Gender Differences in Willingness to Pay for Urban Public Services

Abstract

The “vote” urban residents cast when they make decisions about public services has implications for service delivery in local government. We utilize probability data from one of the nation’s largest municipalities to explore potential gender disparities in willingness to pay for local public services: whether men and women differ in their general orientation toward paying for services; whether any gender gaps are exacerbated in particular service areas; and whether any gender disparities have implications for community governance. Men and women report strong predisposition to paying generally, although glaring gender gaps exist that are both theoretically and practically insightful.

The politics of redistribution in local governments: the effect of gender representation on welfare spending in California counties

“…Women are playing an increasingly important role in local politics (Fox and Schuhmann 2000;Alozie and McNamara 2010). Compared to the studies of women in state legislatures and Congress, however, few works exist that attempt to analyse the impact of women in local office (MacManus and Bullock 1995).…”

“…Women have a more distinctive focus on "women's issues" as policy priorities, including policies that impact women, children, family, welfare and health, while focusing less on other issues, such as economic development (Burns and Schumaker 1987;Schumaker and Burns 1988;Saint-Germain 1989;Thomas 1991;Carroll 1994Carroll , 2003Schlesinger and Heldman 2001;Dolan 2002;Keiser et al 2002;Stivers 2002;Swers 2002;Wilkins 2006;Wilkins and Keiser 2006;Alozie and McNamara 2010). Several scholars argue that the gender gap is distinctive enough that it cannot be erased by organisational socialisation (Dolan 2002) and will make a substantial contribution rather than a symbolic one (Carroll 2003;Lim 2006;Park 2013).…”

“…Social welfare is viewed as a gendered policy domain, as it is particularly related to the interests of minorities including women (Riccucci and Meyers 2004;Wilkins and Keiser 2006). Despite a relatively large proportion of women at the local level, the role of female local officials and its impact on the politics of financial choices is largely underexplored (Garber and Turner 1995;MacManus 1996;Fox and Schuhmann 2000;Alozie and McNamara 2010). We seek to explore this and also attempt to test whether women officeholders moderate the impact of the local economy and institutions on welfare spending, because social welfare is not only related to gender, but is also politically vulnerable during an economic recession.…”

Regional or parochial? Support for cross-community sharing within city-regions

“…As the class status of individuals increases, the breadth and strength of the regional perspective should decrease. Specifically, given what scholars know about the greater likelihood of upper income individuals to hoard their resources (Alozie & McNamara, 2010;Bobo, 1991;Gainsborough, 2001;Steinacker, 2001Steinacker, , 2004, we predict that as the income of individuals increases the regional perspective narrows and weakens among them. Relatedly, we predict that homeowners will have a narrower and weaker regional perspective than renters.…”

“…Additionally, gender should affect the presence and strength of the regional perspective of citizens of city-regions. Generally, men are less likely than women, at least in the United States, to support collaboration and sharing to reduce collective action problems, particularly by governments and paid for by taxpayers (Alozie & McNamara, 2010;Owens, 2010;Schlesinger & Heldman, 2001). Plus, gendered expectations and relationships in city-regions may shape local citizenship in myriad ways that allow for women and men to hold vastly different opinions on public questions (Garber & Turner, 1995).…”