Gender and Political Participation in Western and Eastern Europe

Abstract

A substantial literature has studied gender differences in political participation in Western industrialized democracies, but little research has compared the gender gap in political participation between Western and Eastern Europe. Using 2008 European Social Survey data, this chapter presents a systematic description of the gender gap in voting and political activism in 27 Eastern and Western European countries. In line with theories on modernization and the re-traditionalization that occurred in Eastern Europe after the velvet revolution, the results reveal a larger gender gap in political activism, with women being substantially less likely to participate compared to men, in Eastern Europe in comparison to Western Europe. By contrast, Eastern European women are substantially more likely to engage in electoral politics compared to their male counterparts whereas no gender gap in political activism is found among Western European citizens. In both Western and Eastern Europe, gender differences are generally smaller among younger generations. Yet, there is a pattern of each generation of women (and men) participating to a lesser extent in electoral politics compared to the previous generation.