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  • 1940 Census Questions: If unmarried, are you a virgin? Are you a blonde or brunette? Do you own a Bible?

    (Editor’s Note: Although we knew the name of our 1940s town, we didn’t remember the street name offhand where we had lived – until middle school – until we located the local map for our New York State area and browsed the streets.)

    Two Articles from the Census Department:counting a 1930 family

    Census Pop Culture Through the Decades

    http://1940census.archives.gov/

    By Michael Snow

    In 2010, Betty White’s Saturday Night Live debut included a sketch where she played a census respondent to Tina Fey’s enumerator. This was not the first time the once-in-a-decade count has made its way into pop culture.  As we continue our countdown to the release of 1940 Census records, we take a look at a notable 1940 parody of the census, a deeper look at how the 1940 Census questions were developed, as well as some other famous occurrences of the census in pop culture.

    While Saturday Night Live is popular with today’s audiences, in 1940, laughs came from “The Three Stooges.” In October 1940, movie theaters treated audiences to Census Taker Moe from the Three Stooges asking households, “Are you married or are you happy?” in a film called No Census, No Feeling.

    While the preceding examples were a good-natured ribbing of the Census Bureau, they also provide a window into the role the decennial census plays in society.

    Prior to the 1940 Census, during the 1930s, demand exploded for census data to measure the effects of the Great Depression and to aid federal agencies.  The Census Bureau consulted experts in other federal departments, social scientists and business leaders.  More than 1,000 individuals were asked what questions should be added or changed for the 1940 Census.

    Various industry groups, scholars, and community organizations proposed thousands of new questions to the Census Bureau’s technical advisory committee. Some of the rejected questions included:

    If unmarried, are you a virgin?

    Are you a blonde or brunette?

    Do you own a Bible?

  • The Perilous Paradox: Women, Retirement, and the Extra-Long Life

    Women who take charge, do the math, plan for contingencies and work with their partners and/or financial advisors have a better chance of securing their finances in retirement than those who shrink from the process, according to a new study from the MetLife Mature Market Institute.

    The MetLife Study of Women, Retirement, and the Extra-Long Life: Implications for Planning shows women face a number of unique risks — including longevity, aging single, lower retirement incomes, greater healthcare costs and added caregiving responsibilities — and have not planned adequately to address these concerns, leading to a significant shortfall.

    The study examines the thinking and practices of mature women, ages 50 to 70, in the context of the “extra” challenges they may experience in retirement. According to the report, women expect to live until age 85, some until age 90, and are more concerned than men about affording health care, long-term care and outliving their assets. Yet, slightly more than half of the women surveyed know the likely amount of their retirement income/assets and only 44% have calculated the amount of their essential expenses. Approximately one-in-six (16%) reported that they have or plan to delay retirement, on average, four years.

    CalculatingIncome

    The data suggests that women who work collaboratively with spouses, partners, financial advisors and even knowledgeable friends, report higher confidence in their retirement security. It shows that those who employ what is known as the “Three Cs” approach: Communication + Compatibility = Confidence, have better results. Among men and women, men are more likely (65% vs. 55%) to calculate retirement income.

    		 VideoLinkGraphic

    “The combination of risks for women and their relatively inadequate retirement planning has become known as the ‘perilous paradox,’ but the message is clear that women are able to avoid that,” said Sandra Timmermann, Ed.D., director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute. “The risks and costs of ‘living long and living female’ call for an ‘affirmative action’ plan. We find that those who plan for a steady stream of income, along with some flexibility for the unexpected, are best prepared for what can be an extended future.”

    Kathryn B. McGrew, Ph.D., research fellow at the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University, said, “For themselves and their families, women can do a better job of taking charge, planning for contingencies, gathering information, calculating their income/expenses and getting serious about retirement strategy. Their spouses and partners can do their part by engaging in a joint strategy that serves the interests of both parties with various retirement scenarios. They should give particular consideration to the fact that most women will outlive their spouses.”

  • Birdsongs Keep Pace with City Life; Whistling the same tune and turning up the volume

    Sparrows in San Francisco’s Presidio district changed their tune to soar above the increasing cacophony of car horns and engine rumbles, details new Mason University research in the April edition of “Animal Behaviour.”

    “It shows a strong link between the change in song and the change in noise,” says David Luther, term assistant professor in Mason’s undergraduate biology program. “It’s also the first study that I know of to track the songs over time and the responses of birds to historical and current songs.”

