful wife was much remarked upon in 2003-2004. I’d lean toward the general phenomenon being less about signalling one is not divorced or adulterous, and more about the fact that traditional ideas about gender roles are still pretty well-ensconced in 21st century US society. (Note that the husbands of female US politicians are not subjected to an equal expectation of following their candidate/officeholder wives around.)
I’m not sure how true this is. Bill was a major force during Clinton’s campaign, and when you look at Britain Denis was pretty clearly a dutiful husband to Thatcher. I don’t have much data about the legislative side of things, though. Looking at Paul Pelosi, it looks like he might choose to stay in the shadows to leave more room for Nancy in the spotlight, but also looks like he’s active in business now (rather than being full-time support).
I know among business executives, women’s husbands are employed full-time about 75% of the time whereas men’s wives are not employed about 75% of the time, so I’ll believe those expectations exist in general, but those seem like the sort of expectations I would expect to be weaker in politics.