Understanding Men’s and Women’s Political Interests

Evidence from a Study of Gendered Political Attitudes

Bibliographic Data

ID23345196
AuthorsRosie Campbell (0000-0002-9008-3924, Birkbeck, University of London, corresponding author), Kristi Winters (University of Essex, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume18
Issue1
Pages53-74
Publication date2008-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Elections Public Opinion & Parties (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1368-9886 • E-ISSN: 1745-7297
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17457280701858623
OpenAlexW2045547174
LanguageEN
Citations received58
References cited32

That women generally have lower levels of interest in politics than men is a well rehearsed political fact (Andersen, 1975 Andersen, Kristi. 1975. Working women and political participation, 1952–1972. American Journal of Political Science, 19(3): 439–453. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Baxter & Lansing, 1983 Baxter, Sandra and Lansing, Marjorie. 1983. Women and Politics: The Visible Majority, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. [Google Scholar]; Burns, 2001 Burns, Nancy. 2001. “Gender: public opinion and political action”. In Political Science: The State of the Discipline, Edited by: Katznelson, Ira and Milner, Helen. 462–487. Washington, DC: APSA. [Google Scholar]; Burns et al., 2001 Burns, Nancy, Schlozman, Kay and Verba, Sidney. 2001. The Private Roots of Public Action: Gender, Equality and Political Participation, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Google Scholar]; Campbell et al., 1954 Campbell, Angus, Gurin, Gerald and Miller, Warren. 1954. The Voter Decides, Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson and Company. [Google Scholar]; Hayes & Bean, 1993 Hayes, Bernadette and Bean, C. S. 1993. Gender and local political interest – some international comparisons. Political Studies, XLI(4): 672–682. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Tolleson Rinehart, 1992 Tolleson Rinehart, Sue. 1992. Gender Consciousness and Politics, London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]) but less is known about the underlying causes of these differences. This paper attempts to unpick the concept of political interest, to either confirm that women are less interested in politics than men or to test whether women and men are simply interested in different things. We assess whether barriers to women’s participation in politics, such as child rearing, have a detrimental effect on political interest. Finally we consider whether the process of gendered socialization, whereby men are more likely than women to have a high sense of agency, whilst women are more likely than men to have a high sense of communion with others, can account for the sex differences in political interest.

Media studies · Miller · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Sociology · State (computer science) · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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