    The study, “Birdsongs Keep Pace with City Life: Changes in Song Over Time in an Urban Songbird Affects Communication,” compares birdsongs from as far back as 1969 to today’s tweets. Plus, the researchers detail how San Francisco’s streets have grown noisier based on studies from 1974 and 2008.Dr. Elizabeth Derrynberry

    Luther wrote the study with Elizabeth Derryberry, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Tulane University and a research assistant professor at Louisiana State University’s Museum of Natural Science. “We’ve created this artificial world, although one could say it’s the real world now, with all this noise — traffic, leaf blowers, air conditioners,” Luther says. “A lot of birds are living in these areas, and what, if anything, is this doing to their songs?”

    Turns out, quite a bit.

    Just as we raise our voices to be heard when a car speeds past, birds making their homes near busy intersections have to tweet a little louder, Luther says. But it’s more than just whistling the same tune and turning up the volume. Most birds stopped singing some old songs because those ditties couldn’t cut through the racket.

    The bird they studied is the white-crowned sparrow, a small bird that sports a jaunty white cap with black stripes. Only male birds were studied.

    white-crowned sparrow

    The white-crowned sparrow. Image from Wikipedia Commons

    Even birds from the same species don’t sing the same song. “Some bird species sing in different dialects just like the way people talk differently if they are from Texas or California or New York, even different parts of New York,” Luther says.

    The sparrows warble in low, medium and high frequencies.

    “It’s the really low hum where almost all of this human-made noise is — in this very low bandwidth. The birds can often sing at the top end of that low bandwidth,” says Luther, whistling a lively bird tune, “and if there’s no traffic around, that’s just fine. But if they’re singing and there’s this,” he says, making a low humming noise, “the lowest portion of that song gets lost, and the birds can’t hear it.”

    So the birds changed their tune. Sparrows in the Presidio used to sing in three distinct dialects when famed ornithologist Luis Baptista made his recordings in 1969. When Luther worked with Baptista some 30 years later, those song stylings had dropped to two, with one higher-range dialect clearly on the way to be the only song in town.

  • My Mother’s Cookbook, Strawberries: Shortcake, Two Pies, and a Dutch Baby with Fresh Strawberries

    By Margaret Cullison

    Garden Strawberries

    The first strawberries appear in grocery stores by early March on the west coast. Imports from further south, they look appealing but lack the sweet smell and taste that strawberry lovers crave. Generous amounts of sugar and cream help mask their imperfections, and these first offerings carry the promise of more perfect varieties to come as spring folds into summer.

    My first-born granddaughter Abby loves strawberries and, as a toddler, called them “strawbabies,” a name that truly expresses the delight of this succulent red fruit. Abby comes by her fondness for the berries naturally, because her father, my youngest son Peter likes them too.

    When he was six, Peter, his three older brothers, and I rode an Amtrak train from San Francisco to Omaha to visit my parents in southwest Iowa. The trip took two days and one night, so I reserved a compartment with two bunk beds and a tiny bathroom. I brought along a sleeping bag, to serve as a fifth bed, intended for Peter. He has never given up easily on the things he wanted to have or do, and he wanted to sleep in a top bunk. I gave in to him, a decision I regretted later when he rolled out of his upper berth with a loud thud. Fortunately unharmed, Peter spent the rest of the night in his rightful place, on the floor in the sleeping bag.

    I knew that no matter how much food I packed to bring with us, it would never feed four young boys for the trip’s duration. Besides, Amtrak trains still provided a reasonable facsimile of fine railroad dining that I remembered from earlier train trips. The June dinner menu featured strawberry shortcake, which we all ordered. Our kindly waiter noticed how Peter devoured his dessert with gusto and served him a generous portion for each meal of our trip.

    During my childhood, we waited eagerly for local strawberries to ripen in summer, because shipping perishable produce from warmer climates didn’t exist, at least not to our rural town. My mother didn’t usually serve dessert with the evening meal but made an exception with fresh strawberries. Here’s the traditional shortcake she liked best.

    Strawberry Shortcake

    2 cups washed strawberries, tops removed and berries cut into halves or quarters. Mix with sugar, to taste, and refrigerate.

