Weaponizing women and gender

Party appeals to women voters ahead of the 2024 UK general election

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6313341
AutoresAnna Sanders (0000-0001-5981-5640, University of York), Francesca Gains (0000-0001-9815-3870, University of Manchester)
Ano2024
Volume77
Fascículo4
Páginas686-712
Data de publicação2024-10-11
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoParliamentary Affairs (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0031-2290 • E-ISSN: 1460-2482
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/pa/gsae021
OpenAlexW4401478358
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas6
Referências citadas29

Whilst there are significant electoral advantages for political parties to target women’s votes, scholarship on recent electoral appeals questions the quality of gendered policy promises to address deep structural gender inequalities existing within the British state. This article examines British Election Study data to identify women voters’ concerns and explores how the two largest Westminster parties developed appeals to women voters in the build up to the 2024 UK general election through an analysis of leadership speeches to the 2023 party conferences. We find a disconnect between women’s electoral demands to address class-based gender inequalities and party attempts to ‘weaponize’ the woman question around status issues. We conclude by pointing to the enduring nature of gendered inequalities despite the election of a Labour government, which targeted appeals more closely to the class-based concerns of women voters

Class (philosophy · Gender equality · General election · Government (linguistics · Inequality · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Sociology · State (computer science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Law · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies