BACKGROUND AND EXPECTATIONS

Participation theories that posit a universal model and emphasize resources may fail to capture the experiences of people of color; indeed, studies typically are based on samples of whites (Brown Reference Brown2014; Junn Reference Junn2007; Junn and Brown Reference Junn, Brown, Wolbrecht, Beckwith and Baldez2008). Anoll (Reference Anoll2018, 498) found that “rather than a monolithic civic duty norm, racial group membership moderates perceptions of political activity and the underlying construct of what civic participation means and why it matters.”

However, studies of women of color have not been especially attentive to campaign contributions as a form of participation. Compared with white women, scholars have found that Black and Latina women are less likely to report giving to politics (Brown Reference Brown2014; Holman Reference Holman, Brown and Gershon2016).Footnote ¹ Numerous campaign-finance studies indicate that being white and being a man predict political contributions (Francia et al. Reference Francia, Herrnson, Green, Powell and Wilcox2010; Grumbach and Sahn Reference Grumbach and Sahn2020; Grumbach, Sahn, and Staszak Reference Grumbach, Sahn and Staszak2022). The strong relationship with family income separates giving from other political activities (Verba, Schlozman, and Brady Reference Verba, Schlozman and Brady1995). Yet, the stark imbalances in giving and the resulting inequality of political voice (Aneja, Grumbach, and Wood Reference Aneja, Grumbach and Wood2022) are cause to further investigate the nature of this underrepresentation. Moreover, critiques of resource models of participation have been advanced on race, gender, and intersectional grounds (Brown Reference Brown2014; Holman Reference Holman, Brown and Gershon2016; Junn and Brown Reference Junn, Brown, Wolbrecht, Beckwith and Baldez2008).

Research has shown that people of color outgive whites in charitable giving (W. K. Kellogg Foundation 2012) and that women outgive men in charitable contributions (Mesch et al. Reference Mesch, Osili, Ackerman and Dale2015). Gender differences for single people are evident across race and ethnicity in charitable giving, with women being more participatory (Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy 2019). These studies suggest that there is more involved in the giving decisions made by women of color than resources alone, thereby creating space for an attitudinal approach.

Contributing to campaigns is one of the most unequal forms of political participation (Schlozman, Verba, and Brady Reference Schlozman, Verba and Brady2012). In studies of political giving, Black women and Latinas typically are the worst-represented groups. The Grumbach, Sahn, and Staszak (Reference Grumbach, Sahn and Staszak2022) analysis of congressional campaign contributions by race and gender groups between 1980 and 2010 found that Black women and Latinas gave less overall, gave less per capita, gave fewer contributions, and comprised a smaller number of donors than Black men, Latino men, white men, and white women. The authors stated that “Black and Latina women combined have only recently begun to comprise more than 1% of individual contributions” (Grumbach, Sahn, and Staszak Reference Grumbach, Sahn and Staszak2022, 330; italics in the original). Meanwhile, a Center for American Women and Politics (2024) press release identified current inequalities: Black women and Latinas provided substantially fewer dollars to 2024 congressional candidates than white women.Footnote ²

Other studies show that Black women’s political behavior departs from Black men and other women (Philpot and Walton Reference Philpot and Walton2007; Simien Reference Simien2005; Slaughter, Crowder, and Greer Reference Slaughter, Crowder and Greer2023). Black women are loyal Democrats and turn out to vote at high rates (Smooth Reference Smooth, Carroll, Fox and Dittmar2022). However, their voices are less likely to be heard due to the campaign contribution deficit. Organizations such as the Higher Heights for America PAC are seeking to remedy these unequal giving patterns by creating a network that can help to elect more Black women. Studies have found campaign-finance inequalities for Black women candidates as well (Bryner Reference Bryner2021; James Reference James2022; Scott Reference Scott2022; Sorensen and Chen Reference Sorensen and Chen2021).

