Single women and voting, the myth that keeps on giving

December 10, 2007 · Filed Under Feminism, Internet Media, Politics

After I wrote a piece in the Huffington Post citing Margie Omero’s findings that single women vote more than single men, and we can’t be so incredibly one-sided about the whole thing: “There is indeed a “Marriage Gap” among women. Married people vote at a higher rate than non-married people. But the marriage gap is actually larger among men. According to Census reports from the 2004 election, married men are as likely to vote (63% turnout) as married women (65%). But unmarried men (which includes single, divorced, separated, and widowed) are substantially less likely to vote (46%) than unmarried women (55%). The marriage gap is 10 points among women, and is nearly twice that (18 points) among men.”I loved this post from Elisa:

“Well, turns out that first of all, we ALL don’t vote to a shameful degree, but further: unmarried women vote more than unmarried men do. and yet no one wonders if, as Morra puts it, all the unmarried men are too busy playing Guitar Hero to vote. (Which cracked me up on a personal level, given my S.O. plays Guitar Hero incessantly, and he wasn’t even registered to vote until I made him…and he rarely votes unless I physically drag gim. We’ll see if getting him a permanent absentee ballot…which I signed him up for…works.)”

Elisa, Guitar Hero assaults my eardrums daily. But at least it’s better than his previous favorite, Gears of War.

Anyway, today, I read an interview with Page Gardner, founder of Women’s Voices, Women’s Vote. It’s a great organization, to be sure, but it perpetuates a really sexist story, if Margie’s numbers are true. Yes, single women need to vote more. But so do single men. How come they get off the hook? How come major gatekeepers of our society (e.g, Harvard) perpetuate the storyline that women are less informed politically than men? It’s a great storyline, but a vicious cycle.

Let’s correct the assumptions, and then resume our get out the vote activities!