A Gender Gap in Voting? Women and Men in the 2013 Elections

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the 2013 elections, and examines whether the gender gap in voting found in Western democracies also exists here. A gender gap in voting is a consistent and significant difference between men and women in their voting for a party, a bloc of parties, or a particular candidate. The gender gap in voting is usually smaller than other socio-demographic disparities based on race, socioeconomic status, religiosity, or ethnicity, but it attracts considerable academic and political attention. The gender gaps on the central issues of dispute are larger and more consistent than the gaps in voting and political identification, but in opposite directions By the time of the 2013 elections, when there was already a modern gender gap, the structural factors, such as participation in the labor force or family status, no longer had an impact.