Like Black women, Latinas are underrepresented in elective office. They also occupy unequal positions in society and the economy and have diminished access to income and wealth (Insight Center for Community and Economic Development 2010; Institute for Women’s Policy Research 2021). Latinas currently run for and hold office at greater rates than in the past but below their proportion in the population (Bejarano Reference Bejarano2013; Dittmar Reference Dittmar2022; Hardy-Fanta et al. Reference Hardy-Fanta, Lien, Pinderhughes and Sierra2016; Sampaio Reference Sampaio, Carroll, Fox and Dittmar2022). Compared with Black women, the political incorporation of Latinas is more likely to depend on factors such as nativity, generation, and language, as well as their reasons for immigration (Bejarano Reference Bejarano2014). Latinas also may be more constrained by traditional gender roles (Bejarano Reference Bejarano2013; Hardy-Fanta et al. Reference Hardy-Fanta, Lien, Pinderhughes and Sierra2016). Moreover, although Latinas are more Democratic, the major parties have not sufficiently incorporated them into party politics (Hajnal and Lee Reference Hajnal and Lee2011; Sampaio Reference Sampaio, Carroll, Fox and Dittmar2022).

RESEARCH DESIGN, DATA, AND ANALYSES

A national sample of Black women (N=650) and Latina women (N=655) participated in my original online surveys through Qualtrics (Sanbonmatsu Reference Sanbonmatsu2024). Although they were opt-in panels, the two samples were similar to nationally representative samples.Footnote ³ The research design encompassed three strategies to test my central hypothesis that women place less value on political giving as an activity compared to other acts of political and civic engagement. The design was modeled on prior research about norms and political participation (Anoll Reference Anoll2018; Dalton Reference Dalton2008; Gerber et al. Reference Gerber, Huber, Doherty and Dowling2016; White and Laird Reference White and Laird2020).

First, respondents were asked whether individuals who are engaged in various civic and political activities were good community members. Second, they were asked whether they would share information about their own hypothetical participation with their networks. Third, to more surreptitiously gauge norms, they evaluated ingroup members portrayed as participating in different civic and political acts via a between-subjects vignette experiment. Following Anoll (Reference Anoll2018), the experiment asked respondents to assess a hypothetical neighbor’s likability and respectability and manipulated the civic and political activity of their neighbor. By manipulating the activity, this experiment complemented the first two aspects of the design. It provided an additional test of whether Black women and Latinas place less value on the act of making a campaign contribution to political candidates than they place on other acts.

I first sought to identify any differences in the women’s valuation of charitable giving versus political giving. Respondents were randomly assigned to receive one of three activities and asked to evaluate whether or not the statement was true:

• “People who donate money to candidates are good community members.”

• “People who donate money to organizations that take stands in politics are good community members.”

• “People who donate money to charitable organizations are good community members.”

Response options ranged from 1 (“not at all likely to be true”) to 5 (“extremely likely to be true”).

Black women who received the “donate money to charitable organizations” condition were more likely to offer higher evaluations of “good community members” than those who were asked whether people who engaged in political giving (i.e., “donate money to candidates”) were good community members. This effect was not significant (F=1.85, p=0.16) in the ANOVA analysis. However, the type of activity affected assessments of good community members for Latinas: people who donate to charity were seen as significantly more likely than those who donate to political candidates or to a political organization to be good community members (F=8.63, p<0.01). Latinas did not make a distinction between giving to political organizations versus candidates.

Table 1 presents the respondents’ views of the three financial activities compared with other civic and political activities. The ratings were on the same 1-to-5-point scale of being a good community member.

Table 1

Civic and Political Activities That Help the Community

Source: 2023 Qualtrics surveys.

Notes: Cell entries are means with standard deviation in parentheses. 1 indicates “not at all likely to be true” and 5 indicates “extremely likely to be true” that participants in the activity are good community members.

