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This article investigates similarities and differences in the relationship between "public" and "private" in the lives of women and men who hold elective and appointive office. An analysis of data collected through surveys of federal appointees and state legislators indicates that men's political choices may be more influenced by private sphere considerations than commonly believed, but that private sphere concerns are nevertheless of greater significance to women than to men. Findings provide support for a conceptualization of public and private as an interrelated system of social relations rather than as two largely separate spheres of existence.
Susan J. Carroll (Mon,) studied this question.