Effect of Gender on the Influence of Religious Affiliation on the Voting Records of Members of U.S. House of Representatives

Abstract

While independent effects of religious affiliation and gender on congressional voting behavior are well-documented, there is little research on how these two factors work together to affect congressional voting. In this paper, I seek to identify differences in how religious affiliation impacts the voting behavior of women and men in the U.S. House of Representatives. I posit that the effect of religious affiliation on legislative voting behavior will vary between women and men. I evaluate this claim by reviewing the roll-call voting records of members of Congress over the last forty years (97th Congress through 115th Congress) and examining how distinctions between the impact of religious affiliation on voting records of male and female legislators.