    The Shortcake:

    2 cups flour

    4 teaspoons baking powder

    1/2 teaspoon salt

    1/4 cup sugar

    1 egg, well beaten

    1/3 cup milk

    1/3 cup butter

    2 additional tablespoons melted butter

    1 cup heavy cream, whipped to spreadable consistency

  • Consumers Have a Right to Know What is in Their Products: House Panel Focuses on Cosmetics Industry Regulation

    From Women’s Policy, Inc

    On March 27, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing, “Examining the Current State of Cosmetics.” The hearing focused on the regulatory authority of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the cosmetics industry. As the industry faces new challenges with technology, globalization, and product safety, the hearing addressed implications of legislation that would increase FDA regulation. (See SeniorWomen.com’s WalkUp to the Hearings)Marquise de Pompadour

    In his opening statement, Chair Joe Pitts (R-PA), said, “Cosmetics are regulated by FDA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act [(FFDCA) P.L. 75-717] of 1938. The FFDCA forbids the introduction of adulterated or misbranded cosmetics into interstate commerce and provides for seizure, criminal penalties, and other enforcement authorities for violations of the act. The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act [P.L. 89-755] also requires cosmetics to carry an ingredient declaration to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions. Unlike other products regulated by FDA, however, such as drugs, medical devices, and biologics, most cosmetic products and ingredients are not subject to FDA premarket approval. Instead, cosmetic manufacturers are largely responsible for substantiating the safety of their products and ingredients before they go to market. Currently, cosmetic facilities can register with FDA on a voluntary basis, but FDA cannot compel them to do so. While FDA has the authority under FFDCA to enter and inspect cosmetic manufacturing facilities, the industry does not pay user fees for this purpose…For the past several years, the industry and members of both parties have been reviewing FDA’s regulatory authority over these products. One issue under review is the need for a national uniform standard for cosmetic products and preemption of state legislation.”

    Addressing concern over the safety of cosmetic products in her opening statement, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), said, “The fact is this: cosmetics contain ingredients that can cause cancer, mutate cellular structure, and cause reproductive and developmental harm. Industry claims that these ingredients are present at such low doses that they aren’t a problem, but men, women, and children are exposed every day to dozens or hundreds of ingredients in their shampoos, cologne, makeup, lotions, and other products. We have to consider the cumulative effect of exposure. Any bill this committee considers must include – as the Schakowsky/Markey/Baldwin Safe Cosmetics Act [H.R. 2359] does – the following elements: 1) A strong safety standard that bans carcinogens, mutagens, and reproductive toxins; 2) Full ingredient disclosure and labeling. Consumers have a right to know what is in their products; and 3) Mandatory recall authority for the FDA. I think today’s testimony will underscore the need for these provisions, as well as the complexity of this industry and the need for thorough consideration of any legislation making changes to cosmetics regulations.”

    Michael Landa, director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the FDA, said, “The FFDCA defines a cosmetic as an ‘article intended to be rubbed, poured, sprinkled, or sprayed on, introduced into, or otherwise applied to the human body or any part thereof for cleansing, beautifying, promoting effectiveness, or altering the appearance.’ The definition also includes articles intended for use as a component of any such articles. Cosmetics firms are responsible for substantiating the safety of their products and ingredients before marketing. However, they are not required to submit safety substantiation data to the agency, nor make it available to the agency. Under FFDCA, cosmetic products and ingredients (with the exception of color additives) are not subject to FDA premarket approval or premarket notification.” He continued, “[T]he FY2013 president’s budget request includes new legislative authority for FDA to require domestic and foreign cosmetics manufacturers to register with FDA and pay an annual registration fee. The user fees would support FDA’s cosmetics safety and other cosmetics-related responsibilities and are estimated to generate $19 million in new resources. The product, ingredient, and facility information submitted with registration would expand FDA’s information about the industry and better enable the agency to develop necessary guidance and safety standards. It would also enable the agency to identify and address research gaps, for example, about the safety of novel ingredients. With these additional funding resources, FDA would be able to conduct priority activities that meet public health and industry goals…Overall, the new authority for registration and user fees would strengthen FDA’s ability to protect American consumers from potentially unsafe cosmetic products or ingredients.”

