Deviation and Compliance: Voting Contagion in Marriage in 1930s Barcelona

Abstract

Models of household voting contagion have tended to treat the phenomenon as homogenous and multidirectional, however in patriarchal contexts, where women’s autonomy is limited, it is likely to be gendered. This paper examines these Dynamics in the aftermath of suffrage expansion in 1930s Spain, when many had voiced concerns that women, lacking political experience, would have their votes co-opted by their husbands. But was this always the case? Or did there exist circumstances under which these wives were able to cultivate independent political identities? By examining the various channels through which contagion occurs, and considering factors beyond the confines of marriage that may moderate it, I explore heterogeneity of this effect. I doing so, I develop a theoretical framework in which employment reduces intra-marital contagion by providing women with financial resources that increase their bargaining power, and by exposing them to mobilising forces outside the household. I then test these hypotheses using a unique dataset comprising individual voting records from Barcelona (1934-1936). My results suggest that wives’ employment does indeed reduce the influence of their husbands’ turnout on their own, and that this effect is driven by women working in unskilled and manual professions, suggestive of a mobilisation-based mechanism.