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The Cultural Sources of the Gender Gap in Voter Turnout

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  • Dassonneville, Ruth
  • Kostelka, Filip

Abstract

Recent publications argue that the traditional gender gap in voting has decreased or reversed in many democracies. However, this decrease may apply only to some types of elections. Building on prior studies, this article hypothesizes that although women participate at the same or higher rates than men in national elections, they participate less in supranational elections. The authors investigate this possibility empirically by analyzing the evolution of the gender gap in voter turnout in elections to the European Parliament (EP). The article makes three important contributions. First, it shows the presence and stability of the traditional gender gap in EP elections. Secondly, it finds that gender differences in political interest are the main source of this gender gap. Thirdly, these gender differences in political interest are, in turn, context dependent. They are strongly associated with cultural gender differences, which are captured through differences in boys’ and girls’ maths scores.

Suggested Citation

  • Dassonneville, Ruth & Kostelka, Filip, 2021. "The Cultural Sources of the Gender Gap in Voter Turnout," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(3), pages 1040-1061, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:51:y:2021:i:3:p:1040-1061_8
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    Cited by:

    1. Chiara Lodi & Agnese Sacchi & Francesco Vidoli, 2024. "Gender politics, environmental behaviours, and local territories: Evidence from Italian municipalities," Papers 2410.06091, arXiv.org.
    2. Drinkwater, Stephen & Blackaby, David H. & Robinson, Catherine, 2024. "What Mattered Most in the Brexit Vote? Evidence from Detailed Regression and Decomposition Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 16841, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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