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FTER PASSAGE of the suffrage amendment in 1920, American government became virtually based on the consent of women as well as of men. Yet, prior to 1920 there had been no constitutional bars to women's participation as either elected representatives or appointed officials. Potentially women could occupy the role of representative, but they seldom did. It was as if women were spontaneously disqualified because their subordinate traditional roles were incompatible with superordinate representative roles. Even after suffrage, women's representative roles differed from men's. The goals of this study are to explore what women's roles have been and how and why they have developed as they have.Political decision-making positions have rarely been occupied by women. Women in general have been described as occupying minority group status and as lacking the bargaining resources on which power relationships are based. Women are said to be increasingly aware and resentful of that status.2 2 However, this designation of women as a status-deprived class has been challenged by those who point out that women are so demographically diverse as not to share the characteristics binding minority groups such as blacks.3 3 Some studies have concluded that women lack the ambition to seek political office.' Women have nonetheless substantially increased their mass political activities One study finds that female political ambition is better discussed in terms of the ends to which it is directed: family-work roles and feminism are shown to influence the styles of activism displayed by female partisan elites .6 Political voluntaryism and service are typical of women occupying traditional family-work roles and responding to traditional gender ideology. Presumably such women are aware that females who occupy repre-

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