    Painting: Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (1721-1764), known as Madame de Pompadour at Her Toilette by François Boucher. From Wikimedia Commons

  • CultureWatch: An Asperger’s Puzzle, A Fine New Short Story Author and a Lady Spy Thrills

    In This Issue

    Asperger’s is a puzzling condition, and Nilla Childs has framed Puzzled: 100 pieces of Autism in what she terms the 8 steps to completing a jigsaw puzzle. She has also learned how to give up “what does not work.”   Megan Bergman’s fine, fine collection of short stories, Birds of a Lesser Paradise,  have both moral profundity and light-hearted humor. If you’re looking for the next big page-turner, you’ve found it in The Expats. Chris Pavone is a dab hand at both mayhem and domesticity, something unusual in the business of flash-and-dash spy novels.

    PUZZLED: 100 pieces of Autism
    by Nilla Childs, © 2012
    Paperback; 296 pp – available on Amazon.com

    I’ve never before reviewed a book by a friend, but in the interests of full disclosure, Nilla Childs is a neighbor of mine. I am breaking my self-imposed “no books by friends” rule because it seems to me that this brave and honest little book deserves to be put out into the world where it can possibly be of help to other families who are struggling to understand children and grandchildren, who seem somehow “different.”

    Nilla Childs is the wife of an accomplished artist, and mother of two bright sons. The eldest of the boys was diagnosed at age 25 as having High-Functioning Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism that was identified only toward the end of the 20th century. It is characterized by a person’s difficulty with social interactions despite (usually) average or above average intelligence. It can manifest itself as inappropriate verbal responses or difficulty in expressing oneself, among other things.

    The book is a recounting of the parents’ long search for a diagnosis of their son Daniel’s difficulties, and their determined efforts to help him to an independent adulthood.

    Asperger’s is a puzzling condition, and Ms. Childs has framed her book in what she terms the eight steps to completing a jigsaw puzzle, beginning at step one: “Taking the Pieces Out of the Box.” In other circumstances, this arbitrary framework might seem simplistic or overly restrictive. Here, in the author’s capable hands, it makes perfect sense.

    Other forms of autism usually show up very early in life. Daniel’s, however, appears to have developed slowly, peaking in his late teens and early twenties. The first years of school seemed very easy for him, perhaps because those first three years are heavily focused on learning to read — a skill Daniel had well in hand by about age 3. He was also well-coordinated, good with ball handling at a young age, and demonstrated a remarkable memory for events that had happened at a very early age, even years later.

    The Childs family has an interesting dynamic, right off the bat: mother is the descendant of New Englanders, and father is a Southerner, from Georgia. Nilla, a doctor’s daughter, grew up as a highly intelligent child of privilege, attending excellent private schools, and when she graduated from high school, was accepted to Mt. Holyoke College. Although Steve is also very bright, he had a struggle in learning to read; he loved sports and was gifted in art (he is today an accomplished painter and portraitist). Although they came from different worlds, they fell in love at a young age, and Nilla left Mt. Holyoke after one year, to transfer to Emory University in Atlanta in order to be near Steve. As she emphasizes in her book, they have found that although their respective childhoods were very different, they quickly discovered that there was much that they share: moral values, political and spiritual beliefs, aesthetic tastes, a love of animals and the great outdoors.

    It is evident that they also share a deep love for their boys, the kind of love that will go to any lengths to help them as they mature. They have surrounded their sons with their values and beliefs, not so much by talk as by doing:  school, church, camping, the extended family, friends, pets, art and literature have filled their lives.

  • House Committee Passes Interstate Abortion Bill

    From Women’s Policy, Inc

    On March 27, the House Judiciary Committee approved, 20-13, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (H.R. 2299). The committee held a hearing on the bill on March 8 (see SeniorWomen.com’s previous story, Examining the ‘Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act’).

    Sponsored by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the act would criminalize any individual who knowingly transports a minor across state lines to have an abortion in order to avoid parental notification laws in the minor’s home state. The legislation would require providers to seek consent from the parents of the minor seeking an abortion, and then wait 24 hours before they can legally perform the procedure. Under the measure, a provider that knowingly performs an abortion on an out-of-state minor without parental notification or prior judicial authorization would be in violation and, therefore, subject to a fine or imprisonment for up to one year.

    The bill would make an exception for an abortion necessary to save the life of a minor. In addition, it would not prohibit a provider from performing an abortion if the minor can provide a written statement declaring that she was the victim of sexual abuse, neglect, or physical abuse by a parent, as long as the provider notifies authorities from the minor’s home state to receive reports of child abuse or neglect prior to performing the procedure.