For both Black women and Latinas, political giving—whether to a candidate or an organization—resonated the least of all the activities in terms of being a good community member. Both Black women and Latinas viewed individuals who were active in voluntary organizations and who voted as better community members than those who gave money to politics—differences that were statistically significant. For Latinas only, serving on a jury was rated significantly higher than giving money to candidates. Whereas Latinas’ perceptions of donating to charity versus politics was a statistically significant relationship, this result was not significant for Black women. To some degree, these results are consistent with other studies of the high value placed on the vote (Anoll Reference Anoll2018; Dalton Reference Dalton2008).

Another way to determine whether there is a shared norm is to measure the likelihood that women would share information about their participation in that activity with their networks (White and Laird Reference White and Laird2020). Black women and Latinas were asked whether they would share the information with friends and family were they to engage in various civic and political acts in the coming year (figure 1).Footnote ⁴

Figure 1a

The Social Value of Civic and Political Activities: Likelihood of Sharing Activity with Friends and Family (Black Women)

Figure 1b

The Social Value of Civic and Political Activities: Likelihood of Sharing Activity with Friends and Family (Latinas)

Women rated political giving—either to a candidate or to an organization—as the lowest with respect to whether they would share their participation. For both Black women and Latinas, donating money to a charity, volunteering for a charity, and voting in the next election were the top three activities that they would be “very likely” to share with friends and family. Volunteering for a political candidate scored in the middle.

Figure 1 suggests the absence of a shared norm around political giving.Footnote ⁵ The difference between political giving and other activities was statistically significant for both groups of women. Without an expected, positive valuation of political giving from friends and family, there may be less incentive to participate as political donors in comparison with other civic and political opportunities.Footnote ⁶

The third aspect of the design was a vignette experiment. Similar to the research designs of Gerber et al. (Reference Gerber, Huber, Doherty and Dowling2016) and Anoll (Reference Anoll2018), respondents were asked to rate a hypothetical neighbor on a scale of likability and respectability. The neighbor’s civic or political activity was manipulated.Footnote ⁷ Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the following three conditions that described the neighbor as having:

• “Voted in the last presidential election”

• “Gave money to political candidates last year”

• “Gave money to charity last year”

I analyzed the extent to which participating in these different activities shaped assessments of the neighbor’s likability and respectability. The design portrayed an ingroup member who shared the same racial and party background as the respondent. That is, Black women read about a potential neighbor who is Black and Latinas read about a Latino or Latina neighbor. Democrats read about a Democratic individual and Republicans about a Republican.Footnote ⁸ The gender of the potential neighbor was randomized. By positing an ingroup member who shared the respondent’s racial and party background, I could isolate the respondents’ assessments of neighbors who gave to a political candidate compared with other activities.

For Black women, the experimental condition of voting compared with political or charitable giving did not yield significant differences in the evaluation of the hypothetical neighbor on the trait of respectability using ANOVA (F=2.29, p=0.10). The lack of a significant effect also occurred for Latinas (F=2.09, p=0.13). To summarize, the potential neighbor—who was a racial/ethnic ingroup member—was rated the same on respectability regardless of which of the three civic or political activities was portrayed (i.e., voting, giving to charity, and giving to political candidates).

For Black women, respondents did not differentiate across the three activities—including political giving—regarding how likable the potential neighbor was (F=0.69, p=0.50). The results were different for Latinas who rated the hypothetical neighbor on likability differently depending on the activity (F=4.53, p=0.01). The potential neighbor who gave to charity was perceived as more likable than the neighbor who gave to politics (p=0.01). Latinas also perceived the neighbor engaged in charitable giving as more likable than someone who votes regularly (p=0.05). However, the rating difference was slightly narrower than the rating between charitable and political giving. Latinas did not distinguish between voting and giving money to politics in this experiment.

By conducting an analysis of Black women and Latinas, I join other scholars who illuminate the dynamics of gender and race/ethnicity in elections (Brown, Clark, and Mahoney Reference Brown, Clark and Mahoney2022; Slaughter, Crowder, and Greer Reference Slaughter, Crowder and Greer2023). Although this analysis centered on the experiences and views of Black women and Latinas, other scholars can extend this research to determine whether these findings hold for other race and gender groups.