Beyond the Gender Gap: The Role of Gender Identity

Abstract

This article argues that research on the gender gap needs to take account of differences in the nature and salience of women’s and men’s gender identities. We theorize that the effects of sex vary depending on gender identity. As a result, the differences among women and especially among men may well exceed the differences between women and men. Drawing on the literature on masculinity and femininity, we argue that gender identity conditions the extent to which white men experience societal transformations as threats to their masculinity and respond by acting to preserve their dominant status. Because femininity is less susceptible to threat, gender identity will have a smaller impact on women. We illustrate our argument by drawing on original survey data to describe how support for Trump varies depending on both sex and gender identity.