    During consideration of the bill, the committee rejected the following amendments:

    An amendment by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) to allow the parental notification requirement to include a grandparent or sibling, unless the grandparent or sibling had sexual contact with the minor, 7-16;Sheila Jackson Lee

    An amendment by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) to allow the parental notification requirement to include all siblings, whether they are adults or minors, by voice vote;

    An amendment by Rep. Scott to ensure that taxicab, bus, or other service transportation drivers are not held liable under the bill, unless they are registered sex offenders, 10-14;

    An amendment by Rep. Melvin Watt (D-NC) to exempt from legal liability anyone who transports a minor across the state line for an abortion if she or he as a “good faith belief” that the minor’s life or health is endangered by the 24-hour waiting period following parental notification, 11-13;

    An amendment by Rep. Watt to exclude from the prohibition against transporting minors across state lines for the purposes of having an abortion situations where the minor receives an abortion in order to save her own life, 12-15;

    An amendment by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) to include in the parental notification requirement members of the clergy, godparents, aunts, uncles, and first cousins, unless they had sexual contact with the minor, 11-16;

    An amendment by Rep. Jackson Lee to exempt from the prohibition circumstances in which the minor’s pregnancy is the result of sexual contact with a parent or other family member, or any person who has permanent or temporary custody of the minor, 11-17;

    An amendment by Rep. Jackson Lee to delay the bill from taking effect for 120 days after enactment, 11-17;

    An amendment by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) to waive the parental notification requirement if informing the parent of the pregnancy or abortion would endanger the safety of the minor, 11-18;

    An amendment by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) to exempt from the prohibition situations where the minor becomes pregnant as a result of incest or rape, 11-15;

    An amendment by Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) to exempt from the prohibition situations where the minor received an abortion to protect her health, 9-15;

    An amendment by Rep. Nadler to exempt from prosecution any adult who can demonstrate with evidence that she or he has reason to believe that compliance with the bill’s prohibitions would compromise the minor’s intent to maintain confidentiality of her abortion, 8-16; and

    An en bloc amendment by Rep. Scott to 1) exempt from the prohibition minors from a state with no such law who receive an abortion in a state with no such law; and 2) prohibit the prosecution of a person charged with circumventing the parental notification law unless the alleged action is a first-degree crime, 14-17.

    Photograph:  Rep. Jackson from her House of Representatives website.

  • New Deal Numerology: A Bad Prognosis

    — by Deputy Editor Tim Price, New Deal Blog, Roosevelt Institute

    This week’s numbers: 32 million; 10 million; 2,700; 45; 6

    32 million … is an expansive number. That’s how many Americans the Affordable Care Act will insure once implemented. Conservatives argue we should instead return to the framers’ vision of health care, which was to toss a leech on you and hope for the best.

    10 million … is a pushy number. That’s how many people the ACA would add to Medicaid rolls, with the federal government covering most of the costs. But opponents claim offering all that money, even as a gift, would be “coercive” — unless it went to a Super PAC, which would make it a triumph for democracy.

    2,700… is a super-sized number. That’s how many pages comprise the Affordable Care Act, to Justice Scalia’s chagrin. And if you take the last letter from the first sentence on every other page, it spells out BROCCOLI over and over again.

    45… is an argumentative number. That’s how many years it’s been since the Supreme Court devoted so much time to oral hearings for one case. At six hours total, the justices were forced to sacrifice some serious nap time to serve their country.

    6… is a stymied number. That’s how many of FDR’s major New Deal initiatives the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional. But ultimately, his “try something” approach proved more successful than Obama’s “try about two things, then give up.”

    ©2012 Courtesy of New Deal 2.0 blog, Roosevelt Institute

  • “While These Visions Did Appear”: Shakespeare on Canvas

    Procession of Characters from Shakespeare's Plays, Unknown Artist

    Shakespeare at Yale, a campus-wide, term-long series of exhibitions, plays, concerts, films, and lectures will celebrate the university’s wealth of resources for the study and enjoyment of the works of William Shakespeare. At the Yale Center for British Art, “While these visions did appear”: Shakespeare on Canvas will feature works from the Center’s permanent collection of paintings to explore historic representations of Shakespeare’s scenes and characters by artists working in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

    The exhibition will focus primarily on depictions of Shakespeare’s comedies, but will also draw on comedic elements from the tragedies and histories, including The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV, The Merry Wives of Windsor, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Hamlet, and Cymbeline, by artists such as Francis Wheatley, William Hamilton, Robert Smirke, Benjamin van der Gucht, Joseph Noel Paton, and Charles Hunt. “While these visions did appear” will encourage consideration of the many ways in which the comedic elements in Shakespeare’s plays continue to inspire painters and audiences alike.If Hope Were Not Hope Would Break

    A second exhibition opened at the Center this spring, Making History: Antiquaries in Britain (until 27 May), will feature objects related to the renowned playwright, such as royal portraits and artifacts from battles fictionalized in Shakespeare’s history plays. The Center is also in the process of adding Shakespeare-related works from its prints and drawings collection to the searchable online catalogue at britishart.yale.edu.

    In addition to the Center, the Yale University Art Gallery, Whitney Humanities Center, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Lewis Walpole Library, and Manuscripts and Archives have planned exhibitions for the celebration. The idea for Shakespeare at Yale came from David Kastan, George M. Bodman, Professor of English at Yale University, who first contacted President Richard Levin about the possibility of hosting a university-wide celebration that would bring attention to the world-class collections and resources at Yale. “Yale has the best collection of early versions of Shakespeare of any university in America,” says Kastan. “Every time I push on a door, whether at the Beinecke or the Elizabethan Club, I discover something else that I didn’t know was here.”Children acting the Play Scene from Hamlet

    Shakespeare at Yale partners include the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Elizabethan Club, Elm Shakespeare Company, Films at the Whitney, Lewis Walpole Library, Manuscripts and Archives, Whitney Humanities Center, Yale Center for British Art, Yale Dramatic Association, Yale Drama Coalition, Yale English Department, Yale Film Studies Program, Yale Film Study Center, Yale Law School, Yale Music Department, Yale Repertory Theatre, Yale School of Drama, Yale School of Medicine, Yale School of Music, Yale Theater Studies Program, and Yale University Art Gallery.

    Illustrations — Three from Yale Center for British Art: Procession of Characters from Shakespeare’s Plays. Unknown artist, mid-19th century, British ; Formerly attributed to Daniel Maclise, 1806-1870. Children Acting the ‘Play Scene’ from “Hamlet,” Act II, Scene ii, 1863, Charles Hunt; oil on canvas. Society of Antiquaries of London, If Hope Were Not Heart Should Break, from ceramic tiles featuring The Legend of Good Wimmen. 1860s, hand painted tin-glazed tiles by Edward Burne-Jones for Kelmscott Manor (William and Mary Morris’ home).

  • The Gender Gap; Three Decades Old, as Wide as Ever

    From: Pew Research Center

    March 29, 2012

    The gender gap — the difference in support for a candidate among women and men — has long favored Democratic presidential candidates, and is about as wide today as it was at this point in the campaign four years ago when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were matched in polls against Republican John McCain.

    Even so, Barack Obama’s advantages among women voters over his GOP rivals are striking. Obama led Mitt Romney by 20 points (58% to 38%) among women voters and Rick Santorum by 26 points (61% to 35%) in the Pew Research Center’s most recent national survey, conducted March 7-11. Obama runs about even with Romney among men and leads Santorum.

    Just as women have been more likely to vote Democratic in presidential elections, a higher percentage also identifies with or leans toward the Democratic Party. In surveys this year, 52% of women identify with the Democratic Party or lean Democratic, compared with 43% of men. That is in line with the gender gap in party identification dating back to 1990. In 2008, 56% of women and 46% of men identified as Democrats or leaned Democratic.

    There are several clusters of issues on which men and women divide, including social issues, views of government and its role, energy and the environment, and foreign policy and national security. Read the full report for a detailed anlaysis of gender differences in politics. (SeniorWomen.com’s Note: We have added additional paragraphs from the full report below:)

    Aside from a gender gap, there also is a marriage gap in party identification. In 2011, fully 62% of single women voters identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party.

    Just 31% of single women voters identified with or leaned toward the GOP.

    Among married women voters, nearly as many identified with the GOP, or leaned Republican (45%), as identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party (48%). Among men voters, a marriage gap also was evident but it was much narrower.

    Gender and Key Issues

    There are several clusters of issues on which men and women divide, including views of government and its role. Yet gender differences do not follow a predictable pattern. On social issues, for instance, there is a wide gender gap in views of gay marriage, but not abortion.

    For more than a decade, women have been more likely than men to favor an active role for government. And recent surveys show that higher percentages of women than men say that government should do more for the poor, children and the elderly.